Installing the Graphics Card

This should have been really easy, and on the one hand it was , and on the other hand it wasn't.
Putting the card in the motherboard was easy enough. AGP cards can only go in one slot, in only one way. The slot has this little plastic mechanical lock to keep it in place. Nice, and also the cause of a bit of a problem.

You see, add in cards must be secured with a screw so they are attached firmly to the case. This to prevent mechanical stress on the motherboard when you plug or unplug connectors. Good. Problem was that the hole on the metal part on the graphics card did not align perfectly with the hole in the motherboard tray. Hard to describe in words. Neither the case manufacturer nor the graphics card manufacturer are to blame for this, I guess, it's just one of those things. Anyway, the holes were off by about a millimeter. I could do any of the following things.

• Force the holes to align, and fasten the screw. This would do the trick, but it would mean that the motherboard would be bent ever so slightly. I did not like this at all, since I know a little bit about printed circuit boards, and the mechanical stress on the board worried me quite a bit.
• Don't lock the AGP board to the motherboard. Bad idea, the lock is there for a reason.
• Don't fasten the card to the case. I considered this, since I wouldn't be plugging or unplugging connectors a lot. Once they are connected, they should stay connected. Still didn't really like it, though.
• Make the hole on the metal part of the card a little bigger. I actually do have a Dremel rotary tool, so I could use this for this task. There was a slight risk of damaging the graphics card because of the vibration the Dremel would cause.

After thinking about it a bit, I chose the last option, since it would be the only proper solution. Managed to do it without damaging anything. Stuff was all connected without any mechanical stress.

Installing the Modem

Plugged it into the motherboard, fastened it to the motherboard tray. Nothing exiting.

Installing the Game Port / USB Bracket

Very uneventful as well. Since there are only so many ports that the motherboard can expose directly, it came with a special bracket for the game port (joystick/MIDI) connector, as well as two additional USB ports. I wanted both (I have a joystick, and you can never have too many USB ports), so I mounted the bracket. Just screw it in and connect the cables to the appropriate connectors on the motherboard.

Installing the FireWire Bracket

Didn't do it. First, I currently have no FireWire stuff. Second, the motherboard exposes one of these connections by default. Plus there's another one of these connectors on the top of the case. Motherboard only supports two FireWire conections anyway, so no reason at all to mount another bracket.

That was all nice and well, but now everyting had to be hooked up...

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