CPU overheating, heatsink cool to the touch

[EnglFireball]

Well at the moment nothing's overclocked, I've run memtest, the NF4 chip has the heatpipe cooler thing on it, I'm on SP2, latest drivers for everything, it's a 650W Enermax Noisetaker.
The other hardware is a 200Gb seagate, and 80Gb western digital HDs, a samsung DVD/CDRW, and a terratec DMX 6Fire. The RAM is from G.Skill's budget range, and teh graphics card is an ASUS x800XT.
Thanks

 

[SGtheArtist]

-Windows XP SP2
-AMD Athlon64 3800+ (2.4GHz - 200x12) (idle=55C load=75C)
-thermaltake tower 112, arctic silver 5
-Abit AN8 (NF4)
-2x 512MB DDR400 PC3200 RAM is from G.Skill's budget range (UPDATED)
-200Gb seagate IDE/PATA HDD
-80Gb western digital IDE/PATA HDD
-samsung DVD/CDRW
-ASUS x800XT
-terratec DMX 6Fire (sound card)
-650W Enermax Noisetaker
-Zalman 90mm
-2 80mm fan
-panaflo 90mm
-latest drivers for everything

Alright I've centralized the list of hardware you have mentioned. I have a couple questions.

What speed is the RAM?
What is the size of the RAM & how many sticks of each?
You stated WD HDDs (with an s) is there more than 1?
Have you disabled the Onboard audio in the Abit BIOS?
Are the HDDs SATA or PATA?

Your processor is mfg. on the 130u technology so it will be warmer than the new cores I mentioned earlier. This reaffirms my belief that the CPU is not the problem.

Your power supply is big enough to probably cover system of twice this size so I don't think power is your problem. (Just a note: you do have all the power cables plugged into the mobo right?) I've heard stories that you can connect the 24pin & not the 4pin 12v & some systems will boot.

If my statements here are correct then I would recommend that you disconnect/remove all unneccasary components so that all you have is.

-AMD Athlon64 3800+ (2.4GHz - 200x12) (idle=55C load=75C)
-thermaltake tower 112, arctic silver 5
-Abit AN8 (NF4)
-RAM is from G.Skill's budget range
-samsung DVD/CDRW
-ASUS x800XT
-650W Enermax Noisetaker
-Zalman 90mm
-2 80mm fan
-panaflo 90mm
-1 HDD only

Install a fresh copy of Windows XP (no updates or drivers) & run Prime or SuperPi and see if the system is stable.

Then one by one start adding things & repeating the test after each piece of hardware. If you choose to perform this timely task then I would recommend writing the entire process you plan to follow on paper so you can check them off as you successfully complete them. (this way you don't forget what you have done and what you need to do)

Documenting what you have done will help to issolate & then solve the problem.

 

[EnglFireball]

Ok from the top:
The Ram is PC3200, cas2
I have 2x512, in dual channel
1 seagate, 1 western digital (hence the s)
Onboard audio disabled
IDE hard drives.
Everything is plugged in - 24pin mobo power, 4pin CPU power and 6pin PCIe

I think we've established that heat isn't the issue, since as I mentioned it now loads at 65C after a reapplication.
However it still crashes when I run BF2 for any length of time.
So I guess the issue now is... Why does my game crash the PC?
When it crashes, it just locks up. The sound freezes, buzzing on the last tone, and the screen scrambles. No handy blue screen or error message

 

[SGtheArtist]

EnglFireball,

The RAM speed looks good (I thought maybe you had some slower DDR in there & at default HTT(FSB) speed the RAM would have been OC'd)

There is a slight possibility that one of your RAM modules could be having problems. You could test them individually and in different slots to eliminate them as the culprit.

However, if the PC is stable during and for extended periods of time doing other things (not BF2) then I agree that it is a BF2 problem.

If this is indeed the situation then I would say its some setting in the game or the video card drivers.

At this point I would create a new thread in the SOFTWARE section of the forums asking about BF2 & your video card drivers.

You could post the links in both threads tying them together.