So, I built my grandad a PC a while back, and its never been quite right.

Blue Screens, that I've not been able to diagnose, theres no pattern to them, they are completly radnom, PC can run for ages, then BSOD, other times, it can BSOD 7 times in a row when trying to start, then work fine.

Memory is fine, PSU is fine.

The motherboard is an AsRock Board, and I had a feeling that this was the problem, so I've got a new MSI board ready to go in.

However, the Case, which has a removeable motherbaord tray, has built in standoffs, but, they're not brass, they're aluminium/steel whatever the tray is.

I can't see why any case manufacturer would do this, I've tried nsulating them with paper washers etc, but you can't really do it.

Heres a pic of the motherboard tray.


Any ideas on what I could do easily to modify it or to stop any potential shorts? I can't use brass standoffs as the motherboard would then be raised too high.

It should be fine with builtin standoffs (just make sure that brass one isn't touching anything).

Paint or A4 paper would work

Why would you want to insulate them? As long as they match the new MB stand-off positions (which they should if ATX) and they don’t interfere elsewhere on the board all is good, don’t forget brass is conductive too. Stand-offs help earth the motherboard through its earth PCB to reduce IR etc.

rubber 'O' rings
place them behind the mounting holes then put the mounting screws in so that the 'O' ring keeps the board away from the frame …

As said no need to insulate look on back side of motherboard where the stand offs go, you will see that the mounting holes are made to earth on them.

QFT - important caveat my highlight.

If they don't line up, use insulation tape. It's tape, and it's insulating. It's also sticky, so it sticks. Two layers would be pretty sound.

Paper alone doesn't work because the soldered wires are pointy and go through it.

Reading your post makes me wonder whether this might also help to make the system a teeny tiny bit more quiet. Would the rubber O-rings dampen any vibrations?

it does dampen the board i have also used rubber grommets they fit each side of the mounting hole on the board if you use the correct sized grommet …