9800pro help pleeeaase! It foobars my pc

Has anybody else had the following problem with a 9800pro -

computer hangs completely after a random time period between 2 seconds and 5 minutes when any 3d rendering activity undertaken i.e. game playing, but is stable under normal conditions, i.e. writing this message.

It's my second card (HIS 9800 pro platinum iceQ), the first was RMA'd back to ebuyer for exactly the same problem. They said the card was faulty but since this second one does exactly the same, I don't think they are right and I don't want to waste anymore money sending cards back and forwards.

So any suggestions/advice much appreciated.

My setup is:

Mobo: MSI K8T Neo
Proc: AMD 64 754 pin 3000+
450 watt power supply
512mb ddr400 cls 2.5 corsair value ram

All drivers and bios uptodate, recent fresh xp installation, previous graphics card (Geforce 2 GTS) worked fine. Have tried with different memory stick to see if it was a problem with mobo ram but no, same problems. Have tried playing with all the mobo bios settings but so far no luck.

Wha-da-ya think?

[DanTheBanjoman]

Have u tried stressing your cpu? or borrowed a cpu from a friend and tried it.
Did you check your case temperature? (or any other temperature for that matter) The cards might just overheat.

What PSU is it? If it's an el cheapo one it might just not be able to handle it, even though use cheap ones myself and they power a lot more hardware... Keep an eye on your voltages while you game/render/whatever anyway

Thanx for the reply Dan, in response

I guess you could say I've tried stressing the cpu, I've used it solidly with my previous graphics card - geforce2 gts - for a couple of months and no problems

the case temperature should be okay - the psu is new with dual fans, I've got one front case fan and currently side is of the pc tower is off, my core temp is reported at around 42degrees whilst system is 38. As for the graphics card, it comes with the arctic vga cooler which is switched to high i.e. maximum cooling.

the psu is new, I got a 450w one because I new the 9800pro was power hungry, I did get a cheapo though it's a q-tec psu. I'll watch the voltages whilst giving ut2004 a go, what should I be looking for? Currently the readings from the MSI core center are

vcore = 1.47
3.3v = 3.33v
+5v = 4.95v
12v = 12.02v

Let this be a lesson for anybody else thinking of using a cheap PSU .......

D O N T D O I T, JUST SAY NO TO Q-TEC

just replaced the 1 month old q-tec 450watt psu with a 400watt jeantech psu, and all my problems are solved. I have waisted many hours trying to sort this problem. grrhh