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B uild Yo ur O wn >>
How to build a Mini-ITX PC - A Step By Step Guide
By Sean Palmer
You are encouraged t o make links t o t his art icle f rom your websit e and t ell your f riends
Tracking
In this manual I will walk you through the steps required to build a mini- ITX computer system. This
tutorial will be a pictured one that goes through the steps of building the machine from out of the Enter Order #:
box to completion. This tutorial will be set up in sections for those who would like to skip forward.
TRACK
On most pictures, you can click on the pictures to get a z oomed in view.
Orde r St at us
1. Int roduct ion
2. St art wit h t he Case Sim ilar It e m s
3. The mot herboard St e ps t o Asse m ble a
4. Let s put it t oget her Syst e m
Opt ical/Hard drive mount
Inst all Mot herboard Ho w t o Build a Quie t
Inst all t he Processor PC? A Sim ple Guide
The CPU Fan
Case Fan Ho w t o Build a Ne w
Insert t he Memory Syst e m Using Old Part s?
Inst all t he mount
Front USB Ho w t o Build a Ho m e
ot her connect ions Ne t wo rk?
Slim Drive connect ion
Power supply connect ions Links t o Sit e s o n Ho w
t o Build Yo ur Own
Complet ion
Syst e m s
5. Case opt ions
f eet f or t he case Ho w t o Build a
6. Video Connect ions Wire le ss Ne t wo rk?
7. Not e Sect ion
Ho w t o Build My Own
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Inf o & FAQ s
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C o nt act Us
De al o f t he Day
Micro so f t Kine ct
Se nso r Wire le ss
Co nt ro lle r f o r Xbo x36 0 ,
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Only $ 14 4 .9 9
Fe at ure d Pro duct s
Ho w t o Build My Own
Lapt o p - a Pict ure
Tut o rial
Int roduct ion Ho w t o build a Mini-
IT X PC - A St e p By St e p
Guide
Today we are going to put together a mini- ITX system with the Black Winsis WI- 08- BK Mini- ITX
computer case, w/ Slim Optical Drive bay and use an Intel BOXDQ45EK LGA775 mini- ITX
3D Visio n Ho m e
motherboard. This system is perfect for office professionals that are looking for a space saver and
still want high performance.
To day's Spe cials
Black ASUS 20 in
St art wit h t he Case Wide scre e n Co m put e r
LCD Mo nit o r VE20 5 T,
5 0 0 0 0 ...
Only $ 119 .9 9
We first start with the WI- 08- BK case. Here we have the front Black Hannspre e /
of the WI- 08- BK, you see it has a slim optical drive bay and Hanns.G 19 in
two front usb ports and audio mic and headphone jacks. The Wide scre e n Co m put e r
power button is the small, half circle; shape to the left of the LCD Mo nit o ...
silver front and to the far left you will see a clear plastic for the Only $ 10 9 .9 9
hard drive LED. The back of the WI- 08- BK we have thumb
screws for the top lid and a 200w power supply that comes Black LG E4 0 22in Full
with the Winsis case. Remove the lid and you see what the HD 10 80 p LED Backlit
Wide scre e n LCD Mo ...
WI- 08- BK provides. There is the 200w power supply, mount
Only $ 15 1.9 9
bracket for the slim optical drive and hard drive, a box of various screws, and a power cable.
Black Ace r V24 3HAJ BD
24 in Wide scre e n
The Mot herboard Co m put e r LCD Mo nit o r
ET....
Only $ 17 9 .88
We are going to use the BOXDQ45EK mini- ITX motherboard by Intel Po we rCo lo r AX6 9 5 0
for this system which comes in a box which comes with the I/O 2GBD5 -M2DH Rade o n
shield, SATA cables, and driver disc. HD6 9 5 0 2GB PCI Expre ss
2....
Only $ 30 4 .9 9
Po we rCo lo r AX6 9 7 0
2GBD5 -M2DH Rade o n
HD6 9 7 0 2GB PCI Expre ss
2....
Only $ 37 4 .9 9
XFX HD-6 9 5 A-CNFC
Rade o n HD6 9 5 0 2GB PCI
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ASUS UL5 0 Se rie s
15 .6 in WXGA No t e bo o k
UL5 0 AG-RST BK0 3, Int e l
C...
Only $ 5 7 9 .0 0
*$ 15 Mail-in Re bat e *
Co rsair CAFA5 0 A5 0 Air
Se rie s Pe rf o rm anc...
Only $ 38.9 9
Black Micro so f t Basic
USB Opt ical Mo use ,
Q6 6 -0 0 0 0 8. OEM....
Only $ 7 .9 9
Crazy Price s
USB Ce ll Pho ne
Charge r, f o r So ny
Ericsso n T 28/R320 /
R310 /R38...
Only $ 4 .9 9
Scyt he Kaze J yu Slim
10 0 m m Case Fan / Hard
Drive Co o le r, 10 0 0 ...
Only $ 6 .9 9
Cle arance Sale
Ye llo w Sun Flo we r Case
Badge (st icke rs, labe ls),
# F11...
Only $ 0 .0 5
Rade o n HD6 9 5 0 2GB PCI
Expre ss 2.1 x16 Vide o ...
Only $ 29 9 .9 9
Here is a aerial view of the DQ45EK mini- ITX, you see is e VGA Ge Fo rce GT X4 6 0
has two mem slots, a LGA775 socket for Intel processor, 4 7 6 8-P3-136 0 -T R 7 6 8MB
SATA ports(3.0Gb/s) for hard drives/optical drives and has PCI Expre ss 2.0 x16 ...
the onboard Raid 0/1/5/10. Only $ 16 9 .9 9
Z o t ac Z T-4 0 6 0 3-10 L
Ge Fo rce GT 4 30 1GB PCI
Expre ss 2.0 x16 Lo w ...
Only $ 82.9 9
Z OTAC Z T-4 0 4 0 2-10 P
Ge Fo rce GT X4 6 0
Here is the Input/Output of the DQ45EK, here we have dual video with either two DVI or a provided (Fe rm i) 1GB PCI Expre ss
adapter for DVI to VGA, 6 back 2.0 USB ports, 1 eSATA Port (3.0 Gb/s), Intel 82566LM Energy 2.0 ...
Star- ready 10/100/1000 onboard Network connection, and onboard audio in, speaker out, and mic. Only $ 19 6 .9 9
Black So ny 3D Blu-ray
Disc Playe r BDP-S4 7 0 ,
3D BD Full HD 10 8...
Only $ 127 .9 9
*Fre e Gro und Shipping*
So ny 7 .1CH Ho m e
T he at e r A/V Re ce ive r, ...
Only $ 239 .9 9
Spide r St andard C-
se rie s 6 Fe e t Supe r High
Spe e d HDMI Cable , ...
Only $ 24 .9 9
Spide r St andard C-
se rie s 12 Fe e t Supe r
High Spe e d HDMI
Cable ,...
Only $ 29 .9 9
We st e rn Digit al Caviar
Blue 3.5 in 5 0 0 GB SATA
Lets get started 6 Gb/s Int e rnal H...
Only $ 4 4 .9 9
We st e rn Digit al Caviar
Black 3.5 in 6 4 0 GB SATA
6 Gb/s Int e rnal ...
Only $ 6 6 .9 9
First, take all the parts cables and parts box out of the WI-
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 08- BK and set them aside for later, set the usb, audio, fan, Micro so f t Lif e Cam HD-
and power supply connections and move them out of the 6 0 0 0 USB We bcam f o r
way best possible to give yourself some working room. No t e bo o ks, 7 20 p HD V...
Only $ 4 4 .9 9

