Do you tighten your motherboard screws all the way?

Do you fully tighten your motherboard screws?

  • I tighten them all the way down. No motherboard movement.

    Votes: 90 89.1%

  • I allow the motherboard 1-2mm of movement, as recommended by EVGA

    Votes: 4 4.0%

  • Paint tastes good.

    Votes: 7 6.9%
  • Total voters
    101
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GotNoRice

GotNoRice

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I was looking in the manual for an EVGA X99 board and found this:

EVGA said:
Keep in mind that when the screws are installed but not fully tightened, the motherboard should have 1-2mm of movement; this can help with getting cards mounted or other tight tolerance/close fitting cards.
Click to expand...

This is in regards to installing the motherboard into a case.

I've never personally done anything other than screw the screws down tight when I install a motherboard. Usually I install all the screws, before I make a 2nd pass going around and tightening them all. I don't tighten them particularly forcefully or anything like that, but there certainly isn't any movement when I'm done either. I've also never seen an OEM system that had it's screws anything other than tightened down. I've never had any problems with any of my systems or any that I've ever worked on.

What are your opinions?
 
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i tighten the screws till they make contact. No actual torque, but ensuring the motherboard does not move around.

Edit: When I first started building PC's I did tighten the screws down way to much. The base attachment (removable female screw) would unscrew itself as I removed the motherboard screw....im sure Im not the only one who has done that though.
 
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I think it's more a case of specific GPU's and that particular MB. I've never heard of allowing movement on a MB install.
 
I screw the board down but keep it loose until the components are in.
Once everything's in, I tighten them down completely.
 
I put all the screws in loosely first then check the alignment on the I/O panel. There's usually a little wiggle room on the board if it needs to move, then tighten. What I can't stand is even with a well aligned mobo some graphics cards mounting brackets don't align with the PCIe slots.
 
I leave the motherboard screws a little loose until I check to make sure everything is lined up correctly and then I tighten the screws.
The screws do not need to be very tight, just tight enough to keep the motherboard from moving around.
 
I tighten and stop right when I feel the "resistance"
If I could get technical in describing the amount of "resistance", I would.. XD
 
BroHamBone said:
i tighten the screws till they make contact. No actual torque, but ensuring the motherboard does not move around.

Edit: When I first started building PC's I did tighten the screws down way to much. The base attachment (removable female screw) would unscrew itself as I removed the motherboard screw....im sure Im not the only one who has done that though.
Click to expand...

I've had that problem too, but not because I tightened them too much, because of inferior quality screws, that got stuck halfway in the thread. I've had problems with mounting add on cards as well, as when i tightened the screws the card pulled itself out of the slot. But this was back in the AGP/PCI days. Tolerances are much better now, most of the time everything fits together perfectly. Of course nowadays I'm buying better computer cases, not from the lowest end.

As for tightening the screws. First I just put them in all of them without tightening, install the io shield, and then tighten them, but only as much as to have no wiggle room I don't apply any actual torque.
 
mothman said:
I put all the screws in loosely first then check the alignment on the I/O panel. There's usually a little wiggle room on the board if it needs to move, then tighten. What I can't stand is even with a well aligned mobo some graphics cards mounting brackets don't align with the PCIe slots.
Click to expand...

This.
 
i make sure all the standoffs (when applicable) are REALLY tight in the case, and then I tighten the screws a normal degree of tight. when it stops spinning easy and makes contact with the motherboard, I'd guess about another 1/4 turn.
 
Sounds to me like they want you to leave it a little loose until you verify card alignment and then tighten down.

That is what I have always done.

1.Install board with screws loose.

2.Install video card and tighten the bracket screw(s) down.

3.Tighten motherboard screws down.
 
I like alkyd, not that latex crap. Epoxy...meh, depends...

...

oh... as for motherboard screws...

Tightened for clients (after lining up everything of course). These machines usually go through some degree of abuse over the years and don't receive upgrades usually.

Barely snug for myself since I'm always tinkering on something or other.
 
I use locktite on the risers, then tighten the screws down until they're snug on the mobo. I've never had an issue lining up pci(e) cards. If I did, I'd be using evga's method where you leave the screws loose, put in the cards then tighten it all up.
 
pheonix991 said:
I use locktite on the risers, then tighten the screws down until they're snug on the mobo. I've never had an issue lining up pci(e) cards. If I did, I'd be using evga's method where you leave the screws loose, put in the cards then tighten it all up.
Click to expand...

I wish I had used locktite on the risers, the last one screw didnt thread correctly and when I tried to back it out it turned the riser with it, was a real pain to finally get out.
 
zaniix said:
I wish I had used locktite on the risers, the last one screw didnt thread correctly and when I tried to back it out it turned the riser with it, was a real pain to finally get out.
Click to expand...

If that happens, remove all the rest of the screws first, then unscrew that one and pull the board out and then use a socket or pliers to hold the riser and try and unscrew the screw.

some of the cases I've used have a couple of risers with small circular alignment ridges on them so when you lay the motherboard in the case, those risers hold the mobo in place.
 
How will leaving 1-2mm of slop in the motherboard screws help with cards fitting better, unless the user pulls up on the motherboard? And then can't the motherboard slip down if the computer is moved around? It would be better to get standoffs that are 1-2mm longer or place 1-2mm of washers under each one.
 
I like it tight! :D


I don't torque them but they are not loose. I don't think I have ever heard of leaving it wiggle room. My case if a cube so no big deal, but what if you have a small vibration and it backs the screw out and drops on the MB or GPU?
 
mnewxcv said:
i make sure all the standoffs (when applicable) are REALLY tight in the case, and then I tighten the screws a normal degree of tight. when it stops spinning easy and makes contact with the motherboard, I'd guess about another 1/4 turn.
Click to expand...

This.

I do prefer an air wrench though.:D
 
if you need 1-2mm of "give" to install cards, you're doing something wrong EVGA...
 
I tighten it very tight, usually until I hear a crack or I start to round out the top of the screw.
 
Unless you have massive vibration just snugging them will suffice. I have boards in cases over 10 years old without issue.
EVGA says to have 1-2mm of play, really? The screws ground the board so if you have play you might not have the best ground in all sections of the board.
 
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