I maintain a server in my home, and one at a relative's home for off site backups. Both right now are just regular desktop PCs, which serve my needs fine. Except they're hard (read:impossible) to manage remotely. I learned about ATX form factor server motherboards (I don't want big/loud fans in my home, so no rack mount devices -- plus I only want one, not a whole rack) and decided to set up a real server, with IPMI.

For context: I've been building my own PCs from parts since the 90s. My home server and desktop were both built from parts. I feel like I know what I'm doing quite well, when assembling PCs.

I bought a case and power supply, and then (used):

• SuperMicro X9SCM-F motherboard
• SR00N Intel Xeon E3-1270 CPU
• Kingston KVR1333D3S8E9SK2/4G RAM kit

Nothing worked. Power button spins the fans, but nothing more. To diagnose, I took out the RAM, so I've got the CPU (and cooler) in the motherboard, plugged into power and nothing else. Power on never does anything: no video output at all, no BIOS beep codes, nothing. With no RAM, I'd expect beeps. (I've tried the motherboard built-in beeper, and the separate speaker that came with the case. No beeps.)

Am I doing something wrong? Did I pick incompatible parts? Is there something special about server parts that I don't know from my regular desktop PC experience?

I'd most suspect an incompatible CPU, but the manual for the motherboard just says "supports a single Intel® Xeon E3-1200 series", so 1270 seems to fit?