Computer Locks up during games

[Niven]

About three months ago I put a new computer together, it ran fine for two months until last month when it started locking up every now and then during games. Since then it has been getting progressively worse and is now to the point that I can't play any games without the computer locking up fast
my specs are:
Asus A8V deluxe
Athlon 64 3500+
Sapphire Radeon 9800 pro
sound blaster audigy 2 zs
seagate 160 gig hdd
2x512 meg sticks of corsair value select ram

I've run memtest86 for ~6 hours, 0 errors reported, I've swapped out the 9800 for a 9600, kept crashing, I've formatted, tried old drivers, tried new drivers, tried omega drivers. I've run motherboard monitor and an asus equivalent to record and temperature/voltage spikes, none. I've replaced my Power Supply with a brand new Antec 400Watt, I've checked all the fans, I've reseated the video card and removed all non-nessecery devices, I'm at my wit's god damn end here.
This computer cost me over $3000 and is meant to last me until I graduate in 5 years, I can't have it screwing up only three months in, this is insane and I can't afford to spend one more cent on it, I'm already poor enough

the cpu idles around 36-40 degrees celsius, and hits the low 60s at most during intense games, as for voltage it stays around:
+12: 11.8
+5: 4.919
+3.3: 3.23
Vcore: 1.502

oh yeah, I also updated bios

 

[blodhi74]

sounds like heat issue .... open the case and run a game .... how are U getting the temps ... 60C is kinda high for 3500+ .... oh ...welcome to the foruns

 

[Niven]

I have 6 fans in my computer and it's in a well circulated spot of a room which is usually pretty cold, so I'm not sure it's heat
I'll try taking the side off though and running one

I'm getting worried now, it just did the exact same thing when there was no game running, and it was ~40 degrees celsius when it happened, I was just browsing and listening to music

when the lockup occurs the screen goes instantly black and the last second or so of sound to play goes into a constant loop then the screen goes into standby then sometimes the computer resets, other times it just stays this way

 

[blodhi74]

is the fan spinning on the 9800 pro ... not to insult UR intellegence but U did apply thermal grease b/t the HSF and the CPU

 

[Mother Ik]

Not to detract from the original post, but I have a similar problem tempwise. Running a 64 3500+ and getting idle temp of 37-41. The highest it's gotten before crashing during a game is 59 or so. These were reported by Motherboard Monitor (logging in the background) with an open case. My question is: where should the temps be for stability? (I'm new). Thanks

 

[blodhi74]

Originally posted by: Mother Ik
Not to detract from the original post, but I have a similar problem tempwise. Running a 64 3500+ and getting idle temp of 37-41. The highest it's gotten before crashing during a game is 59 or so. These were reported by Motherboard Monitor (logging in the background) with an open case. My question is: where should the temps be for stability? (I'm new). Thanks

if UR system is stable U should be ok

 

[Niven]

yep, fan's working fine, problem persisted when I swapped the 9800 for a 9600
as for the paste, yep I put it on and the problem only started a while ago

 

[blodhi74]

did U check for adware or spy ware ??

 

[Niven]

yep, formatted as well, using service pack 2, all patches/security fixes and firefox