# Is the I/O Shield Important?



## Flaring Afro

I got a zotac motherboard and its I/O shield wont line up with the board in an old HP case. I'm sure its more the fault of this case than zotac, but do i NEED one? I dont care how it looks, it wont be seen i'm just worried about dust, though i assume a case fan would suck dust everywhere anyways? I just dont want to have to fab something up if not needed, thanks.


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## Bodaggit23

Can you mod the case to make it fit?

You can run without it, but it supports the rear of the board from flex and shorting.


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## bomberboysk

Bodaggit23 said:


> Can you mod the case to make it fit?
> 
> You can run without it, but it supports the rear of the board from flex and shorting.


Actually the i/o shield is meant to act as a ground, not a support.


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## Laquer Head

bomberboysk said:


> Actually the i/o shield is meant to act as a ground, not a support.



You would think it still serves some function as a stabilizer for the mobo connections though?


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## bomberboysk

Laquer Head said:


> You would think it still serves some function as a stabilizer for the mobo connections though?


Not as far as the manufacturers are concerned, hence why its just a thin piece of steel.


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## Bodaggit23

bomberboysk said:


> Actually the i/o shield is meant to act as a ground, not a support.



Did you read my whole sentence? 

It's a thin piece of steel because it only needs lateral support.


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## bomberboysk

Bodaggit23 said:


> Did you read my whole sentence?
> 
> It's a thin piece of steel because it only needs lateral support.


Yeah, and you mentioned absolutely nothing about grounding. I know a few people who work for EVGA and i asked them about this same question awhile back, and its for grounding purposes and looks, not support.


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## Laquer Head

bomberboysk said:


> *Yeah, and you mentioned absolutely nothing about grounding.* I know a few people who work for EVGA and i asked them about this same question awhile back, and its for grounding purposes and looks, not support.



Technically he did, by mentioning preventing 'shorting'..


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## tyttebøvs

One purpose with this grounding is to reduce EMI noise outside the case.


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## ganzey

it also helps keep out dust


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## bomberboysk

Laquer Head said:


> Technically he did, by mentioning preventing 'shorting'..


"Flexing and shorting" has nothing to do with grounding the connectors.


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## Laquer Head

bomberboysk said:


> "Flexing and shorting" has nothing to do with grounding the connectors.



prevent shorting by grounding..?


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## bomberboysk

Laquer Head said:


> prevent shorting by grounding..?


Shorts are caused because of a ground touching a live source of power, therefore if anything providing a ground could cause shorting. A short literally means that, a shorter and easier path for electricity to flow, basically the more "lazy" electricity can be it will.


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## Laquer Head

bomberboysk said:


> Shorts are caused because of a ground touching a live source of power, therefore if anything providing a ground could cause shorting. A short literally means that, a shorter and easier path for electricity to flow, basically the more "lazy" electricity can be it will.


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## TFT

> You can run without it, but it supports the rear of the board from flex and shorting.



Why are certain people being so "picky" (on the above quote) lately. When you post now you've got to go back over it and "cross the T's and dot the I's), you just can't afford to not be grammatically correct in your answer anymore otherwise you get jumped on and pulled to pieces. 

Hell, if something flexes enough and a connector that has a potential above ground shorts then "bang". End of story.:good:


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## Laquer Head

TFT said:


> Why are certain people being so "picky" lately. When you post now you've got to go back over it and "cross the T's and dot the I's), you just can't afford to not be grammatically correct in your answer anymore otherwise you get jumped on and pulled to pieces.
> 
> Hell, if something flexes enough and a connector that has a potential above ground shorts then "bang". End of story.:good:



There are a number of people on this forum that know everything..thats why!


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## bomberboysk

TFT said:


> Why are certain people being so "picky" (on the above quote) lately. When you post now you've got to go back over it and "cross the T's and dot the I's), you just can't afford to not be grammatically correct in your answer anymore otherwise you get jumped on and pulled to pieces.
> 
> Hell, if something flexes enough and a connector that has a potential above ground shorts then "bang". End of story.:good:


Honestly there is no way that quote can be interpreted as correct, again, i even asked a motherboard manufacturer(evga) about this about a year ago and was given a specific answer, to act as a ground and for visual appearance.


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## Flaring Afro

...Well, I had assumed at worst it was for dust and i could fab some ugly son of a gun on the outside of the case around the usb ports (i dont need any of the other ports). I already installed everything and am installing windows right now... Brilliant.

EDIT: also the mobo was .5" too high which is why i figured it wasnt worth the trouble, it def wasnt modifiable.


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## bomberboysk

Flaring Afro said:


> ...Well, I had assumed at worst it was for dust and i could fab some ugly son of a gun on the outside of the case around the usb ports (i dont need any of the other ports). I already installed everything and am installing windows right now... Brilliant.
> 
> EDIT: also the mobo was .5" too high which is why i figured it wasnt worth the trouble, it def wasnt modifiable.


Its not 100% required, ive ran systems without i/o plates fine as well as ran motherboards without a case or io shield or whatnot, dont lose any sleep over it


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## Flaring Afro

good. this is my first build and its awesome that it works and i really didnt want to take everything out and somehow put it in lol


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## ScottALot

LMAO If you have one of those bench set-ups, you could put screw a standoff into a standoff to make extra sure you don't short anything


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## Laquer Head

ScottALot said:


> LMAO If you have one of those bench set-ups, you could put screw a standoff into a standoff to make extra sure you don't short anything



WHAT
?????


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## ScottALot

You can screw a standoff into the top of a standoff.


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## Laquer Head

ScottALot said:


> You can screw a standoff into the top of a standoff.



I'll tell you what you can go screw..!


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## ganzey

ScottALot said:


> LMAO If you have one of those bench set-ups, you could put screw a standoff into a standoff to make extra sure you don't short anything



amount of sense this post makes = 0


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## Laquer Head

ganzey said:


> amount of sense this post makes = 0



Wrong...

-0

thats how much sense it makes...not even a real number...


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## ScottALot

Amount of awesome 10 rows of standoffs =


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## Laquer Head

ScottALot said:


> Amount of awesome 10 rows of standoffs =



Seriously, do smoke alot of dope?


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## ScottALot

Laquer Head said:


> Seriously, do smoke alot of dope?



... you could route wires under your motherboard. And it's not dope, it's something more special.


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## TrainTrackHack

What's wrong with screwing standoffs on standoffs?


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## ScottALot

Thank you! Finally, some support. But really, this thread is starting to get a little odd. My bad, guys.


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## Bodaggit23

TFT said:


> Why are certain people being so "picky" (on the above quote) lately. When you post now you've got to go back over it and "cross the T's and dot the I's), you just can't afford to not be grammatically correct in your answer anymore otherwise you get jumped on and pulled to pieces.



Thank you.



Laquer Head said:


> There are a number of people on this forum that know everything..thats why!



<3


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## canivari

and another advantage is to close the the entire case to conduct the flux of air 
to the correct places from fans.


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## just a noob

*eheheheheh*



ScottALot said:


> LMAO If you have one of those bench set-ups, you could put screw a standoff into a standoff to make extra sure you don't short anything


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## ScottALot

That's the exact face I was making when I posted that hahaha


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## just a noob

ScottALot said:


> That's the exact face I was making when I posted that hahaha


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## ScottALot

Wasn't making that one.


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