Thanks for the suggestions.
Take out the SSD. If you have a hard drive try that with the new memory.
Plus one other thing you can try is one stick of memory and install windows on the SSD.
I tried to do this initially. I even tried to just boot into my old install on the HDD rather than reinstall but suffered the same hang at the 'starting windows' display.
I also tried to use just one individual stick but couldn't even get past the BIOS splash when I did this. At least 2 modules were required to post, however, it didn't matter which 2 modules I used, as long as they filled a DIMM channel.
Your CPU as per Intel specifications officially supports only 1066MHz and 1333MHz DDR3.
Anything above that is overclocking, it might or might not work. It usually works but there is no guarantee.
Anyway it might just be that you got some defective RAM modules. Testing with MemTest86 should reveal that.
But keep in mind that it might be the memory controller integrated in the CPU that fails.
Set the memory modules to 1333MHz and use MemTest86. If the pass the test then raise to 1600MHz and re-test the modules. And see what happens.
1.65volt it's pretty high and could damage the integrated memory controller on the CPU. I wouldn't go above 1.56Volt in any case... even 1.60Volt could be too much. Also any DDR3 RAM modules should pass MemTest86 tests with no errors at stock 1.50Volt.
Use MemTest86 3.5b for better reliability, the 4.x versions can freeze and report memory errors and then halt execution on newer CPUs (it happens on most Ivy Bridge and Sandy Bridge/Sandy Bridge-E systems)
Thanks zerowing. I have now re-flashed BIOS as I noticed the newest version had some memory compatibility updates. I reduced the frequency to 1333 as suggested and attempted to run MemTest. However, memtest ran for about 5 seconds then crashed (rebooting) no matter what combination of the new mem and frequency I used.
I am still pretty baffled as to what is happening at the moment.
Why cant I get past BIOS splash with just 1 module? Why is memtest failing catastrophically when it runs? Is it possible I have 4 bad modules?
Again, thanks for the advice. Keep it coming