Homebuilt System Malfunction

[macabe]

Hello All,

I recently completed my first computer build, and after a ton of troubleshooting managed to get it working, sort of. Whenever I play most any game (Fallout 3, Dead Space, Left 4 Dead, Rainbow 6, etc.) the computer freezes and the audio begins to stutter. From there I am unable to do anything but force restart the computer. My system is as follows:

Vista 64 bit Business

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6400+ (3.20 ghz)

4.00 GB RAM

500 GB HD

Rosewill 850 W Power Supply

MSI N9800GTX PLUS T2D512 OC GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2H AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Any ideas as to the problem? I have to admit I am very new to this, though I have spent an aggravating amount of time trying to learn about this particular problem I feel that there may be a basic problem I am overlooking. I almost hope so, I just want this problem fixed.

Thank you all in advance

 

[Proximon]

You should verify that your RAM is running at the proper voltage and timings to start:

CPU-Z
HWMonitor


then run memtest:

http://www.memtest.org/

 

[macabe]

Ran the tests and failed. Bought new RAM, ran the test, and failed. Going to try with just a single piece of Ram in to see if that makes a difference.

Wish me luck, and thanks for all the advice.

 

[shortstuff_mt]

Did you manually set the RAM speed/timings/voltage to the manufacturers specs in the BIOS before running memtest86+?

What brand is your HD? Seagate has been having major reliability/firmware issues lately.

 

[macabe]

The HD is Western Digital, and the RAM seemed to be at the right timing and all when I checked with those programs.

I tried running with only one piece of RAM in, still crashed, and I tried running without the Graphics Card, still crashed. I'm using Left 4 Dead as a stress test test right now.

I actually wasn't sure which specific version of memtest I should have gotten, so I ran the Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool instead. I know that it is supposed to be less accurate, but it stalled almost immediately and failed to finish operation. If you think I should use memtest as well, just let me know which to download.

Thanks