Update from this evening:
When I came home from work, I tried the breadboard construct. It ran. Windows loaded. It seemed to be running fine. I downloaded a CPU test (one from Intel), and the CPU passed. I shutdown and added my other 3 RAM sticks.
It then proceeded to run successfully for about 3 hours. I ran a virus scan (clear) and monitored temps via HWMonitor. I will paste results below. Then it died.
After death, I am getting some signs of life. I read on another thread about trying to remove any remaining power in the system. So I unplug the power supply but leave it on, then hold down the power button on the motherboard for a few seconds. Afterward, I plug the power supply back in, and the computer starts up and begins loading, but again dies after a few seconds. Not sure if that means anything.
HWMonitor extract from results:
Hardware Monitors
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Hardware monitor Nuvoton NCT6776
Voltage 0 1.04 Volts [0x82] (CPU VCORE)
Voltage 1 1.87 Volts [0xEA] (VIN1)
Voltage 2 3.36 Volts [0xD2] (AVCC)
Voltage 3 3.34 Volts [0xD1] (3VCC)
Voltage 4 0.94 Volts [0x76] (VIN4)
Voltage 5 1.74 Volts [0xD9] (VIN5)
Voltage 6 0.87 Volts [0x6D] (VIN6)
Temperature 0 38°C (100°F) [0x26] (SYSTIN)
Temperature 1 63°C (144°F) [0x7D] (CPUTIN)
Temperature 2 40°C (103°F) [0x4F] (AUXTIN)
Temperature 3 79°C (174°F) [0x4F] (TMPIN3)
Fan 1 2076 RPM [0x81C] (CPUFANIN)
Processors Information
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Processor 1 ID = 0
Number of cores 4 (max 8)
Number of threads 4 (max 16)
Name Intel Core i5 2500K
Codename Sandy Bridge
Specification Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2500K CPU @ 3.30GHz
Package (platform ID) Socket 1155 LGA (0x1)
CPUID 6.A.7
Extended CPUID 6.2A
Core Stepping D2
Technology 32 nm
TDP Limit 95 Watts
Tjmax 98.0 °C
Core Speed 1599.6 MHz
Multiplier x Bus Speed 16.0 x 100.0 MHz
Stock frequency 3300 MHz
Instructions sets MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, EM64T, VT-x, AES, AVX
L1 Data cache 4 x 32 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L1 Instruction cache 4 x 32 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L2 cache 4 x 256 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L3 cache 6 MBytes, 12-way set associative, 64-byte line size
FID/VID Control yes
Turbo Mode supported, enabled
Max non-turbo ratio 33x
Max turbo ratio 37x
Max efficiency ratio 16x
Min Power 60 Watts
O/C bins unlimited
Ratio 1 core 37x
Ratio 2 cores 36x
Ratio 3 cores 35x
Ratio 4 cores 34x
TSC 3300.0 MHz
APERF 3400.6 MHz
MPERF 3227.5 MH