Thanks zak! I must admit I feel a little ashamed, I've made several builds but as most people will have experienced, it's not every day you have to boot a new PC without a processor...

Nope odarus, Nick is right - you can even boot with a completely clean and formatted hard drive (I may be wrong but I don't even think that's necessary for the POST at all...)

POST is not booting, but is a step in the right direction. If you can get a screen that says, OS not found - that is "technically" considered booting (with a missing o/s). I understand you are attempting to test components, and if you're implying you are booting to a hard drive utility or O/S cd then it makes more sense. Either way, without a CPU I'm doubtful you can isolate any potential issues with the machine.

EDIT: If you need more help, reach out to my friend starr_stealer. He's a programmer for Lockheed Martin, and knows more about hardware than my brain cares to remember.

QFT

Yeah wont post with no brain lol.

I didn't bother reading the rest of this thread so excuse me if this is off topic:

How much would it usually cost to build an average gaming computer.

£600

JUst average you can get in under 1k usd. High end gaming your looking at at least 1500 USD

You only have a 560 right? <object class="emojione" data="https://resources.enjin.com/1489581540/themes/core/images/emojione/svg/1f609.svg?0" type="image/svg+xml" standby=";)">;)</object>