Power Supply, Graphic Card and CPU Problem ?

450 Watt is a bit low nowadays. I recommend to at least use a 650 Watt power supply. There's this power supply calculator from asus that 'll give you a rough estimation of how much your system will use (*). It's tends to exaggerate, but this way you know for certain you'll be safe.

If you look up your type of Graphics card on the net, you can verify the maximum power usage (on 100% load). 400Watt is a bit high for this type of old graphics card. It isn't even crossfire X2, so it's more likely to be 100 Watt (**).

update:

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If you do like to stick to your 450 Watt power supply, i recommend buying a Wolfdale E8xxx series CPU, since they have a 45nm build instead of 65nm and run at almost half the power.

The 400 watts they want for the video card isn't just for the video card but for the entire system, including the cpu. Some manufacturers, like Visiontek, only want a 350watt PSU for the 2600XT. If you have a quality 450 watt power supply with 24amps on its +12V rail you will be fine. Althou its always nice to have a big quality PSU you dont need a 600 watter for your rig. My XP gamer runs a hungrier Dual Extreme cpu, 3 hard drives, TV tuner, Creative Sound card 4GBs of ram and an X1900XTX all on a 550watt Antec. If you are concerned I suggest this PSU--450 watts but has 33amps on the +12V rail. Will make the cheapo 600 watters look stupid.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...

Some think its all about wattage--its not. You also want big stable rails.

450W is a good average PSU for a good average office computer, but as you increase the demands, you're going to have some trouble. I would definitely suggest in getting a new power supply. If you have a computer case with a permanent power supply, then you're going to have to get a new case. Look for a case that either has no power supply (and just buy the PSU seperately), or one that has at least 550W to be safe.

examine your cpu's heatsink for dirt clogging in case you have not already achieved so. A cpu fan failure, or a dirt clogged heatsink might additionally reason those artifacts and can clarify why your cpu is shutting down so rapidly.

Go to newegg or NCIX and grab a PSU 600W minimum, or ditch the 2600XT in favour of something newer and more energy efficient like a Radeon 4500. Hope this helps!

well i don`t know, if it can run a 65 or 75nm cpu should be good for the core 2 duo, but i don`know if it`s 45 or 65nm. my best reccomendation is to get atleast a 600W psu so taht your ready for future upgrades and all.

check your power supply amp for the 12v ( 20+amp ) will be fine

and u better have a good brand power supply