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Alright so I bought G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) RAM, This specifically http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231568
I bought it for my new build im putting together but I figured it should run fine in my currect pc so I slapped it in and it doesn't work.

My current build is this

Case - Cooler Master cm690(i think) Nvidia edition
OS - Windows 7 Home OEM
Mother Board - MSI H55M-E33
CPU - Intel Core i3 550
Cpu Cooler - Stock
Memory - PNY XLR8 2GB DDR3 1333 x2
Graphics - MSI N460GTX Twin Frozr II
Hard Drive - Samsung Spinpoint F3
power - Ultra LSP550 550-Watt Power Supply - ATX

With both sticks in it just powers on and off repeatedly and with a single stick in it Powers to the mobo screen and then shuts off, repeat.
My current pc is a little over 5 years old I think, am I correct in assuming the power supply is probably the culprit?

Also, when I put my old memory back in the computer was extremely slow through boot up and login, and was again the first time I restarted it, but then worked normally afterwards.
The entire comp is going the other way, hence why I'm putting together a new one. I mainly want to ensure that the new RAM actually works since it might be a month or so before I get everything for my new build and it's rather hard to call a company up and say hey you sent me bad stuff a couple months after you bought it.

According to the post below, your mobo only supports 4GB memory sticks:

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id- ... board.html

So, 2x8GB might not work. If you really need 16GB, maybe return your sticks, and get 4x4GB instead - i.e., two sets of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

The manufacturer site says 16gb, but that could mean it's 4gb per slot max?
again, I didnt buy it for this pc I just wanted to test it and assumed it would work since it's the right type and doesn't exceed the max, didn't consider it may not allow so much per slot.
O well, as long as the memory works, I get my new mobo and cpu in 2 or 3 weeks granted nothing sets me back.
Thanks.

there's your problem, your PC being 5yrs old, have you done a BIOS update if ones available ?

sounds like a power support issue to the Dimm, which would coincide with the sticks being to large for the mobo that or the system POST isnt programmed to read/allocate to memory chips that large and so the data just gets dumped the second the system tries to write/read to the slot. But if I were you I would just leave it as is and not wreck any of the hardware by running it in an unsupported configuration.

If your mobo had a postcode reader I could tell you more, but since you don't this is all just speculation.

BIOS update might fix it.

The memory controller is on the CPU, and it can only handle 8GB per channel. The motherboard BIOS is responsible for how the pairs of slots are passed to the processor's memory controller.

It sounds like the BIOS only supports 4GB DIMMs at the moment, expecting you to reach 16GB with 4x4GB. An updated BIOS may allow 8GB DIMMs but I wouldn't hold your breath.