Help with gaming rig upgrade

Hi,

I have been building and upgrading my own computers for some years now but I was trying to upgrade my current gaming rig last night and have hit a stumbling block and was hoping someone could help.

My current rig:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 B3 (2.4GHz 1066MHz) Socket 775 L2 8MB Cache (2x4MB (4MB per core pair))
ASUS P5W DH Deluxe SKT 775 dual-core Core2Duo Conroe ready Crossfire 8channel audio ATX
2x Corsair 4GB Kit (2x2GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2 Memory Kit CL5 1.9V
PowerColor HD 6950 2GB GDDR5 DVI HDMI 2mini DisplayPort PCI-E Graphics Card
Enermax 1000W Galaxy CrossFire EGA1000EWL ATX2.2 Modular PSU

My upgrades:
Intel Core i7 4771 3.50GHz Socket 1150 8MB
Gigabyte GA-Z87-HD3 Socket 1150 HDMI DVI ATX Motherboard
Crucial 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3 1600 MT/s (PC3-12800) CL8 @1.5V Ballistix Tactical UDIMM 240pin
Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO

Last night I stripped down my rig and plugged in all my new components. When I tried to start up the computer my power supply cut out and started giving a double beep pattern. I knew I wasn’t overloading the PSU as it is a bit of a beast and I bought it knowing it would be future proof for a while.

A bit of research showed me that my power supply has something called PowerGuard protection and the double beep pattern means “i) Power supply abnormal, protection circuit activated and/or ii) Connector terminals are short circuited.”

My first approach was to start stripping parts out of the PC until I got right down to simply the mobo, cpu and PSU but I was getting exactly the same result. Next I took the remaining parts out of the case and tried running them sitting on top of cardboard boxes (to ensure there was no short circuit through the case) but this also gave me the same result.

Next I tested the PSU by plugging in my old mobo and this powered up straight away with no problems (so I know my PSU is ok!). When plugging my new mobo back in I noticed that I have two options for the connector for CPU power. The connection on the board is an 8-pin power connector, coming from my PSU I have an 8-pin plug and 2x 4-pin plugs that can join together to make an 8-pin. I originally had the 8-pin connected and I don’t actually think it would make any difference which I used but if I’m wrong please let me know.

Currently I have my old rig up and running again and the upgrade parts stored safely in their anti-static bags (I have an anti-static bracelet I use when upgrading). I think there must be a problem with the motherboard as I have tested the PSU successfully. Does anyone else have any theories? I was thinking of testing the mobo this evening with a different PSU but I’m concerned that if there is some sort of short circuit it could fry my new processor too, is it worth doing this test?

Finally, if my mobo is faulty I bought the lot from ebuyer – does anyone have any experience of returning components to these guys? Should I send back the mobo alone (ie. remove the cpu which I don’t really want to do) or send them both back as a couple.

Thanks for putting up with my long post, to re-iterate the questions I need help with are:
Should I use the 8-pin power or 2x 4-pin power? Does it matter?
Is it most likely a faulty mobo? Any other ideas?
What should I do about returning any faulty items? Is there a good way to store the cpu?

Thanks
Tom

Thanks ModernWarfare.
I think you are referring to 2 beeps during POST means a RAM issue. It won't even get that far, the PC powers up for about one second before the psu cuts out and it is the psu that beeps, not the mobo.

I have tried starting up with just the one stick (tried this with each stick individually). I systematically removed each piece of hardware until I was down to barebones

I tried that too - I went right down to mobo, cpu and 1 stick of RAM (tried different sticks in different slots)

Thanks but I don't think this is the case either. I have the psu running right now on my old motherboard, no beeps and both the fans are definitely running

I would rather try to get the board working with my current psu as I have just spent over £500 on upgrades and have no money to buy another psu...

I believe I have found my answer here:
http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2013/05/01/haswell-psu/1

If I can boot the system using a different power supply then I can disable the C6 and C7 states in the BIOS and (as long as I don't put the PC to sleep) it should work I think

I'm not sure why you seem to think that my Enermax is a poor quality psu. As far as I seem to have read, Enermax are widely regarded as producers of very high quality psus. The reason I am having issues with this is not due to the quality of the psu but because Intel's latest chip draws much less current than previous designs during the C6 and C7 states (which happen at startup, shutdown and sleep mode). The protection built into the Enermax psu thinks there is a problem due to the lack of power being drawn and shuts down to protect everything.

That being said I will be getting a new psu as I see this as a temporary work-around, not a fix, and I will probably have to get a cheaper brand anyway