first i am going to start out by telling you all my complete system so it will be easyer for anyone to help me

CPU: amd 64 x2 6000+ 3.0Ghz
Motheboard: Asus M2N4-SLI
Graphics: 2(SLI) EVGA 8600GTS 256MB
Hard drive: 250GB seagate barracuda
basic dvd burner
PSU: antec earthwatt 500watt

im running 2 120mm fans, 1 80mm fan, Zerotherm Cpu cooler BFT-90, 2 Zalman FS-V7 vga coolers, and one pair of Red Cathodes.

Now that you all know my setup i will tell you my problem

i have two problems, the first one is related to my vga cards. not all the time but once in a while when i turn on my red cathodes an error message pops up saying that my vga cards are not receiving sufficient power and that the graphic settings have been reduced to save power...i dont see how this can bee because my power supplie should be able to hold everything i have.

im not sure if this belongs here but my second problem involves my OS, but it could be related to my power problems

in the past month my OS has crashed twice, the first time i had to do a complete reinstall, and start from scratch. and the second time witch was about 3 days ago i was able to repair and keep my files. i dont know how i can be having these problems, my computer is used moslty for gaming. I use Winaso and AVG. so i know my computer is clean..

i hope theres someone out there who can help me... im also new to this forum so im hoping it comes in handy for me

How old is your psu?
That would seem to be your issue.
Your cpu is 125w
Sli also

You have a power hungry CPU and 2 vid cards, You need better power supply.

+1 for a new PSU

I checked specs on Your PSU. It has 2 17A 12V rails. one of therails feeds CPU and 17A for thatt is more than enough. And then you have 2x 8600 GTS and all the other stuff(HDD,CD ect) on the second rail and 17A is not enough to feed all of that. You should be getting single rail PSU like Corsair VX550 with a single 41A 12V rail or even a VX450 with single 33A 12V rail would do but I would recommend VX550

^+1 for Corsair 550VX, also consider the PP&C 610.

ainarssems,

"I plugged in the 8-pin EPS12V connector and proceeded to put a 30A load on it. The PSU did not shut off, which confirmed that my visual observation that all of the +12V leads were in fact coming from the same source on the PCB. The Antec EarthWatts does NOT have multiple +12V rails. It only has one +12V rail with no limiters on any of the connectors."

From the review here:
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.p [...] ry&reid=35

How are the cards being fed? They should be on their own leads, without anything else being attached. I'm guessing you have the cathode on the same leads, and the cards aren't getting enough juice because of that.

See if you can sell those GTS cards and get a real video card. Depending on your settings, a single 8800GT should be faster then your current cards, and it will consume quite a bit less power. (less heat will be emitted also.) If you can sell each of those cards for $50-$75, this won't cost you a lot of money. (if you can sell each GTS for $75, you should be able to find an 8800GT for $150. This means it won't cost you anything.)

As long as your EW 500 (a Seasonic PSU btw.) is otherwise stable, this might be your best bet. I can only guess why the OS crashed. Were there any error messages? I can't think of any reason why you'd have to reinstall after an OS crash. That seems more like a problem with the harddrives.

Did you plug in the six pin connectors on the video cards?

Antec EarthWatts has 2 separate PCIe power cables.
I think it should be sufficient for your setup, because those two cards are not uber power hungry.
EarthWats series is produced by seasonic,so they are good,quality PSUs, no need for the Corsairs.
Since the problem appears when you turn on the cathode, I think there's your problem! Maybe it's drawing too much power(since cathode requires more power than LEDs).
I would replace it with some LED lights.

Did not know that it has single rail. It sis advertised as dual rail. Must be cathodes than.

My vote is your PS is to weak for your setup. I would say your 500w PS is just adequate for what you have, right on the edge and you add some lights and doo dads and your over the edge, simple as that. You have a nice setup man, give it a little more juice that it deserves.

Also + 1 for Corsair 550VX

CCFL have a very small power load when running. The CCFL/ON = VidCard not receiving sufficient power might be a problem with the CCFL inverter (converts DC power to AC for CCFL lights) going bad. Switching to LEDs or just doing without the CCFL is probably a good idea.

Your 2x 2 Zalman FS-V7 vga coolers - running them in Silent or Performance mode? Have the 8600GTS's overclocked?

Your OS crash might be a sign of a HDD ready to go bad. Get a copy of SeaTools and do a diagnostic run of your HDD just to rule out that possible problem.
Make yourself a Ultimate BootCD disk (or UBCD 4Win) rescue disk. Usually an OS crash should not need a re-install to get up and running again.

If it's not a HDD going bad - look for a few ways to back off the +12v power requirements of your PC for a while. If the problems are still occuring you know its not likely to be an underpowered PSU. No reason to jump on a new PSU till you can figure out what is really going on.