My PC freezes during gameplay with buzzing through speakers or sometimes crashes!!!?

[Sh4d0w]

Hello everyone!! this has happened ever since i have got my computer!!! what happens is in almost every single game whether it be 5 seconds of gameplay to 90mins!!!
Ill give u an example... i might be playing Battlefield 1942 for 10mins and then my computer will freeze.. it completely locks up and i get this buzzing noise through my speakers and the only option left is to reboot my computer!!! on the rare occasion the whole computer will crash instead of freezing!!! help :( !!!! i thought it would of been an overheating problem at first so i got a new Thermaltake 550W PSU.. but that didnt help at all.. wat a waste of $120.. i had suspected it was a power or overheating problem cause my old PSU was only 300W but it obviously wasnt..
ive checked my temperatures on my computer during gameplay using a well known program called Everest which uses the sensors on the individual components of the computer which gives you a more or less accurate reading.. about 1min before freezing my CPU read 48c and the MOBO read 36c!! im no expert but these should be normal temperatures!!

My computer stats are:

AMD Athlon 64X2 dual core processor 3800+
Windows XP home edition
1 gig DDR RAM
Radeon X1600 256mb
DirectX 9.0c
Thermaltake 550W
MOBO is a Radeon Xpress 200

Please!!!! anyone help!!! cause i am desperately running out of ideas!!! could my graphics card be possibly overheating cause i dont know how to check its temperature??? please help!!!

[manic]

That power supply is still a little shy of what it should be. You have
2 12 volt rails, one at 15amps, and the other at 14amps. The efficency
of the psu is %70, that all equals not great. If your running a pci-e
video card you are really pushing it. The temps you posted dont seem
to bad.
But say you can struggle through with the power supply, and Im not
saying that is, or is not your problem.
Have you ran memtest on the ram? Download speed fan, set it up for
your board, so that you can monitor real temps under load....that is
a start, but like I said, I still think you are underpowered.

[Sh4d0w]

thanks for the tips.. i still have a a feeling that 550W should be enough and the temp of the CPU should reach about 65c before it should do anything but i shall test Speefan!! thanks lets hope i get somewhere =D

[koala]

If you upgraded from a generic PSU to a Thermaltake 550W, then it's not a waste of money. Even though it didn't fix your current problem, it will save you the trouble of replacing the rest of your components that might otherwise have suffered permanent damage due to a weak PSU.

48C is heading towards the high end of the scale for an Athlon 3800+, but not in the danger zone. Even so, I would replace the thermal paste with some Arctic Silver. See these instructions. It's important to apply it correctly. Too much or too little will reduce its effectiveness.

Make sure the heatsink is firmly attached and the fan is clean and spinning.

Have you installed the AMD Dual Core Optimizer? This is essential for all AMD Dual Cores to fix timing problems.

As Manic says, your PSU's amps are low for a PCIE card. This is a common cause for crashes under stress.

EDIT: You can check the graphics card temperature with Riva Tuner.

[Sh4d0w]

thanks for that.. i just want to let u guys know that my 12V rails are at 16 and 17 amps not 14 and 15! and yes i have installed the AMD dual core optimizer

[Killer Squirrel]

Check the graphics card temp, as this can be one of the problems for your freezes

[Sh4d0w]

graphics card temp seems fine.. when it freezes all the components in the case operate like there is nothing wrong.. its weird