New PC

WillC

Hey,
I was hoping to get some help with problems my brother has been having with his new PC.
He bought all new PC parts himself and he did not check if they would be completely compatible with each other. Basically they look like they would all work together but he is getting random Windows Update errors and it crashes randomly more than normally (for Windows XP). I have tried formatting and installing windows on it myself and it basically has the same update errors and random crashes as usual.
He thinks there is a problem with the hard drive he bought, but I will post the links to the sites below if you would like to see the parts.
So far he is able to boot up and has drivers installed. Also he can connect to the internet and he is able to start up Steam and Team Fortress 2 but it crashes randomly and is very unpredictable.

Case/PSU/CPU/Mobo/Ram
Asus M2A-VM-HDMI Socket AM2 Barebone Kit - AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ 3.0GHz Retail, 1GB DDR2 PC4200, Ultra MicroFly Case, Clear Sides, 400 Watt Power Supply in Canada at TigerDirect.ca

Hard Drive
Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000 750GB Hard Drive - 7200RPM, 32MB, Serial ATA-300, OEM 0A35154 in Canada at TigerDirect.ca

GPU Card
ATI Radeon X1650 Pro Video Card - 512MB GDDR2, PCI Express, CrossFire Ready, DVI, VGA, HDTV, Video Card 100-437808 in Canada at TigerDirect.ca

DVD/CD Drive
Philips SPD2413BM Super-All-Write OEM DVD Burner - 20x DVD±R, 8x DVD+R DL, 8x DVD±RW, 48x CD-R, 24x CD-RW, 16x DVD ROM, Black in Canada at TigerDirect.ca

CPU Fan
Masscool 5F9001B1H3 CPU Cooling Fan - Socket 939, 940, AM2 in Canada at TigerDirect.ca

Sorry for the long links, don't know how to make the fancy click [COLOR=RoyalBlue]Here[/COLOR] things.

Any help or suggestions for different parts is appreciated, thanks!

kris23

how old is this thing?

he really should return the X1650

these are usually registry problems

i use System Mechanic to clean a new system i recommend using the trial ONCE and once issues are gone, delete it, if it stays on for long it begins to mess on good settings for some reason.

OldBuzzard

First thing I'd do is junk the PSU, and put in something decent.
Ultra V-Series 400W & Ultra V-Series 500W Power Supply Review - Hardware Canucks

AnandTech: 400-450W PSU Roundup

Ultra isn't exactly known for quality PSU's, and if ANY component in a system needs to be high quality, it's the PSU.

I'd replace it with a Corsair 450VX:
Corsair VX450W 450-Watt ATX 120mm Fan SATA-Ready Power Supply CMPSU-450VX in Canada at TigerDirect.ca

Or for a few Loonies more, and modular, the 520HX:
NCIX.com - Buy Corsair HX520 CMPSU-520HX 520W ATX Triple 12V 40A Continuous 24PIN ATX Modular 120MM Power Supply - CMPSU-520HX In Canada.

tcman

If he can return the X1650pro gfx-card, get this one instead:
HIS Radeon HD 2600 XT IceQ Turbo / 512MB GDDR3 / PCI Express / (Dual Link) Dual DVI / HDTV / HDMI Support / CrossFire Ready / Video Card
Faster than the X1650pro, got much quieter fan and for a lower price. A very nice card for a HTPC.

As for the psu, maybe this one:
OCZ OCZ500SXS StealthXStream 500-Watt Power Supply - SATA Ready, PCI-Express Ready



Hardwaresecrets has reviewed the 600 watts model of the StealthXstream and according them it's a good psu, especially for the price. It's actually a FSP fortron Epsilon oem, which is also used in the OCZ GameXstream 700 W Power Supply series and Zalman ZM600-HP 600 W Power Supply but without the blue leds and with some minor components differences.

It got active pfc, the efficiency is quite high (mostly >80% as tested by Hardwaresecrets), the ripples/noises are higher than lets say the mentioned Corsair VX450, but they are still within ATX specification (=safe); also Hardwaresecrets also tested the Overcurrent, short-circuit and over power protection and they all worked in the tests (many psu manufacturers say they got these protections in their psu but when you need them they don't work; so it's fine to hear that these proctections really works in this StealthXstream psu). All these features only for $53.99 CAD.