Hi all,
  I finally took the plunge and ordered my new build parts.  Now that I have them arriving I checked out my rebates...What a crock!!  12 days from purchase date.  That is crazy.  I wont have the motherboard until tues and i will be out of town until for a few days.  I will have basically like 1 day to build the whole thing from scratch and verify all the components are good, so i can send the UPC's back.  If i just send the UPC's prior and the part is dead, newegg wont take it back.  
 
I havent built a pc in for about 12 years, so basically i am a noob.   I got the how-to guide from this site to put the hardware together.  My question is what is the easiest way to verify all the components are good after i get it built?  I was going to load ubuntu as the OS for now, but i do have an old XP pro disk laying around somewhere.  If someone could give me some advice to know how to do this "is my system all working correctly" test that would be really helpful as i wont have much time.
 
Thanks all,
JD
 
Here is my build:
 
1    
 
    LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write Black SATA Model LH-20A1S - Retail
    Item #: N82E16827106057
 
    Standard Return Policy  
 
    $26.99
 
    1  
 
    Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3750330AS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
    Item #: N82E16822148298
 
    Limited 30-Day Return Policy  
 
    $129.99
 
    1  
 
    Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400 - Retail
    Item #: N82E16819115037
 
    Processors (CPUs) Return Policy  
 
    $189.99
 
    1  
 
    ECS N8800GTS-512MX GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
    Item #: N82E16814134037
 
    Standard Return Policy  
 
    $219.99
 
   1  
 
    GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX All Solid Capacitor Intel Motherboard - Retail
    Item #: N82E16813128059
 
    Limited 30-Day Return Policy  
 
    $99.99
 
    1  
 
    OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2RPR800C44GK - Retail
    Item #: N82E16820227267
 
    Memory (Modules, USB) Return Policy  
 
    $109.99
 

If you overclock, p35 will bottleneck e8400, to about 3.6ghz. It oc easily to 4+ghz if not bottlenecked. If you do not oc, it doesn't matter.

Everything else good as is. Happy building.

 
He didn't ask about OC or what you thought about his build....he just wanted to know a test to see if it was all working so he could apply for his rebates    
 
I would try some benchmarks tests like 3DMark and that kind of thing. You won't have a lot of time to do a thorough burn in, and if you get something unstable it might not show up immediately. However, most of the time you'll get a DOA part if you get one that's bad, and you'll know it when you try to boot it up, although you may not know immediately which part is causing a boot failure. So it's going to be sort of a gamble.  
 
Gook luck!

Almost no one jump through hoops to buy an e8400, which is far overpriced for a dual, and more often out of stock than in stock, to not oc it. It's an implied assumption that this particular cpu is to be oced.

And just rma things that are defective. Most people buy from reliable retailers like Newegg for this reason.

 
He said if sends in his UPCs for the rebates he can't RMA a bad part because they won't take them back. His question which still whether it's assumed or not if he's gonna OC is how can he tell if everything is working properly in one day....so he can send in his UPCs for his rebates and not get stuck with bad parts.
 
I would assume when you first put together a system to find out if everything works that you would not start OCing right out of the gate. I certainly wouldn't.
 
Besides I didn't have to jump through any hoops to get an E8400 unless a hoop is going to the Intel sight and clicking on a link of their sellers and finding one that had them in stock. Or clicking on the "alert me via e-mail" when this part is available like you can on NewEgg. I wouldn't call that a big hoop to jump through.
 
How about trying to help him out with his actual question instead of arguing with me, at least I tried to do that.

The e8400 is and has been in stock at newegg for weeks now dagger !

Thanks all.  I didnt even know the e8400 was a hot item.  I just have a habit of buying/building stuff with as best quality components as possible at the right price point and then keeping it for years.  My last home pc was from 1997.....  
 
I havent actually decided anything one overclocking front.  I dont game at this point as I am a busy dude and havent had a pc capable of gaming before.  I do like the racing games though and my son is 6yrs old, so he is starting to like the moto racing games.    
 
So as far as the testing.  I went to 3dmark at it was all about "vantage" is that the thing i need to  run?  I havent messed with any of this stuff, so sorry to sound like an idiot.  Any other software/tests I should run?
 
Thanks,
JD