So the GPU arrived today via UPS, fresh from the EVGA HQ in Brea, CA. I promptly opened it once getting home, popped it from its packaging and connected it to the motherboard. It booted just fine WITH VIDEO, detected ram as dual channel and booted off of the Windows XP CD just fine. As of right now - I have XP installed, all the drivers loaded and everything is running swimmingly. I'm now installing games (WoW, Eve Online, and Empire Total War). So it was the graphics card after all. I'm pleasantly surprised.