Can I put together everything on a motherboard before putting it in the case?

Sam QS

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Oct 23, 2014
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I'm using a Corsair 380T case and curious on whether or not I can put everything together before the case or at worst, just remove a piece or two when having to put it in the case.

Reasons for this is because my 380T case got held back a few days and turns out I won't be seeing it for a good while and I'm itching to try out the new parts. I have every single part BUT the case so I'm wondering if I should just hold out for nearly a week(it will be nearly 2 weeks because of a screw up on the post office's end) or could I just put everything together and just more or less slide the finished motherboard in the case. I mean sure I'll have to unplug some wires but if it goes too much further than that, I figured I would have to hold til the case comes.
 
Yes you can put everything together outside of the case and do a test boot or even install the OS.
Make sure you put the CPU fan on.

If you put your GPU be careful about any torque applied to the PCI slot.

You should remove it before putting the mobo in the case.
 
things like the CPU and RAM can be installed before putting it in the case. The GPU needs to be screwed into the case, and the cooler might make it difficult to screw in the motherboard, depending on what cooler you have. You can technically plug everything in as long as the motherboard is on something like its box that wont conduct static electricity, but I wouldn't suggest running it for a week like this, only to test if it POSTs
 
Yeah off course. You can put together the CPU, memory, motherboard, HDD, CPU Cooler and even the Graphics card(be careful) and power everything up.
Points to keep in mind:
- Make sure nothing bends or wiggles(especially the graphics card)
- Ground the motherboard (put it on the motherboard box)
- Don't touch anything with a metal when the PC is on.

When your case will arrive, you'll have to remove the graphics card, power supply and hard drives to install separately.
 
Thanks everyone! I'll definitely be more careful since it's without the case but really glad to hear that it won't mess up much on putting it into the case afterwards.

Again, thanks guys! Will be setting it up now to see how it goes.