Worse: A missing standoff under a critical power plane can cause intermittent shorts. I’ve seen a 6-drive RAIDZ2 go poof because the builder used nylon standoffs everywhere, breaking the ground path.
Hand-tightening works for test-fitting. Brass standoffs have shallow knurling for finger grip.
Removing standoffs stuck to a motherboard screw. Use a proper standoff driver or risk spinning the entire post.
| Thread Type | Common Use | NAS Example | |-------------|------------|--------------| | #6-32 UNC | Standard PC cases | Old Cooler Master NAS chassis | | M3 | Mini-ITX, some backplanes | Fractal Design Node 304 | | M4 | Rack rails, HDD cages | Supermicro chassis, SilverStone |