iMicro USB CMOS

Cam e ra, w/ So f t ware
Int e rpo lat io n t o 2.0 MP,
...
Only $ 9 .9 9

iMicro USB CMOS

Cam e ra wit h So f t ware
Int e rpo lat io n t o 1.3MP,
...
Next, we need to remove the front cover of the Winsis case. First Only $ 8.9 9
gently life the tabs of the front case and loosen them from the metal
chassis. iMicro IMC0 27 USB2.0
No t e bo o k We bcam , w/
Night Visio n...
Only $ 8.9 9

iMicro 1/4 in CMOS

We bcam , USB 2.0 , 1.3
Me ga, Mo de l: CAM-
IMT 1N...
Only $ 12.9 9

iMicro IMC329 9 USB

We bcam , w/ Night
Inside the case you will need to squeez e the case lock to Visio n...
let it pass through the Wk- 08- BK case chassis to be able to Only $ 9 .9 9
remove the front cover.

Gently start to remove the front cover and guide the usb, audio
and power button cables through the front chassis and pull it

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away from the front. You do not have to remove it completely,
just enough to remove the optical/hard drive mount.

To remove the optical/hard drive mount, lift the red tab

and unscrew the red thumb screw. When done, slide the
mount up and out of the case, slight jiggling helps a bit.

