Persistent mystery shutdowns

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Scissorpear

PC starts up fine, connects to interweb, runs word processing and most internet browsing, but when a more intensive program is launched, it'll just shut down. games, Pshop, even streaming video. I was originally told by some friends that my power supply was inferior, and could not support the graphics card, so I dropped the last of my 'spare flow' on 200w upgrade. no change.

should I brave another upgrade? is it a problem with the card? is there some kind of obvious problem that I should feel bad for not knowing about?

Motherboard - ECS Black a790GXM-AD3
CPU - AMD Athlon II x2 250
Video Card - Powercolor AX4850 1gb
PSU - Sunbeam 680W
RAM - (2x1GB)
OS - Windows 7 64b

This was my first shot at building a PC. I'm an illustration student and they've been forcing apple
down our throats, but macs are like cats- you can't play games with them, and they'll never really love you. Everything was going great, and then I tried to run... you know... programs.
 
update: I tried looking at things in the BIOS, and the BIOs shuts down after a few seconds. I feel like the BIOS isn't supposed to do that >.>;;
 
Your graphics card has an external PCI-E 6 pin power connector at the end. Is it plugged into the power supply?
 
How about the ATX4P connector on the motherboard, the molex type connector?
 
You can edit your previous post rather than create a new one. Anyway, your motherboard's manual makes no mention of needing the ATX4P for multiple cards only. It does say, "Make sure to connect a 4-pin ATX power cable to ATX4P; otherwise, the system will be unstable."

You can't ignore a necessary connector just because your PSU doesn't have one. That said, the connector seems to be a common 4 pin molex connector. Do you not have a spare one? If not, you can get adapters or splitters.

You could be correct in your belief that it is unnecessary but you do have a problem and I think it could be this connector. Besides, there would be no harm in trying it but that's up to you.
 
Perhaps you can try your graphics card in another PC to test it, maybe in one of your friends' PCs if you don't have another yourself.
 
I'll try just that tomorrow during reasonable people hours.

is there anything else you think I could try now? I feel like a faulty graphics card wouldn't run a monitor and a basic system in the first place, and it sure as heck shouldn't be able to overload BIOS.

thanks for the help, by the way :D
 
You make a good point regarding the BIOS. Perhaps it's a motherboard problem. Although it doesn't seem like a BIOS problem per se, you might consider flashing the BIOS to the newest version. One reviewer of your motherboard on Newegg seemed to solve a problem (though not exactly like yours) by updating the BIOS.

Edit: Also, you might try starting the PC with just one RAM module at a time in case of flakey RAM.
 
so, I think I'm going to make your day- I tried the BIOS again, and the CPU and I got into an awkward conversation.

"so, I want to play dragon age, cpu."
"so, I want to not be over 200 degrees farenheit, user."

lo and behold, the thermal paste on the CPU was paltry and dry-looking... I guess a manufacturing error or something. worst comes to worst, I'll replace the heatsink/fan as well. thanks for the assist, mailpup!

to newegg <_<!
 
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