So my PSU broke and I've finally decided to just get new everything, I'm very much on a budget but after a bit of looking into I ended up with the following:

Motherboard: Asus P7H55-M PRO Intel H55 LGA1156 microATX (I have specific reasons for going with an mATX board)

Video card: XFX Radeon HD5670 1GB GDDR5

PSU: Corsair TX650W

CPU: Intel Core i5-650 3.20GHz

RAM: Corsair 4GB (2X2GB) DDR3 1333MHz

The total price is kind of irrelevant since things cost more in Finland, but the above totaled to around 540€. I'm making this thread because, even though I've placed the order, I can still make changes if dire need be, and that's where you guys come in!

Just gonna go for 2 things here:
Why not wait for Sandy Bridge in January? Some cool stuff on the way.
You sure you can't go for an i5?
E: oh you already ordered it

Never heard of the Sandy Bridge before, I was actually completely out of the loop on new hardware until I did the looking into I mentioned...and that only happened today.

Looks like it's the successor to Intel's Nehalem processor architecture, that's actually a pretty good tip Tibby, I probably won't hold out for the new processors though. Since I'm not entirely sure how this works, I have to ask: will my socket LGA1156 board support Sandy Bridge processors if I ever want to upgrade to one?*

And yeah, I was going with an i3 but I discovered the not-so-large price increase for the i5 is worth it.

* I realize I'm just asking whether the new processors will be socket LGA1156 or something else.

Also I'll probably have to get a Windows 7 license at some point, because I'm still on XP. :/

I know that a lot of newer hardware goes to waste if I use XP, due to some memory limitation and no DirectX 10+ thingies.

The Sandy Bridge architecture processors are socket 1155 (instead of 1156) according to Wikipedia, so the answer to my previous question is a no.

ALSO I saw that the Radeon HD5750 and further the 5770 would provide higher performance at not much of a price increase, but I went for the 5670 due to its physical size (I'm building small, as before).

This is sorta why I hate Intel's naming scheme. I'm guessing when Tibby was recommending the i5, he meant one of the true Quad-cores like the i5-750 or i5-760. IMHO, the lower-end i5's arent worth it over the i3's.

Honestly, the i5-650 is probably good enough for your intended uses. So dont lose sleep over it.

ah, alright.

Yes, I did sorry. I meant an i5 750. It was late :\
Sandy Bridge is Intels next revision, and looks to be pretty damned impressive. especially the new integrated graphics that ~gasp~ don't suck.

I'll believe it when I see it.

By doesn't suck I think they mean "it'll play WoW on low settings".

Or it won't choke to death when playing back 1080p video...

Compared to what they offer right now, it's a big step.

...and a step I couldn't give a **** about.

Some people do, geez you don't need to be such a dick about it.
It'll be great for extreme low price/power/size setups, laptops, and netbooks.

In before Intel vs AMD

Which is why I said I. An integrated graphics core doesn't appeal to me, especially given Intel's history with graphics processors. Calm your ass down.

Well I've assembled it...but it's not turning on. I press the power switch, absolutely nothing happens.

Some possible explanations I thought of were: problem with the PSU (faulty unit or wrong voltage), problem with the power button wiring, problem with wiring in general, or getting unlucky with a faulty mobo.

The mobo has a green LED that's active when I switch on power from the PSU, so I know it's powered up and that should rule out PSU issues, I guess. As the mobo does indeed emit that green light, I figured it's probably the wiring. But I've checked the wiring, I've double checked the wiring and I've triple checked it and so forth, pretty much all of today after I got it together.

I've been trying to google for help but it's pretty much just pointing me to what I already thought of. I didn't switch the case from my previous setup, so the power button that worked fine is the same, and it's definitely plugged in correctly (correct set of pins, black wire on the "ground" pin).

Maybe I killed it with static electricity when installing (though I touched metal before I started in order to release any static, I did handle all the components with my bare hands, but I didn't feel or notice any jolts of static electricity at any point), or would that result in the green LED not lighting?

halp!

Mobo could be DOA (green light or not, got a manual?), where did you get it from?

Take everything out and start over, try turning it on without anything connected to the mobo except the power cable and switch.

Oh I didn't know, that, zanardi. Yeah I have the manual and been reading it a lot, I think it only said something like "if it's green then that's cool" about the LED.

Tibby, I'll try that tomorrow (now it's 2:20 am, damn my current sleep cycle). Shall I take out the CPU as well?

Is the power switch plugged into the correct pins? :p

Everything, although it might not start without a cpu. Doesn't hurt to try though.
Make sure to be careful with pins, if all else fails get some copper wire and try to jump it yourself.

I consider it unlikely you killed it with static. I would re-seat everything (cpu/ram/front panel connections/power connections). The PSU have a voltage switch and its set to whatever crazy finnish people use? Is there an onboard PC speaker that would let you hear error beeps, or can/have you plugged on in? Clear cmos? Just a hand full of stuff to start off with.

There's a PC speaker and I have it plugged in (or at least had but then I didn't bother with it when I kept replugging the power switch connection), but wouldn't it need to turn on (and attempt to boot) before it can emit beeps? Now there's no fan or power LED activity or anything.

I can't locate a voltage switch on the PSU so I guess it doesn't have one. I got all of these new from a very popular Finnish webstore, so I think it's unlikely that it would have incompatible voltage unless indeed a voltage switch was set in the wrong position.

I'll try taking everything out/reseating tomorrow (or today depending on how you look at it).

I was guessing because your motherboard LED is lighting up that it might also be producing a PC Speaker beep code. It can produce error beeps long before entering BIOS. When you power it on, no fans twitch for even a second?

Nope. Not even a fraction of a second!

Yes!! It starts with absolutely everything out except PSU and mobo. Now to find out what the culprit is and leave that out if possible...

oh for ****'s sake...

I was plugging an inappropriate wire into the "power fan" pins, which are in fact used for an optional fan control feature (for some reason I thought it would be required for the PSU fan to operate, but now when I think about it I don't see why the PSU wouldn't spin its own fan without the motherboard's assistance). When I don't plug that thing it seems to always start up.

So the problem was that I'm just stupid. Thanks for helping out, guys.

That happens to pretty much everyone every time they build a computer, in some form or another.

Glad you figured it out!