VPU recover - PSU?

I just built my 3rd new system and for the first time I'm having issues. When I play games (Supreme Commander, Stalker) I play for 10-15 minutes then get a 5 second freeze. Then I drop out to desktop with an ATI warning about vpu recover (Googling gets that it's a general error). I click okay and it goes back to the game for another 10-15 minutes before doing the same thing. The system is MSI K9A Platinum, AMD 6000+, 3xHDD, X1950Pro, DVDRW, 2GB XMS2 6400.

Drivers are all up to date. Temperature seems to be fine on graphics card and CPU - only hot component is south bridge (passive cooling sucks). PSU is Antec TruePower2 480W which I thought was sufficient but that's where I now think the problem is. Does anyone know whether that seems right? I'm all prepped to buy an Antec Trio 650W since I wanted to go XFire eventually but I hope people can confirm my decision in case I needlessly spend the cash.

Maybe this is more a system build problem but since it's the graphics complaining so that's where I'm posting.

Thanks, I'll do some more diagnosing tonight. ATI-Tool doesn't work with the 1950Pro according to their website but I'll give RivaTuner a go. I turned down the settings in Supreme Commander last night and it was bettter but still dropped out with the error a couple of times. I'll try monitoring temps first, then run a memory test, then play on really low settings, then swap in a brand new Antec Neo 500W I borrowed from work. If that doesn't work I'll probably just buy the new PSU anyway and cross my fingers.

Hrm. Well your psu could be it, you're using about 418 watts and 455 watts under load. I have that same psu in my old system and it is of excellent quality. I suspect its more likely a bad vga card than a psu issue.

VPU tends to happen when either it gets too hot, or the card senses a failure in one of its hardware components. I've experienced this same issue with games, alot of texture's at the same time make the card crash (black screen, reboot with vpu recovery saying some stuff). This happend well into the second year of use, but only after a driver update. Some things I would try before rma'ing the card is to:

Use a drivercleaner to uninstall ALL drivers and their respective itty bitty pieces and parts. Then install the newest drivers for your card and OS.

Put everything back to stock settings if you've oced. Capacitator's are a hit and miss with ati card, see if there is any physical damage to the card. Remember, vga card are not designed to be oced and often don't handle the stress as well as cpu's can.

Establish what particular thing your card is sensitive to, is it after a large amount of textures show up on the screen? during loading? after a certain time? Find the trigger and let us know.

Don't buy a new psu yet, the one you listed isnt good enough anyway for a new crossfire setup (2900xt's take up to 300watts a piece)!

Okay I'm an idiot. I missed the power connector on the motherboard. I had the ATX in, the 4 pin CPU power, the video card molex but forgot the extra molex next to the PCIe slots. I still plan to test the system before putting any more software on it but for now I'm pretty sure I'm an idiot. Thanks for the helpful suggestions.