[Hack&Lube]

Here are the important early steps (the ones people are usually afraid of) as best I can outline quickly:

1. Take your case and see if you can remove the motherboard tray

2. Pop out the default backplate, put in your motherboard/backplate

3. Screw in the copper color standoffs onto the motherboard tray

4. Place the motherboard on the standoffs, place on the insulating washers

5. Screw the motherboard to the tray (important here because often, people attach the CPU/heatsink first and that warps the board due to the force of the retention mechanism).

6. Pull open the ZIF socket lever, insert the CPU

7. If you are using the default Intel cooler, it will have silver thermal grease pre-applied. I think you are going with the Ninja though so you will need to buy something like Arctic Silver - this part you will need a more in depth guide as to how to apply the silver between the CPU and the heatsink. I would put a small blob of it in the center and spread it out with a clean credit-card. I don't recall you including the silver in your list, you might want to buy a tube. I wouldn't trust the silicone grease that usually comes with the heatsink.

8. Install the heatsink carefully, don't push or smudge the grease everywhere but get it to spread evenly. Push in the four clips or screw in the four screws. Make sure all four sides are in. The intel boards require some force sometimes so it might be scary but just push them all in.

9. Read your manual to see where the motherboard power connections, sound, headers, etc. for your front panel connect. They basically just go right onto the pins just like jumpers. One side is positive and negative, if I remember, the side with the arrow on the connector is negative or ground. This is usually very easy though, the connectors are all marked (PWR, Reset, Mic, Sound, LED etc.) and if you screw up, don't worry, you won't damage anything...just you won't have sound on your front panel, or maybe not your USBs, or maybe the front LED won't light, your computer won't turn on (or the reset button turns on your computer or something funny like that). Easy to diagnose if you made a mistake.

10. The rest is easy, just install the rest of your hardware, plug them into the powersupply, plug everything into the board. Make sure your fans are all connected...that the videocard power is also connected. That your IDE cable is plugged in right (for the DVD drive). Be careful with the SATA cable, I've had a few snap off at the harddrive in my experience.

Many people put all their parts ontop of the antistatic bags in hopes it will protect them but it's a myth because once out of the bag, it nolonger acts as a faraday cage...but it keeps your stuff clean and orderly still. I've never built a computer with an anti-static strap or anti-static foot covers or anything. I just do it on my desk...if however, your house happens to be an especially dry one and you have thick carpetting and you seem to zap yourself all over the place, you might want to invest in the strap, but it's really not neccessary. Just plug the PSU into the wall (so that it is grounded) and touch the PSU with your hand before doing any delicate stuff and any potential (rare) charge built up will go away.

The most complicated step for somebody who hasn't done this before is probably the BIOS setup, but that requires much more depth...but then again, if you aren't overclocking, most of the settings should be decent and automatic from default.