Hi folks!I've recently built a new system containing the following parts:Asus A8N-SLIAMD 64 3500+2 x 512 MB RAM Corsair 400 MHzPalit GeForce 6600 GTWD 160 GB sATA HDDTagan 480W Power SupplyWhen Windows is running in idle, I have absolutely no problems with the system. However, when FS2004 (Flight Simulator 2004) is running, after a while (around 10 minutes) my computer will randomly power down! The power supply won't complete shut off but the screen is black and I have to reboot. Temperatures are normal (around 39

Hi Mark, that's really weird! Nice system you have btw. As far as I can judge, a temperature increase of 14-16

Hi Jaap!Thanks for your reply. Okay here we go:"...so you can probably exclude a thermal/CPU problem here."That's what I think aswell."Are you running the latest bios and drivers?"I tried the latest offiial bios aswell as the latest beta bios. The problem remains."What are your CPU and RAM voltages reading?"CPU voltage is 1.65V. No idea about RAM voltage."Are you operating other than CL3 RAM?"Actually its CL 2.5."Is you RAM mentioned in compatibility listings"Yes, its directly recommended on the Asus website!"How many Amps do you have on the 12V string of your PSU (it should be more than ca. 20A)?"28 Amps"Did it also happen with your Samsung RAM?"Unfortunately yes.I'm going to try out a second video card so I can alliminate that as a failure source.

You're welcome, Mark. I'm a bit baffled with your CPU voltage as it seems a bit high. AFAIK, it should be in the 1.5V area. Right now, I have a feeling this could be the direction to look for. So, presuming there isn't any overclocking going on, perhaps verify the proper voltages for CPU, RAM (2.6V) and PCI-e and adjust them manually in the bios where necessary. Another detail which certain combos can be finicky about are (bios) performance presets like 'Normal', 'Turbo' and 'Extreme' etc. In case, this requires a bit of experimenting. Personally, I don't think your display adapter is the cause (apart from erroneous voltage settings?) and of course, I could be terribly mistaken... Nevertheless, I hope this adds to thoughts and I wish you good luck. Kind regards Jaap

Hi Jaap!I believe 1.65 V is correct for the (older) Newcastle core. 1.5 V would be for the Winchester.Anyway, I think I may have found the problem! Today I bought a new video card (GeForce 6600 GT from MSI) and after 2 hours of testing things looked pretty stable. I'm going to make a long flight tonight to see whether or not it was truly the video card as FS has never survived an entire night. I'll post my findings tomorrow!Again, thankyou very much for taking the time and helping me!Regards,Mark

Great news, Mark! I hope your extended test goes well. There were a couple of problems with overheating 6600GTs so you might have gotten one? I've also checked my data again and over here the 939/3500 Newcastle lists 1.5V as CPU core V... Nevertheless, I've seen other mainboards which bios' automatically adjust to higher voltages. But 10% over might be a bit much? This is my data for the 3500 Newcastle CPU: Socket 939Core Clock 2.2 GHz L2 Cache 512 kBVcore 1.50 VProcess 130 NmTDP 89 WHere's a link to the AMD tech spec page (download document # 30340 (pdf)): http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/Techni...39_7203,00.html Hope this clarifies the voltages a bit and I'm looking forward to your report. Cheers, good luck and kind regards Jaap

I have the same CPU as and using CPU-Z the volatge is currently at 1.568V

Hi Kurt, that was a perfectly synchronized post!! How many seconds after 11.54PM did you post? Hehe Out of curiousity, are you still using xp64? Despite our feelings, it looks like 'they' are nicely on schedule for an April release. Now the drivers... Good luck and kind regards to you too Jaap PS, your CPU-V might have been set to 1.55V by the bios?

Hi guys!I just woke up and when I turned on my monitor - yeehaw FS2004 was still there :-)I also just chcked my MoBo monitoring software and my VCore is 1.552 VSo I guess that's okay (these voltage monitoring I/O's can be off by around 10% so you were right - 1.5V it is)Anyway, for my part, I would like to concludw with 2 recommendations:1) Don't get the Palit GF600GT! Its cheaper but now I know why!!2) Get the MSI GF6600GT - at least it works on my system.Thanks again to everyone who responden.Regards,Mark

Mark: Good to see that you got your problem fixed, personally I have never heard of Palit so who knows about them, but no doubt MSI is a good brandJaap: Yes I still have x64 XP, I set up a dual boot, I mostly used it just to test 90% of programs to see if they will run on it and all the ones I tested ran well. Except the game Mafia, but it doesn't like any driver over 56.72 But I think I might get a new card soon anyways so hopefully it will work well the new card and new drivers.

Thanks for the update, Kurt. Yeah, it's pretty amazing how many programs work without a hitch, isn't it? Out of curiousity, what upgrade display adapter are you looking at? Are you considering to parallely swap your mainboard and move to PCI-e too? Thanks for taking your time, good luck and kind regards Jaap

Well if I was really worried about getting PCI-E, I would have bought a board with it, but since AGP is still very common and there are new cards out, I am not gonna switch, at least not for two years then I will consider it, but for now, I am an AGPer.