Question Proprietary motherboard mounting on a normal PC case.

[anonsky]

So I own a lousy pre built filled with proprietary parts, I've been meaning to upgrade it as of recent and I've decided to just start from scratch. I want to upgrade with slow increments starting from the PC case, issue is, the motherboard I have has a really weird shape

https://imgur.com/v8l48Vg

the shape is whatever the hell this is lol. I'm not sure how it will fit inside a standard M-ATX case. I'm also unsure how the screws and stand-offs of this proprietary motherboard and case would fit into a standard M-ATX case. Should I just upgrade the mobo first (which will be unusable because even the PSU is proprietary and doesn't have a 24pin)?

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

most OEM boards will not fit in retail cases.
and usually will not use the same headers for case buttons, etc.

 

[anonsky]

most OEM boards will not fit in retail cases.
and usually will not use the same headers for case buttons, etc.

ah, thanks for the insight. i guess ill have to just go with a motherboard first lol

 

[DSzymborski]

ah, thanks for the insight. i guess ill have to just go with a motherboard first lol

That's usually a good policy anyway. It's basically the PC equivalent of the foundation of a house. If you don't have a good foundation, you can't build a good house on top of it. The motherboard (and then the power supply) are the least "fun" parts, in that you don't get a huge boost in direct performance or even the aesthetic improvement, but you need a good base and a good heart to build on.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

i guess ill have to just go with a motherboard first

as you mentioned, this will most definitely also require a retail power supply.

not sure if the OEM builds do this on purpose to keep customers using their own replacement parts or if the big corps just save a bit of money using the cheaper non-standard units, probably both.
but, the OEM power supplies almost never use a standard 24pin or even have required PCIe connectors for better retail cards.

if looking for help finding a PSU, Tom's offers a few good starting points:

Tom's PSU tier list

Tom's - PSU recommendations and power supply discussion thread

 

[SkyNetRising]

I want to upgrade with slow increments starting from the PC case.
Should I just upgrade the mobo first (which will be unusable because even the PSU is proprietary and doesn't have a 24pin)?

You'll have to upgrade motherboard, pc case, psu in the same incremental step.