No signal/Processor not working?

A friend is having a problem with a new computer he bought and is now putting together. The parts are:

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready
MSI 790GX-G65 AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 140W Quad-Core Processor
SAPPHIRE Vapor-X Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card

He's gotten everything connected right, I've had him check, but when he turns it on the monitor gets a signal but says it's not showing anything. It goes from no signal to I guess standby would be the term.

He says he's left it on for a couple minutes and the processor was still cold, could it mean the processor is DOA or is there a smaller problem with something?

I've read another forum where a couple people are having the same problem and they believe it to be the motherboard he bought, any ideas on that?

After reading some more it seems it's a hit or miss motherboard with more misses than hits, so he went ahead and got a new mobo, we shall see monday!

Sounds like a classic #2 on the checklist.