8.53 PM Attaching the motherboard

The hardest part of the assembling is now behind and the following part is attaching the motherboard to the case. Case has a handy motherboard slider to get the whole motherboard including the add-on cards out from behind the case. At first our expert inserted the I/O plate to the slider which came with the NF7. Finally the plate locked on after many attempts.

As seen from the picture, installing the motherboard requires accurate hands and mind :). It is important to check that the plugs go straight to the holes on the I/O plate.

Best working position was found by placing the motherboard between the legs on the floor. This certainly belongs to the group of “weirdest positions that men wouldn’t even think of” ?

Attaching the motherboard succeeded with no problems. A newbie can do tremendous damage with this operation especially when working unwary with a screwdriver. Twisting the screws proceeded with speed and ultimate care.

9.06 PM Installing the graphics card

From the MSI’s large package, eyes fell on the cute stamp meant to the case façade. We suggested NOT to glue it to the slick case surface (ugly). With a little disagreement followed with total harmony the stamp got a place to be, the box.

At first the graphics card was on the way to the PCI-slot, but then she found out that it won’t fit to it and switched to the AGP-slot. She was surprised by the force she had to use to get the card correctly installed.

“And that screw goes there…” she babbled as she searched the right screw from the small plastic pouch. It took a little time to find the right screw with the right rifles.

9.19 PM Finalizing + cables

When all right parts were in place it was time to push the motherboard slider to the case. We hoped that our “expert” wouldn’t annihilate the graphics card when she pushed the slider in. Slider attached to the case with a click with no harm done…yet :)

Both ATX- and 12V-plugs found their place almost automatically. The horribly long ATX-cable of the Enermax power got a little blame as she tried to hide it.

It was time for jumpering the drives before installing. Our girlie got the hang of the instructions right at the start and the drives found their right places quickly.

Jumpers on the right place and drives to the case. Screwing and attaching went with no problems, without any questions or asking look on her face.

IDE- and power-cables found their places on the drivers and motherboard. Finalizing the hardware she clarified with no help at all. Now it was time to boot up the time machine.

9.48 PM (Possible) First Boot

Cables and wires attached and here we go. The tension tightened to this point. The PC was ready and waiting for someone to press the power-on. Our Master switched the current on from the power and Abit’s red sign led shined brightly. Promising, I chuckled. Next she pushed the power button on the front panel of the case. The machine booted up nicely! I was very proud of my darling.

At first, our lady directed to the BIOS. She was familiar with the basic handling of BIOS as I kept her a small “lesson” about the knobs and buttons it holds. The memory configurations, basic settings etc right and the pc was ready except Windows.

10.03 PM Installing Windows

So the whole thing was ready except Windows. At this point we who watched the progress went to the grill to ease the pain and stress. Our lady stayed to install Windows XP. She had experience about that kind of operation so it wasn’t a big deal. When I returned from the barbeque grill I noticed her playing Solitaire =)