part 1: Ok so I just had a power cut or a power surge or something and now my computer no worky. It turns on, gives a single beep (this means it passes POST right??), but I get nothing on the monitor and its little light that turns green when it's got a signal is staying resolutely orange. All fans, including the one on the video card, spin up fine. WHAT'S BROKEN TELL ME!!!

part 2: make me a "gamin PC" (on a site that delivers to the UK not that fucking newegg or whatever bullshit) sans peripherals and operating system preferably that comes to like £400 sterling. You can leave off hard drives and sound card too I don't give a shit about no 5.1 so pretty much just choose me a case, PSU, m0b0, processor, ram. Make sure it's all totally packed with megabytes. The last time I knew anything about computer hardware people said "multimedia ready" HELP.

Frist off yes I will say it... How much is 400 Sterling worth in the USA and whats with the hate on newegg I get my shit there fast....(since they got a warehouses in NJ) I made a order late in the day and i swear it came the next day.

Newegg won't have anything to with the UK I'm pretty sure.

How many cores do I want. I want plenty of cores right? I don't want to find out later I needed more cores. How many gigawatts do I plug into each core. Help.

How many cores do I want. I want plenty of cores right? I don't want to find out later I needed more cores. How many gigawatts do I plug into each core. Help.

core you mean possessor? if so all you would need is one power supply to your mother board and 1000 Watts should be good to power any/most computer.at the time keep in mind about the pins you would need) Also right now there is only 4 core out on the market but soon 6 cores.(my mother board is 6 core ready but I'm only doping a 4 core in for now till 6 core become 2nd gen.)

Also BTW I don't think your that computer illiterate.

Just checked and 6 core possessors are out and my god they coast allot that's first gen prices for you.

for your current computer problem, unplug everything, wait a while, plug it back in. if you've got a LCD screen, often the power adaptor will stop working if you leave it in too long, and by unplugging and replugging you'll sort out loose cords etc as well

also you could probably pick up an old acorn risc pc fairly cheaply. it'll play some old games, and a wide selection of educational titles

Nah I tried it with 2 different CRTs. Thanks for the acorn tip but I'm having enough trouble getting my head around all these different product codes without bringing nuts into the equation.

maybe you should bring my nuts into your head how's that for an equation.

I worked out it's definitely the video card that's broken and I don't think it's going to get any better from your teabagging jokes thank you VERY much patch adams.

For your new rig start here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gaming-cpu,2599.html

Find the best processor on this list in your price range. Find a cheap motherboard with the matching socket. Figure out if you can afford to get 4gb of RAM that matches the motherboard... if not, 2gb should be adequate for most modern gaming situations (newest games/Crysis might choke a bit). You'll want at least a 500w power supply... but make sure it's a quality PSU (in most cases this is more important than max wattage!). This will help you determine what power supply to get: http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/323050.aspx
You likely will be wasting money if you get anything higher than a 700w PSU.

What else... oh yeah case. Get what looks appealing and fits your budget. Read reviews before you take the plunge.

Spend whatever is left in your budget to get the best video card you can as this will directly affect your gaming performance. Some good and affordable video cards include the 9600 GT, Radeon 4770, 4850, or if you instead want to play with the big boys get the 5850.

Thanks a bunch for the info luigi that was really helpful