PSU Problem?

System Specs

my system specs;
Athlon 64 4200+ DUal Core
Nvidia GeForce 6800 gs 256 memory
1024mb Ram
Hiper 480 watt PSU
400 gb Hard drive
Creative Xfi extreme music sound card

I seem to be having a very specfic problem relating to pc performance over a period of use. While gaming my system will run perfectly on the latest games for around 30 minutes. When playing counterstrike source I will get a pretty constant 100 frames per second. This is untill around the 30 minute mark of play.

When I enable the show fps command to see what is causing my sudden 'jerkiness' I see my fps fluctuating irratically from around 10 to 150 fps. Anyone who is familiar with the game will know that low fps shows up red and high displays as green. The fps display will be constantly flickering back and fourth rapidly between green and red fps. Task Manager shows no performance criplling tasks.

The issue began when I installed a creative xfi soundcard. Since having the problems i have driver cleaned old sound drivers, disabled onboard sound, download latest creative drivers and also changed pci slot.

The only thing I can think of is either overheating or there is not enough power being supplied to my graphics card.

If anyone has experienced this similar 'jerky' feel bought about after playing for a while on a system that would perfrom flawlessly before then I would love to hear if you solved it.

Thank you for reading and thanx to anyone who replies.

I have heard there are issues with the X-fi sound cards. Since you had no problems before the new sound card that is fairly obvious.

Take the card out or disable it and see if you are stable again, if so return it for a non x-fi card or use on board sound. I'd rather be able to play a game for longer than 30 min than have great sound for just 30 min.

Thanx for the advice so far guys. Really helpful stuff. Do you think maybe it could be a fault or just an incombatibilty, obviously I would like to continue using my 90 quid soundcard if possible. Anyway im off to download onbaord sound drivers. Shall report back when ive tested it again.

Well yeh it appears that the sound card is really hitting my system hard. Its very strange that after taking out the card I get less fps than I do with the souncard in, yet the game stays smooth for extended lengths of play, where as with the sound card in I would go down to arround 30 fps after a lengthy play period.

I have tried all 3 pci slots. All to the same conclusion. I've also driver cleaned the onboard sound drivers (ac97) and the old creative drivers, then installed brand new firmware and drivers from creative site specific to my card.

I have absolutely no idea what is causing it tbh

A couple things I can think of.

First, the problem might be heat related, as your computer works fine at first in a game, but then slows down. While you have this more with the sound card installed, without the sound card, your system is slow to start with. That makes me think the sound card is doing its job, at least for a while. If this is a heat problem, not only the sound card, but the video card might be getting involved, as heat affects it too, along with other components in the system. If you can measure the tempts, do so. If there is too much heat, then the answer is more fans, better ventilation.

Another thing that is possible is that you have a problem with the power supply. This could also be a heat related problem, with the power supply just can't keep up with the demands on it and it then gets too hot. I've read that the Hyper power supplies are not very efficient in their ratio of power in/power out. Without the card, your computer isn't drawing as much power, so the PSU could do fine, but with the card, the power drain may be overtaxing it. Normally, a 480w PSU should be enough for your system, but if its efficiency isn't good enough, then you can get overheat and slow down. I have a 680w PSU myself, but I plan on getting a more powerful graphics card soon, so need the extra power for that.

I have an X-Fi Platnum that has given me few problems, and with the latest drivers, no problems. A way to test the card might be to put it into someone else's machine and seeing what happens. If the other machine has problems, then its probably the card. If there are no problems, than the card's all right and that points to some other problem in your machine. If the card's at fault, you might RMA it, if its still new enough to be on warrenty.

Well guys major revelation. After fitting a new 480 watt power supply around 3 months ago
after the graphics card complaining of not getting enough power I assumed I had fixed the
problem. To my complete disbelief while reading these forums wracking my brain for a
soultion to my soundcard woes the following happened.

http://img263.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wtf31go.jpg

As you can see there is obviously STILL not enough power being supplied to my graphics
card, even WITH the upgrade from a 350 watt PSU to a 450 Watt. This error message used
display every time I booted up my system but since the upgrade to a 480 watt PSU 3 month
ago I have not seen it once (I use my PC for gaming at least 4 hours eveyday)

Obviously I would go out and buy ANOTHER even more powerful PSU if i was sure this was
the problem but for some reason I feel the fault may lie with my mother board or some other
device.

My graphics card is a pci-e 6800gs with the latest official drivers. My power supply is a
HIPER type R 480w high performance Group.

Could a 480 watt PSU be insufficient ?

Thanx to anyone who takes the time to read this

My graphics card has one 6 pin connector plugged into it. That should be right yes?