sorry for double posting but yes you can test if your system will start just on your mobo, as long as you leave the PWR switch and PWR LED's in, PSU connected to ur board then you can test, just disconnect GPU, HDD and any optical drives. It also helps to have an LED fan plugged in.
Does brass conduct the electricity or are they just made so narrow that they don't interfere with any circuits because I think I have them and i'm a bit curious.