Like A Puzzle

In order to make putting the MSI Nightblade all back together as easy as possible, the first parts you'll want to install are the SO-DIMMs. As shown earlier, one is fitted to the motherboard's front while the other goes into a slot on the rear.


My fingers area bit large, so I had a bit of an issue getting the SO-DIMM on the primary side installed, though messing with the wires just to the left of the slot helped a bit. I noticed that although there is a fair bit of wiring going on here, it is all intelligently routed through the case and fastened securely, which makes getting everything back together that much easier.


Next up are the CPU and cooler. Don't forget to replace the two screws at the back of the case that hold the cooler in place!


We can now work on the drives. The 2.5-inch bay slides out so you can screw the drive into position. Once done, use another screw to secure the tray with its installed drive in place.


There are two bays for 3.5-inch devices, which attach to the system via pre-installed power and data connectors, in place and waiting for you to drop your drive into one of these slots.


Now, two more screws need to go back into their position for each 3.5-inch bay.


Next, we can install the VGA. Make sure to connect the fan header and the GPU power cables before sliding the whole assembly into place. Full and wired up, doing so is a bit difficult, so removing the 2.5-inch tray might help when it comes to moving the whole assembly into place, now that I think of it. I wish I had thought of that earlier!


Anyway, at this point, reversing the process shown earlier to remove all the screws will get the rest of the MSI NIghtblade MI2 back into running order quite quickly, depending on how deft you are with a screwdriver.