Question for all Motherboard experts...

livEwirE

Hi guys,

I'm considering putting the GA-F2A85XN-WIFI board into a Streacom FC8 EVO HTPC case.

Apologies in advance for if this is a dumb question Can someone please tell me what the 2 plastic brackets are that are on each side of the cpu and can they be removed if not needed? I'll be using heatpipes with this case which run from the processor to the edge of the case and am not sure if they'll clear them

livEwirE

Anyone please?

The Glass Key

The bits of plastic you may need to remove are there to hold the standard heat sinks in place. If you have another method of holding the base of whatever system you are using as a heat sink firmly in place that doesn't use them then they are serving no purpose and can be removed.

numbnutz

Howya,
These are heatsink brackets.If you read past the two pictures of the motherboard in this article it describes what they are.
http://www.bjorn3d.com/2013/08/gigabyte-ga-f2a85xn-wifi-a85x-mini-itx-motherboard/
Have a look at this picture and I know its not the chassis you will be using but thought it may be of some help in relation to the brackets.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/files/images/gigabyte-f2a85xn-wifi/assemble1.jpg

livEwirE

@ The Glass Key, cheers mate, as long as I can remove them, that's all that matters to me

@ numbnutz, sounds advice thanks, thanks for the links to that article and pics, looks like this board should do the job for me

marco_polo

The bracket shouldn't be much higher than the actual CPU when it is installed, but just in case there would be no problem removing the back plate if needs be, all that is required is a philips screwdriver.

livEwirE

Glad to hear it marco_polo