[stewart_photo]

And please don't say just get a new desktop! That's not in the cards, and frankly I don't think it's neccessary to get a new one. If that were the situation, I'd rather build one myself.

As you suggested, my ultimate solution to a slow computer was to build my own while adding plenty of new peripherals. Okay, my older computer wasn't really that slow, but enough to justify a new one. My new system overview: Abit AB9 QuadGT MB, Intel C2D/E6600 CPU, Corsair XMS2 PC5400C4 DDR2/3GB, WD 160GB SATA II HD, XFX GeForce 7900GS, Lite-On LH-18A1P CD/DVD-RW, CoolMax CP-500T Dual-Rail EPS PSU, Apevia X-Plorer Case, Air-Cooling (4 Fans - CPU temps: 35°C idle, 42°C load @23°C Ambient), XP/SP2 Home (US), Logitech Wireless K&M, Logitech Z4 Speakers, Saitek Cyborg Evo JS, and Canon MP510 Printer. Needless to say, it's well optimized for image editing. I intend to add additional hard drives in the near future, and a larger image size printer, which will probably complete that optimization.

stewart

[stewart_photo]

Well, the renovations are complete (except for the RAM which will be next week probably), but...Houston...we have a problem!

As far as I can tell, it's getting power, but it won't power up!

I'm 99% sure I've got everything plugged in correctly, so I haven't the foggiest idea what's wrong.

It's been some time since you posted the above. Did you ever figure out what went wrong?

stewart

[DigiFilm]

Looks like it's that the new power supply is bad 'out of the box'. Yesterday, I finally got around to putting the old one back in (and the old video card) and everything works fine! (exception - when powering up, the computer does not recognize the new rear case fan; msg says, "CPU or case fan not detected", then I have to press the F1 key to boot, which I never had to do before. Maybe some setting in the BIOS is causing that. I'll look into it later)

If I have the time this morning, I'll be taking the new power supply back to where I bought it, to have them look into it.