New
#11
One thing that always should be done to prevent damage to parts plugged into a motherboard is to pull the power cord out then press the power button, or wait a minute. Motherboards of the last several years always have power to them when plugged in, most have a small light on the board to indicate that. Removing things like the RAM modules and PCI cards can cause damage to them if the residual power is still present.
Back in the AT motherboard days the power switch was connected directly to the power supply, the newer ATX/mATX boards control the power where the power supply is connected to the board and the power switch on the case is also connected to the board and only tells the board to turn things on or shut down. Or in other words the ATX boards control what the power supply does, not the case switch.