I happened across this passage pertaining to mounting the D865GBF:
"Pournelle called Saturday night to talk about some stuff he was working on for his column. As it happened, Jerry was building an almost identical system for this month's Chaos Manor column, using an Intel D865GBF motherboard and an Antec Sonata case. I told him that the system I'd built was not working, and he asked if I'd used the special stand-offs in the "B" and "R" positions. Eh? I had no idea what he was talking about, and said so. Jerry said the instructions Intel provided made a point of using a particular special type of stand-off and special screw in two of the 11 mounting positions. Jerry asked if I'd missed that part of the instructions, to which I made the expected reply: "Instructions? We don't need no steenking instructions!"
"Jerry had had the motherboard in the case before he noticed those instructions, and he'd removed it and re-installed it using the special stand-offs. His system works and mine doesn't, which is a pretty strong argument in favor of using the stand-offs. Neither one of us can figure out what's so special about them, but since Intel made a point of mentioning them, I guess I'll go back and put them in. What a pain in the butt. There are so many cables and wires in that system that it took me quite a while to get them all connected properly. For example, there are two front USB ports on the motherboard, each of which has eight signals. The Antec Sonata case provides eight separate wires to make those connections. There are also connections for front-panel audio and numerous other things. But the inarguable fact is that the system doesn't work, so I guess I'll tear it down and do it right."
My questions:
1) No documentation mentioning anything related to mounting the motherboard was included in the box we received, and I can't find anything about it in several downloadable PDF's at Intel's site, either. Does anyone have a more specific idea what this is about? It could be important.
2) I think it might be covered in some detail in this BYTE magazine column, but I don't have access to the site.
"Pournelle called Saturday night to talk about some stuff he was working on for his column. As it happened, Jerry was building an almost identical system for this month's Chaos Manor column, using an Intel D865GBF motherboard and an Antec Sonata case. I told him that the system I'd built was not working, and he asked if I'd used the special stand-offs in the "B" and "R" positions. Eh? I had no idea what he was talking about, and said so. Jerry said the instructions Intel provided made a point of using a particular special type of stand-off and special screw in two of the 11 mounting positions. Jerry asked if I'd missed that part of the instructions, to which I made the expected reply: "Instructions? We don't need no steenking instructions!"
"Jerry had had the motherboard in the case before he noticed those instructions, and he'd removed it and re-installed it using the special stand-offs. His system works and mine doesn't, which is a pretty strong argument in favor of using the stand-offs. Neither one of us can figure out what's so special about them, but since Intel made a point of mentioning them, I guess I'll go back and put them in. What a pain in the butt. There are so many cables and wires in that system that it took me quite a while to get them all connected properly. For example, there are two front USB ports on the motherboard, each of which has eight signals. The Antec Sonata case provides eight separate wires to make those connections. There are also connections for front-panel audio and numerous other things. But the inarguable fact is that the system doesn't work, so I guess I'll tear it down and do it right."
My questions:
1) No documentation mentioning anything related to mounting the motherboard was included in the box we received, and I can't find anything about it in several downloadable PDF's at Intel's site, either. Does anyone have a more specific idea what this is about? It could be important.
2) I think it might be covered in some detail in this BYTE magazine column, but I don't have access to the site.