The waterfall at the start of the second level of Unreal is one of the greatest things ever created in a computer game. Especially in context of the era. 

Nuff said. More bad-assness in the level than in most games at the time... 

That and the Spire level. I think everyone who played quick saved at the top and jumped off. You just had to. 

run at like 10 fps on my original rig at the time. But it was still amazing.

And I jumped off a few things well before the spire level :) 

Would be kinda cool if was set on the same planet as the original and you had the freedom to explore wherever you wanted, kinda like Stalker or Elder Scrolls: Oblivion.

The sense of exploration in Unreal was fantastic! 

But a journey, a trek across a continent towards your goal. There was a tangible sense of going from point A, to B, to C, to D, etc... and a feeling of accomplishment when you finally reach point Z, the mothership. 

...and raise you Na Pali Haven too. 

It did look great. I think it was one of the first video games that needed state-of-the-art hardware. Doom 3 also iirc... Others ? 

my computer has just shut down completely and will not power up at all anymore, not even for a second.

Any ideas? I'm presuming power supply but is there something I might be overlooking (cables and powerpoint are fine, checked that)? 

That does sound like a dead power supply to me. Bad luck :(

The only thing I could think of is that you may have knocked or tripped the power switch on the back of the power supply. Next to where the cable goes in. But thats pretty obvious I guess. 

It could also be something else. I once had a similiar situation where the harddisk controller turned out to be the culprit.. 

Take all cards, drives etc out and then try if it does anything. Insert one after another and see if you can find a culprit. 

Try removing and re-inserting all memory dimms. 

...what did nitin do that post on, then??

</suspicious> 

theres 3 laptops in the house, I'm covered :)

Except if I want to play anything. 

i have it narrowed to PSU and/or motherboard. time to get the experts in now, these 2 things are a bit beyond me. 

Do these in this order:

1. Buy a kickass power supply that can support SLI or Crossfire, replace your old PSU and try it.

2. If it fails, purchase a kickass motherboard with support for SLI or Crossfirem replace your old motherboard and try it.

2.b If it works, proceed to step 2.

3. Get an SLI or Crossfire setup and be happy. 

Who needs SLI seriously? All the games coming out these days are ports of Console games, and thus run fine on not-so-new computer hardware. Not many developers take the risk of developing games for high-end PCs anymore, and that's the only point I can see in SLI, no? 

http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxgames/ 

Im gonna! My 5850 should be arriving today. I have, in the last few months, bought a new case, HDD, PSU, mobo, heatsink, fan speed controller, Blu-Ray drive and RAM. The plan was to crossfire a couple of 5850's until 2nd gen GF100s come out, then I will probably settle for a single GeForce solution.

Also because I have replaced all of my parts, I can sell my old rig once I have re-built it.

I'll be looking for �300 for it:

Core2Duo processor (prob an E7400, havent bought one yet)
2Gb DDR2 800Mhz
80Gb SATA2 HDD
DVDRW (need to buy one of those also)
ASUS P5KPL mobo
750 watt PSU
Midi Tower case
And a Geforce 8800 GTS 512Mb.

The rig will be capable of playing all games. But no DX11 support. 

since I'm in the market for a new tv plus a house, I cant really afford pc upgrades right now.

Anyway, so far, no probs with the games I currently have when the machine is actually running. 

That's mostly Wine with a fancy frontend. Try http://www.playonlinux.com/ if you really need that.


Ricky: 750W PSU? Did you plug in a USB vacuum cleaner or what? 

Its a "750W" PSU with 1x PCIe 6 pin power connector :S
Never had any problems with it in my old rig, but I bought a new one :D New one is a Corsair HK series 850watt Modular PSU - which is a very good PSU :P 

Not that I am suggesting this may be the cause of your own problem, but this is a true story.

I was aked to look at a fridge that had inexplicably stopped working and the owner said that she had definitely changed the fuse and checked the socket by using the kettle on it, and they were OK.

I checked the motor, relay and stat and all were fine. I took the plug to do a simple circuit test and got no reading. I changed the fuse and still no good. I went back to the stat, and relay, still nothing. I pulled the fridge out of its niche and then saw the problem.

A mouse had chewed through the cable and that is why there was no circuit. I know it was a mouse because its little fried body was still attached. I replaced the cable and the fridge went on its way. I dumped the mouse's body after due ceremony. 

awesome story ^_^