Hello, I just built this new comp:

ASUS M2N-E Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 Ultra
EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz Socket AM2 Processor Model ADX6000CZBO
mushkin 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 996527 - Retail
XION II XON-101 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450W Power Supply


I put it together a couple weeks ago and it constantly freezes and locksup. I swapped out the HDD the video card and processor and I switched around the two mushkin ram modules so my only answer is that it must be the mainboard over heating from lack of good airflow with the side panel on(the attached fan is very weak). However if I leave the case off with a floor box fan blowing in it it won't freeze at all. I don't want to leave the case off forever so I need a very powerful fan to replace the weak attached to keep the inside near room temperature and a strong gust of air blowing on the mainboard. I was thinking about the vantac tornado 88MM from newegg as that seems the most powerful but I thought I'd ask a couple experts first. I'd appreciate any advice, thanks.

Is your case physically small? The really big gaming type case is what all your stuff needs. That's a lot of really powerful (and hot) equipment. That Nvidia ia a big part of it. Give it plenty of space. I think the new 8800 series GPU's are great, but they are really hot. You may have to watercool.

All desktop comp chassis/MoBos have an optional second fan you can install. They call it a "system" fan and it is attached at the insside upper vent on the back. It's purpose is to vent/evacuate the air out of the chassis. The default CPU fan's purpose is to the draw heat off the processor but that hot air builds inside the chassis. The second fan solves the hot air build up problem.

My step-father's comp had this problem. We added the second system fan and now his comp doesn't overheat anymore.

Well, since I just replaced the video card and cpu and the same lockups occur it must be the main board overheating, I just need a strong gust of cool air blowing directly on the heatsink(south bridge?)or whatever is getting hot on the mainboard. I need it to be as cool as it would with the side panel off and a box fan blowing inside it. so in order to have the case side on I'd need a very power fan attached to the side panel in place of the weaker one. I'm thinking about watercooling though I have no experience with this stuff and water does sound dangerous. Thanks for the help, I'll research this a bit or I'll probably try out the tornado first.