Not sure if this is the right forum, but if not perhaps you can direct me to a better one.
 
I recently updated my box to be a little bit more modern (was running a k6 1.3 ghz mobo that was state of the art when I bought it years ago).  However it now appears that dual core isn’t necessarily the way to go.
 
Most all programs seem to scream with the exception of several games – specifically BF2 and Morrowind.   The games may start but after a few minutes  the computer either reboots or goes to the blue screen of death and I need to force a restart.  I know that others are getting by just fine with dual core so I don’t know what is the specific issue with my box.  I have performed all driver updates (I think I haven’t missed any), BIOS update, plus any software updates (games AND Windows) – I have even done the recommended patches from AMD’s website.
 
Any thoughts?  Here is my box:
• Windows XP Home
• ECS NFORCE6M-A v2.0 MOBO
• AMD X-2  5600+ cpu
• 4 gigs DDR-2 800 ram (2 gig Corsair, 2 gig OCZ)
• ATI Radeon X700 Pro video card (256 mhz)
• Generic  420 watt power supply  
• Generic CD & DVD-R/W  

Try swapping out for the old equipment and see if the problem goes away.  If it does then take a good look at the new hardware.  Maybe you got a bum component.
 
I have had no problems with any of my Dual core systems, but I also am not trying to run BF2 or Morrowind.
 
Good luck.

as soon as i see the words generic and psu bad thoughts occur, still it should be able to handle that sort of components.
 
all in all a cpu can not cause that sort of problems just because it is dual core.  indeed how you came to such a conclusion is beyond me.
 
  i would look more to your ram, psu or heat for your problems, perhaps even just a reinstall of your OS whatever it may be.

Good point.  If you have not reinstalled windows after swapping out your motherboard you really really should.

If you're getting blue screens looking here should give you a better idea of where the problem is.
 
My second worry after the PSU is the RAM.  Are both the OCZ and Corsair rated for the same voltage?  I get a lot of BSODs if the voltage isn't spot on with the RAM (never mind more than 2 sticks always being a lot harder to get stable).  You could try dropping to just pairs from one brand at a time, then a mixed pair, and load up the system to see if there's a problem.

If you're getting blue screens looking here should give you a better idea of where the problem is.
 
My second worry after the PSU is the RAM.  Are both the OCZ and Corsair rated for the same voltage?  I get a lot of BSODs if the voltage isn't spot on with the RAM (never mind more than 2 sticks always being a lot harder to get stable).  You could try dropping to just pairs from one brand at a time, then a mixed pair, and load up the system to see if there's a problem.

I am assuming that there is something goofy about the system, I just haven't been able to put my finger on it.
 
Everything else runs fantastic (quite fast compared to what I was used to).  My only issues are with BF2 and Morrowind.  Doing a Google search, it appears that both of these programs have issues with dual core processors and there are various work-arounds, none of them as of yet have worked with my situation.

i am very confused, how can a program have an issue with dual cores?
 
 

i've never ever ever found a program that does - the biggest issue is it not taking advantage of multiple threads i would have thought

i am thinking this is what the op must mean in that by "issues" he means bf2 and morrowind aren't multi-threaded.

BF2 has big problems with dual cores, the fix annoyingly is to start the game, ctrl-alt, delete into task manager, select the process and set its affinity to cpu 1 only.

i have to do this with BF2, otherwise i get disconnected from servers every 10seconds.

update both games to there most recent patch.... if BF2 still doesnt work, just buy COD4 its a much better game.

i dont know if setting the affinity would work in morrowind.

Cant argue with that advice  

Thanks for the replies - It almost sounds like BF2 will be moved to the "wish I could play" pile.
 
But in other news, there are probably a whole string of games that I can now play that I couldnt before.
 
Have a good one.

I ran into a similar problem; after playing BF2 a few minutes, PC rebooted.  So..after a lot of hair pulling, I glanced at my GPU temp, and it was through the roof, even at IDLE.  So I then looked at the heatsinks on the video card, and they were totally caked with dust and cat hair... LOL
 
I cleaned the heatsinks and fan, temps dropped to normal, no more crashing when stressing the GPU in BF2.

There are a lot of older games that do not run correctly on dual core systems.
To fix these apps in a more permanent fashion vs the taskmanager way
 
 
# Download imagecfg. Google it lots of sources out there.
# Unzip it to Windows\system32\ as well as Windows\system32\dllcache\.
# Make a backup copy of your exe.
 
imagecfg -u yourapp.exe
 
this will set the app to uniprocessor mode, it will only run on one core.

Real question is why anyone would buy anything other than the X2 5000+ BE if they are going to go AMD dual-core.
 
Also, try taking out 2 Gigs of the Ram. You aren't running 64-bit OS, so 4GB vs 2GB does absolutely nothing for you.
 
 
P.S. A cheap Core 2 and decent Intel MB will do more for you in 2 years than going AMD X2...  Penryn Quad cores for everyone next year. Somewhere in the 3.5GHz range....

Did you install the dual core patch from amd and microsoft?
 
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=896256
 
 
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processor [...] 06,00.html