The Winsis Wi- 08- BK provides a mount assistance with

optical drive and 3.5 hard drives. It is spring loaded so
flip the tab and it will rise slightly from the mount.

Here we have a slim SATA optical drive for our system.

carefully slide the slim optical drive into the mount.
carefully guide the slide drive in and flip the tabs on the
mount assistance, make sure that the tool less
assistance inserts into the drive to hold in place.

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Here is the hard drive that we will be using for the system. Slide
the hard drive into the mount and close the flip tab on the mount
assistance and insure that the guides insert into the hard drive.
On the other side there are screw holes to secure the drives.

If wanted you can use a laptop siz e 2.5 hard drive, there
are guides and screw holes on both sides. There are no
mount assistances with the spring- loaded guides. But it
does have chassis mount guides that will hold the hard
drive in place while you secure the hard drive screws in
place.

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Now that the mount is complete with an optical drive and hard drive, set it aside for later and let us
start with the DQ45EK mini- ITX install.

First let’s take the I/O shield from the BOXDQ45EK and
snap it into the WI- 08- BK.

Slowly guide the DQ45EK mini- ITX into the Winsis chassis,
A slight tilt helps place the motherboard into the WI- 08- BK
case. There are 4 mounting holds to secure the mini- ITX
into the case.

The Winsis WI- 08- BK has pre- cut holes in the side of the
case so that a screw drive can be used to mount the mini-
ITX.

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 The Winsis case has one expansion slot which has a flip
chassis which has two uses. Flip it open to get to the last
mounting point for the DQ45EK, and for sliding the
expansion slot shield if you are adding a card. Close it
down when finished.

Now let’s put in the processor. For this mini- ITX build we
are using the Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 Wolfdale 2.80Ghz
processor. Socket LGA775 45nm processor. 1066MHz
Front side bus.

First lets remove the plastic cover for the processor

socket on the DQ45EK, flip open the lock handle and open
the processor mount.

With clean hands, hold the processor from the sides

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| WARNING | Do not t ouch t he cont act s ( bot t om of processor)

Carefully place the processor in the socket LGA775, Use the arrow on the corner of the processor
to a line with the arrow on the socket.

With the processor inserted correctly, close the mount and

lock it in place.

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Now for the CPU FAN

Place the CPU Fan in position over the processor, (on the
DQ45EK mini- ITX, there are four mounting holes for the
Intel CPU Cooler), try to make sure where the CPU fan
power source is on the mini- ITX to make it easy to plug in.

Either use your thumb or a flat- head screw driver and push
down the locks for the cooler to secure in place, you will hear a small click when it locks in place.
You can try to jiggle the cooler, to see if it is secure, if it moves, try to make sure that it is locked in
place.

The case fan can be plugged in next to the CPU fan power
source, just make sure the cable is not in the way of any
fans of other devices way, best to move it to the side of
the mini- ITX to be clear of the CPU fan and the case fan.

Now for the memory, Here is a RAM stick of DDR2

memory. For this build we are using a single stick of 2GB

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 DDR2 memory. The DQ45EK has the memory spaces for 2
sticks which is recommended to use for Dual- Channel
memory.

On the DQ45EK mini- ITX, open the tabs to the closest

memory slot to the processor. Place the memory in the slot
and carefully snap it in. Please take in mind that the
memory can only be placed in one way, so there is an
indention marker on the slot and ram, line those up
together so that you see the correct position of the RAM.
Make sure that the tabs are closed completely and holding
the ram in place.

Now lets get back to the optical/hard drive mount. Carefully

place the mount inside the WI- 08- BK chassis, lining the
top of the mount with the mini- ITX chassis. Screw in the
thumb screw and you’re done. There is an optional spot to
screw the optical/hard drive mount, there is a spot to put
one more screw at the bottom of the mount for extra
secure.

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For the slim optical drive, the front cover for the WI- 08- BK
case will need the optical slot cover to be pushed out,
there are two tabs that are holding the slot cover on the
front cover, carefully move the tabs in and the slot cover
will be able to come out

To put the front cover of the Winsis chassis, slowly feed

the front USB, AUDIO, and power switch cables into the
chassis. Make sure that the optical drive lines in place and
snap the front cover onto the chassis of the WI- 08- BK
chassis.

A View of the front cover put back on the case.

