components: cpu : amd athlon x2 4800 fat : thermaltake tr2-r1 mobo: ECS geforce 7050M-M (has a 24 pin power connection and a 4 pin secondary power connection ) 1 GB pc 5300 ram 160 GB seagate HD DVD writer casing :CoolerMaster Elite 331 PSU : 20 pin (not 24)350 watt & came with case w/ following specs: The sticker also has the following info: +12V, 10A +5V, 14A +3.3V, 14A -5V, 0.5A -12V, 0.5A +5Vsb, 2A It doesn't mention anything on the sticker about how many 12V rails it has. ========================================== problem: I have connected everything per manual. I press the power buttong, I see the power LED flash and the cpu & case fan move for a split second and nothing else. Just for fun, I unplugged the secondary power connection from the mobo and pressed the power button. This powered up the pc, the cpu and the case fan was running and the dvd writer would open and close, but nothing showed up on the monitor. is it the psu? or can I check something else? Please help. I know the components are not that great except for the CPU, but I got all these for under $200 and wanted to see if it would work.

You need a better power supply!!!! 10 Amps on the +12 is definitely not enough. And you probably need one that has the 24 pin connector to the motherboard. Yesterday, I put together a similiar setup using a 5600X2 and an ECS motherboard and my PSU had the 24 pin connector and also I had to plug in the 4 pin connector next to the CPU. Good Luck Smitty

thank u smitty...I'm gonan get a new PSu tomorrow...hopefully it'll work

You definitely need a better PSU. Here's a couple of suggestions: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ... BTW, why did you get PC2-5300 RAM instead of PC2-6400 & why only 1GB? Also, you should ALWAYS benchtest your components before installing them in the case.

thanks Jam. That was very helpful. I was just trying to see if I could build a xp machine under $200...I nearly made it, but the new PSU would push me toward $250... I thought XP would run ok w/ 1 GB of ram + I got it for $10 @ buy.com

"I thought XP would run ok w/ 1 GB of ram + I got it for $10 @ buy.com" There are plenty of sites that sell 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400 for about $25 (after rebate). PC2-5300 will bottleneck the system somewhat & if you have a single 1GB stick rather than 2 x 512MB, you're losing out on the benefits of dual channel mode. Check this deal at newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...

I completely overlooked the cpu bottleneck issue...thanks