A friend gave me a mother board, an Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe.
but not what I think I saw called the I/O shield, the thin metal plate
that surrounds all the port and jacks. I could make one I suppose,
or buy one somewhere maybe. It its absence going to cause problems?

Thank you.

In article <vhvm451r9cagmcsf71een10hbk9s380hlp (AT) 4ax (DOT) com>, mm says...
to cover the gaps.


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mm wrote:


Very unlikely to be a problem

mm wrote:
As far as I know, the IO shield really only does 3 things:

1. Covers up the gaping hole that's not covered up by your connectors.
While it's not very good at keeping dust out, it's better than nothing.

2. RF shielding. In theory, outside radio interference can cause weird
behaviour in some components, and some of the components inside also
generate RF interference that can screw with other equipment nearby.
I'm not sure if it's really that big a deal, but larger holes are gaps
in that shielding. The I/O shield is partially intended to plug that gap.

3. Grounding. Some motherboards use it as an additional point of
grounding to the case. On the newer motherboards that have a LAN
connector, the I/O shield usually has a metal piece that sticks out and
contacts the LAN connector housing (also metal). It's to reduce the
likelihood of killing the board if you have a static discharge while
plugging something into one of those connectors.

The board is usually grounded elsewhere, so everything will still work
if it's not there. I guess it's just added insurance, because not all
cases can ground through the standoffs (some cases use plastic ones).