Hi all, thanks for your posts (sorry it was already 2:30am when I posted and had to sleep).

I have now tried everything suggested to no avail.

Left it rebooting for 20-30 mins, no luck.
Tried different ram (A-Data DDR2 533 1.8v)
Tried different slot combo's, single, dual.
Tried different Video Card.
Tried disconnecting all components, some, none.
Tried disconnecting all peripherals, some, none.

Note, unlike others, I never had a problem booting with the G.Skill HZ, nor the A-Data for that matter (original build). The BIOS never complained regardless of whether I left 'normal' or +0.3v.

I'll be sending back under RMA this morning. Hopefully they'll have a new one back to me soon, as this is my main rig I'm pretty screwed for work until I can fix it (hopefully I can run with it's currently unbuilt predessor (GA-8i945Pro/D805) without reinstalling all my work related tools and software.)

I am so pissed, the timing is really bad. And to think, it was all running so beautifully.

The fact that I lapped the cpu and hsf concerns me, but I can't imagine that I've done anything to cause this prob. particularly as it is not an uncommon occurrence for this board and the DS3 (very similar).

Anyway, such is life...