Motherboard won't fit!

[TheGreenMan]

I have a Gigabyte GA-K8NXP-SLI motherboard and an ATX case:
http://www.atxcases.com/Cases/beacon.htm
I can not get the board to fit in the case (the holes do not line up with brass connectors) and get the I/O ports to line up in the I/O plate at the same time. It is one or the other. What do I need to do??!!!

On a related note: The I/O plate that came with the case had the thin foil-like I/O plate and also had a thick metel plate that went with it. The plate that came with the motherboard, the one I need to use, only has the thin I/O plate. Does this matter?

[Rave]

Simple answer: don't use the backplate. Cheap cases (no offence, but that is a cheap case) are often badly aligned like that. As an inveterate cheapskate, I just chuck the backplate and get on with it. Unless you're building this PC to sell to someone, who cares if there's a gap round the connectors?

[rajagra]

Have you removed any brass standoffs that don't line up with holes? Or are they fixed?
Is it just the mobo ports that don't line up, or are the PCI cards out as well? And by how far?
Normally the IO plate that comes with the mobo just clips into the case. Sounds like the thick plate needs to stay on the case, and the IO plate plugs into that. Then you need to persuade the mobo to go into position. Sometimes the earthing prongs on the IO plate get in the way, bend them back a bit if so.
I find that you need to push the mobo moderately hard to the back of the case to get a couple of holes lined up and the screws in place, from then on it's easy. If things don't line up once all the screws are in, either the case is warped or the plate is in wrong.
If necessary you can leave the backplate off - but if the case is warped it will be hard to get PCI cards in, you risk damaging them or the mobo.

I see Rave got in before me. He's right, leaving the plate off is ok, in fact most of the time it will improve airflow/cooling!

[TheGreenMan]

The motherboard lines up fine with the standoffs (which can come out) without the plate. The plate that came with the motherboard has the correct placement of holes. There was no thick plate that came with the motherboard. All the thick and thin plates that came with the case do not have the correct placement of holes. I would like to use the plate but I think I will go with Rave's idea and leave it out. I have a dremel I cane use on the plate to widen the hole if I want.
Thanks for the help all.

[Ceefer]

When I fitted an Abit BE7 mobo in an ATX case (actually an old Dell Dimension case) I not only had to leave the backplate off but I needed to do some serious hacksaw work (haven't got a dremel) to get the audio ports to fit at the back. It doesn't matter so long as you're not worried about how it looks.

[rajagra]

When I fitted an Abit BE7 mobo in an ATX case (actually an old Dell Dimension case) I not only had to leave the backplate off but I needed to do some serious hacksaw work

Dude. It's a Dell!

[MD]

exactly, dell are propriatory boards, they make so many they don't really need to stick to form factor.

completely random comment, but I spoke with dell tech this week and we got chatting (needed a slimline optiplex chassis replacing under warranty) and he was telling me if your tower deveops a fault thats not covered by onsite, they take it away to replace it, I wonder how many people buying dell's don't know that.

m@

[Ceefer]

Well we're getting a bit off topic, but yes some Dell motherboards are strange. They ARE made to ATX and mATX sizes but some of them have non-standard power connectors and non-standard front panel connectors. To fit a standard ATX motherboard in my Dimension case I had to replace the PSU and botch together some home-made front panel connectors, plus do a bit of hacksawing. Was it worth it? No.