power supply problem?

Hello,

I recently bought a set of components to build a new Athlon XP system, but have ran into some problems.

I purchased an Athlon XP 2600+ processor, PCChips M848A motherboard, 512 MB Kingston DDR 333 Memory, and I'm using a Radeon 7500 board that I used in an older P3 1.2 GHz system I have been running on.

The case I purchased had a 400W power supply.

The problem is this, the system would boot up originally but would crash /w a blue screen before Windows would even install during the XP install process.

I thought it was a heat issue, so I bought compound and a copper plated heat sink to replace the heat sink that came with the computer, it didn't do anything. It still crashes.

But, I am able to run the processor at lower speeds; although something peculiar happens. The built-in AC97 sound has a high crackling noise, and there are graphical glitches - the start menu button has red spots, and red coloring is in other things such as when I loaded the Sims.

Since it is not a heat issue, I assumed maybe the motherboard was bad. So I went out and purchased a Soyo Dragon KT600 Ultra motherboard; the exact same thing happened - crackling sound through the on-board audio, constant crashes, and bizzaire graphics where some things have red spots/splotches.

So I took that motherboard back for a refund, seeing that the motherboard is not the issue.

I then went to the AMD website to double check power supply requirements. My 400W power supply does not have the same Amperage "maximum continuous" outputs as what they list for an optimal workstation.

My question, before I go out and buy an expensive power supply to test this out, is if this is the problem?

Again - the problems in summary are red spots/graphical glitches, audio that is crackled and hard to hear, as well as consistent crashing in where the computer automatically reboots itself or turns itself off at times.

Thanks for the help in advance!

check the memory , download memtest86 to check , also try relaxing memory timings (3-3-3-7)

sounds like video card problems with the display giving odd colors and such....the noises are another thing altogether, try running in barebones and see what happens, try with a different vid card as well...

Fat, Drunk, and Stupid is no way to go through life Son.