64 Bit troubles

[DonM]

Hi,
i recently bought a 64 bit computer that I had built:

AMD 64 bit 4400
ASUS A8N32-SLI M/B
evga nvidia 7950 gx2 1 gig video card
Antec 550 W power supply
OCZ 2 gig 400 MHz ram
sound blaster xfi xtreme music sound card
150 gig 10k spin Western Digital Sata hard drive

Ok now that you have the specs....when I brought it home 9I wanted to do the xp install) it took 4 attempts at a windows install (win64 bit)...once installed it seemed a little odd, sometimes it would kinda freeze programs and a ctrl alt delete wouldn't fix it...did another install...same problem. tried install 32 bit xp and couldn't get the installer to finish (freezes at the hardware detection part of the gui installer...tried 5 times...2 different discs).
the heat is fine in the system...well ventilated, ram is good, tried different sticks...same issue.
Any thoughts?

Don

[cadaveca]

Your PSU is a bit on the low side for that config. The 4400+ can consume up to 110w(yours is most likely less), the card about 145w, both off of the 12v line. Add in the motherboard(60w for pci-e alone) fans and anything else plugged into a molex, and your PSU ends up a bit short.

[DonM]

you know I said to the salesman...is 550 enough???...should have listened to my inner voice. Well I may leave it till next spring when i was planning on getting another 2 gigs of ram and new processor.

Thanx for the thought.

Don

[cadaveca]

I'd try to use another, lower-powered, vidcard to install windows, and if things are fine, then you know exactly what the issue is. If you had the option, I'd be going back to that salesman and requesting an exchange for a better PSU...the OCZ 600w GamerXtreem or the 700w version would do your rig just fine.

Although my recommendation has a bare 50w more than what you currently have, the way the power is delivered is waht makes the difference. Given the option, I'd go with the stronger unit, and would have no regrets about it...I merely mentioned the lesser model as you seem to want to save some cash on this whole endevour.

[dsio]

550W may have been enough, but an Antec 550W isn't the best quality unit by any measure. A high end 550W... that would do the trick. You do get what you pay for.

[keithwalton]

I've only got a 450w coolermaster psu, but it has two 12v rails which between them can handle 264w. There is also another 191w available on the 3.3 and 5v rails. It has won 25 review awards according to there website. Rarely though does it go over 200w used peak i've seen is 250w

[wild_andy_c]

When I had my SLI desktop (god bless it!!!) I has only a 420W Seventeam PSU that they gave me at CeBit 2005. It was so heavy I had to pay excess on my baggage, it could kick out 36A on 12v, it did the job o/c and with 2 vid cards until I decided to leave the desktop PC world last week and bought this laptop and NAS array.

[chrisbard]

Originally Posted by wild_andy_c

When I had my SLI desktop (god bless it!!!) I has only a 420W Seventeam PSU that they gave me at CeBit 2005. It was so heavy I had to pay excess on my baggage, it could kick out 36A on 12v, it did the job o/c and with 2 vid cards until I decided to leave the desktop PC world last week and bought this laptop and NAS array.

Mind telling us a bit about your new toy???

[wild_andy_c]

Originally Posted by chrisbard

Mind telling us a bit about your new toy???

Its all in the sig brother!!!! Does everything my desktop could do that I needed it for and everythng my XBox 360 can't - so between the 2 devices I have just what I need.

No more power-hungry desktop junk for me at this moment - nice small silent processing powerhouse on the move for me and a little silent NAS box with nn NTFS / FAT / EXT3 drives in for peace of mind for my data.

[dsio]

9070 in 3DMark05? On a laptop? I'm guessing the Geforce 7400 is someone more powerfull than the name would suggest...

[wild_andy_c]

Originally Posted by dsio

9070 in 3DMark05? On a laptop? I'm guessing the Geforce 7400 is someone more powerfull than the name would suggest...

Oops - still need to edit the latter part of the siggy............