@DownToFletch, it sounds to me like one a few things happened, and ruined your Mobo and/or PSU... You didn't take the time to touch the case's metal first and drain the excess static off your body, or just use an anti-static wrist strap, causing components to get zapped on contact. The video card you were given had excess static or some excess charge somewhere in it, and zapped the Mobo dead on contact with the slots. Your Mobo didn't like having its' capacitors drained for some reason, and it died because of overdrain. Your PSU got killed somehow, possibly from connection to the video card, due to the video card having excess static or some excess charge somewhere in it....and any which way you look at it and go, you're likely looking at needing a newer and better PSU and/or Mobo. Good luck replacing them, because if you bought that system as a pre-build from a company, you've likely already violated the warranty on it. :wall: ~D. V. "I'm just gonna ... *facedesk* [THUD]..." Devnull