Here are some pictures of the recommended parts and the build (thankS velillen):
Gigabyte Micro-ATX Build
Components used:
Purchased-
CPU – Intel i3-540
Mobo- GIGABYTE GA-H55M-USB3 LGA 1156 Intel H55 HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
RAM - G.Skill 2x2GB DDR3
PSU- CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W
CASE - nMEDIAPC Black Aluminum / Acrylic / Steel HTPC 5000B Micro ATX Media Center / HTPC Case
OS Windows 7 Home premium 64 bit
Lenovo RF Keyboard and Mouse
Rosewill Windows Media Center Remote
Items on hand
320gb Maxtor IDE HDD
1TB WD Green HDD
2TB Samsung "green" HDD
linksys wireless G with speedbooster PCI adapter
Parts:

Insertion of micro-ATX motherboard inside the case. Do not over tighten the screws or you will crack the motherboard. This goes without saying but tighten all screws by hand (do not use an electric screwdriver):

Inserting blu-ray drive and three hard drives into the "drive bay" attachment outside the case:

Connection of front ports and other cables (refer to the manual for these connections). Cable management using zip ties to hide cables under the drive bay.

Insertion of RAM --- they only go in 1 way so line up the notches and don't force them in. Attaching PSU to motherboard. Insertion of i3 into the motherboard --- again it only goes in 1 way so don't force it. Use locking bar to secure i3 to motherboard. Insertion of CPU fan into the motherboard. For this I push all four "tabs" down at once and you should hear a click. Don't forget to connect the fan's power cable to the motherboard at the appropriate header.

Connection of optical drives and hard drives to the PSU. Connect case fans to the PSU. A good idea here is to only connect only the designated operating system hard drive to the motherboard (i.e the hard drive that you want to have your Windows 7 installed on) to prevent accidentally installing the OS on the wrong drive. After the OS is installed you can connect the other HDs to the motherboard. Finally insert the wireless card if you have one.
Power up the motherboard via the power switch and enter bios to get it all set up the way you want. Then install Windows 7 and you are on to the software stage!



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ASUS Micro-ATX Mid Tower Build - assassin
This is a build that I did recently for a friend.
Parts list:



Header Connections:




Here's what the header should look like after all the connections are made. Consult the manual for the specifics...

Front panel HD Audio connection:

Connecting Hard Drive to SATA Connection:


Chassis/Case fan and connection:


Insert RAM:

Insertion of PSU:


Mounting Bluray:

Preparing CPU Socket and Inserting CPU:




Mounting CPU fan:

Connecting CPU fan to motherboard power:

Connecting PSU power to motherboard:




Final build before tweaking the cable management:

Preparing Mediabrowser on a 71" HDTV

Mediabrowser Complete on 71" HDTV

Size comparison of mid-tower case compared to mini-itx

Gigabyte Mini-ITX Build
Parts List:
Case: InWin BP655 200w $50
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-H55N-USB3 $105
CPU: Intel Core i3 550 3.2 Ghz $130
Ram: GSkill F3-10666CL9D-4GBNQ $45
HDD: Samsung HD204UI 2TB $80
ODD: Asus DVD DRW-24B3LT $19
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium $100
Grand Total: $529
Edit: Builders of this build have told me the InWin stock fan is loud. This was easily fixed by upgrading the fan with this model:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-602-_-Product and now the build is completely silent.






