OK! So i am now posting this from a working computer. It is not exactly the computer I had in mind, but hey, it works.
So here's everything that happened in the last month, I will try to put it in a list to make it more understandable, as I have a tendency to wander and ramble
1. Bought the following parts from Newegg:
-Intel e6600
-MSI P6N-SLI Platinum
-Patriot PC6400 DDR2800 2x1GB Kit
-BFG 7800 GTX
-Corsair CMPSU-520HX
-2x Western Digital Caviar SATA 250GB
-Western Digital Caviar SATA 320GB
-Lian-Li PC-60B Black
2. I installed the motherboard onto the case and then installed the CPU/HS and then the RAM. I installed all three hard drives and hooked them up via the SATA cables. I installed the video card.
3. Booted her up and she shut right down. Did a little troubleshooting and thought I narrowed it down to the RAM itself, as when I took out the RAM it would stay powered on.
4. THIS PART WAS A BIG MISTAKE ON MY PART. I got frustrated because I wasn't possitive it was the RAM, so I took it to the computer guy next door to where I worked. I figured he'd have extra parts lying around that we could do a real diagnostic check. He, however, did not. He said he would take a look at it.
5. In the meantime I went ahead and bought a 512 stick of Kingston DDR2 667 as per the suggestions of my good anandtech friends here in this thread. Spent an extra 20 for overnight shipping, because Im an impatient bastard. Did it through UPS... WILL NEVER SHIP THROUGH UPS AGAIN. The overnight turned into two day and that 2nd day was on a saturday and they wouldn't ship it then -_-
6. RAM finally came in though, and Bob (the computer guy) said he took a look at it over the weekend and was very suspicious of the PSU.
7. We tried the new RAM, same problem happened as before, computer would power up for a second or two and then shutdown. It shoud also be noted here that we tested a different video card at some point as well, not sure when, but it was an ATI x300.
8. Bob said he really thought it was the PSU, so I began an RMA. Took the PSU home and put it on my bed, where it is still actually sitting today.
9. Again, I'm impatient, so I just went ahead and ordered another PSU, the same one actually, ahead of the RMA. I figured that I'm most likely going to be building a computer for a friend or my dad soon, so I might as wel have an extra PSU laying around... *shrug*
10. PSU came in and I gave it Bob to test. He came to me later and told me the same thing was happening. (Glad I didn'tw aste shipping sending that PSU out)
11. Bob suggested next that it was either the mobo or the processor. I was leaning heavily toward the mobo, as most people do not encounter bricked processors. So I just went ahead and ordered a new mobo, no point in waiting for an RMA I said!
12. Couple days later my ASUS P5N-E SLI board came in. Gave it to Bob, he hooked it up and then told me it was having the same problem. Now this is where I started to say, ok thanks Bob, I'll take it from here. I had already decided to order an e4300 as I had so many new computer parts that I might as well build another computer when I'm done right? So I ordered it.
13. So at this point I'd sent in an RMA for botht he MSI mobo and the e6600. I had also already purchased an e4300.
14. I got fired from my job last Saturday, for some very bullshit reasons (a nice culmination of the previous months frustration with this computer) and a couple days later the e4300 came in. So I went to work one last time, talked to Bob, thanked him for the help and took my computer back home.
15. When I got home I installed the ASUS P5N-E SLI mobo into my case. I realized, thanks to dfnkt, that Bob had not used the Q-Connector that comes with the case and that might very well have been the reason for it not working. Although it is still possible that it was the CPU, I guess I will never know now. I then installed the e4300, the Patriot DDR2800 RAM, the Corsair PSU, the 7800 GTX, and the two WD 250gb drives as the mobo only came with two sata cables *shakes fist*.
16. Powered on, GOT TO A BOOT SCREEN. I then familiarized myself with the BIOS and then decided to install windows.
17. During installation i was constantly getting STOP errors... constantly. So I got frustrated again, but then realized, hey I have a lot of extra parts, I can figure this out. So I threw in the 512 stick of DDR2 667 and voila, windows installed flawlessly.
18. I then started setting up my computer and figured I'd give the Patriot ram another shot. So I installed it and it booted windows fine, no problems. But the timings were a bit blah, so I adjusted them. Couldnt' keep it stable at the advertised 4-4-4-12, but 5-5-5-15 is working quite nicely.
19. I have absolutely not idea about this RAM, it doesn't work, it works, it doesn't work... who the ****** knows. All I know is that now it works and so I am going to stop complaining about it.
20. The RMAed processor and mobo should be coming in the mail next week. I'm going to put that together and hopefully everything works this time. Then either have a 2nd computer lying around, or sell this one, who knows. I'll keep you posted how the building process goes, xP
Thanks again for all the help you guys, you are a wealth of information and I hope that perhaps this thread will help someone else out if they ever encounter problems like this.