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 To plug in the front USB, route the cable on the side of the
WI- 08- BK to the USB headers on the DQ45EK and plug it
in on either sport. There are 9 pins, the red cables of the
USB are to be on the first 2 pins of the USB header, and
The ground cable (black) is towards the 7th and 8th pin
closed to the alone 9th pin.

Route the AUDIO cable to the back of the case to the yellow audio pins (9 pin connection) which
can only be plugged in one way, there is a block that is placed to make sure that it is plugged in
correctly. And move the cable to the side of the mini- ITX to be out of the way.

Look in the manual or the reference guide of the DQ45EK

mini- ITX and see what the front power switch, power LED,
and the hard drive LED pins are for the front connectors. If
that is not an option, the other is to look at the pins and
they are color coded for easiness to fin which is which. The
color wire is the power and the white wire is the negative
so if you look at the 9 pin block, you can see blacked out
plus ( + ) signs to signify that positive of the two pins. Place
the three plugs on to the appropriate pins and move the
cables to the side of the mini- ITX motherboard to have
them out of the way.

Now to plug in the hard drive, take one of the provided

SATA cables out of the BOXDQ45EK and plug it into the

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drive. While you are there, plug in the power SATA cable.
Route the SATA cable to the side of the DQ45EK mini- ITX
and plug it in to the SATA ports on the motherboard.

To plug in the slim optical drive, a separate cable is

needed to connect the SATA and power cable. This cable
comes in two lengths, 8 inches and 18 inches. Both are
usually around 6 dollars.

The connector has the plug in for the optical drive, plug for
the SATA port, and a MOLEX connector for power.

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 Plug the connecter into the optical drive, and the SATA
connector into the SATA port.

Next take the MOLEX connector and plug it into another

MOLEX connection from the power supply.

For cable management purposes, take a z ip tie and tie up

the floppy power connecter since we are using a SATA
slim optical drive, this cable is not needed.

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Tuck the cable to the side of the DQ45EK mini- ITX and
have them out of the way.

Take the CPU power cable(Black and Yellow cable with 4

pins) from the power supply and route it to the towards the
back of the case. Have the power cable go around the
already plugged in AUDIO cable and plugging it in front of
the already plugged in front USB cable helps keep the
USB cable from moving toward the CPU fan and general
helps keep the cables in an orderly fashion.

For the power to the DQ45EK, take the power cable for the
power supply and have it go over the optical/hard drive
mount, make sure that all 24 pins are going to plug in
correctly.

When you see that you have it set in place, push it in all
the way and make sure it is secure and folder down the
power cable of the optical/hard drive mount

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 To complete the installation of the Winsis WI- 08- BK mini-
ITX case and the BOXDQ45EK Intel motherboard with the
Intel 2.8GHz Wolfdale, take the side/top cover of the case
and slide it on and take the thumb screws provided and
lock it in place.

The Winsis WI- 08- BK can be placed as a desktop style

pc or a mini tower pc. Winsis provides little feet to attach to
the outside of the case,

For our installation, we are going to make this mini- ITX into
a mini tower, remove the 3M tape cover, (carefully,
otherwise you will remove the entire tape and not be able
to tape them down) take the feet and place them on the

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 circle spots marked on the WI- 08- BK case. Hold them
down for a few seconds to make sure they stick.

The DQ45EK comes with two video out puts, DVI- I (blue)
and DVI- D (white). DVI- I has the option of using a DVI to
VGA adapter that is supplied by the BOXDQ45EK mini-
ITX motherboard.

DVI- D can not use a VGA adapter so this one any only be
used by a DVI connection.

Now you have a completed Mini- ITX system built and ready to install the Operating System of your

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choosing. Please take a look at the Note Section when installing Windows XP due to the driver CD
supplied in the BOXDG45EK.

NOTE SECTION

When installing Windows XP Pro for our demo build, we came to an issue when installing the
drivers that are supplied with the DQ45EK, we ran into a problem with using the express installer.
The problem we ran into is that when the drivers started to load, and the system would
automatically restart and log back in and start on the next driver. The system followed this routine
but when it got to the log in screen, it did not log in and the keyboard and mouse were disabled.
Shutting down the machine and restarting it did not help. Also changing keyboards and mice had no
effect. The only solution is to re- install windows. DO NOT DO A REPAIR INSTALL. We came across
the repair install and the system still wanted to log in even with the driver disc removed. The
suggestion is to start the system and only EXPLORE the disc and load the drivers per the Window’s
properties device manager. Adding the drivers manually proved to work and only too a little longer
to finish the set up than using the express installer.

Reviews

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