re: Twiddled to Death
Seems like there's some symbiosis when there's a general failure like what you've experienced. In the case of my last machine, there were a weak HDD and an increasingly-faulty motherboard that played off each other like a drug-addicted couple. Then when the main cooling fan became disconnected for a very short time, that iced the cake.
Good luck on your new 'chine. At least there won't be much of a learning curve.