New computer stability

[V-ism]

Specs:
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (90nm) not o/c'd
MSI Neo2 Platinum
2x 512 MB Patriot PDC1G3200+XBLK Dual Channel
BFG Geforce 6600GT (latest drivers from Nvidia)
250 GB Maxtor SATA HDD
2 old Maxtor IDE HDDs (20 gb, 5 gb)
Aspire X-Navigator case w/500W Power supply

Built this computer for my girlfriend. First noticed a problem when she plays Final Fantasy XI. The game will pause for 3-10 seconds and then resume. The game's server usually disconnects her because no data is received from the computer in that time. We also started noticing when watching video files from the hard drive that it will ocassionally skip or pause and resume quickly, no matter what format. I think we also experience pausing in regular Windows use as well. This is very annoying when we expect this computer to be kickass.

I suspect the problem to be in some setting I have in the bios, the memory, or the power supply. But honestly I don't have a clue. My ram timings are at (2-2-2-5) which is what it is rated at and what the bios sets it at in Auto mode. I have the HT at 5x. We recently plugged the computer to a new surge protector. Because it doesnt reach the outlet we are using another surge protector as an extension. I know this is not safe, but will this give unstable power to the computer or something? We didn't notice any game pauses before we did this, but the video skips were still there. Could it be my power supply is crap? Does the fan speed in the PSU have any effect? How do I check the PSU for stability? Any other suggestions? Thank you for any help!

 

[resStealth]

im thinking it has nothing to do with the bios. its gotta be the junk psu that came with that case. if your going to build a high end system like that you really need a good psu. only time i use a generic psu is when i build a budget system for someone or for myself for 1-200 dollars. go to the computer store and get about a 500 watt or so from a reputable manufacturer like antec or pc power and cooling. if that dosen't solve the problem revert to older nvidia drivers. the driver issue is big right now with ati's new drivers, i doubt its that but its worth a shot. more likely then now its that cheap power supply.

 

[V-ism]

So how do I make sure it's the power supply that is the cause. I don't want to replace the PSU just because it has a bad rep.

 

[V-ism]

Ok, so I replaced the PSU with a Antec 480W, and the problem persists. So it's not the power . The most important thing right now is to get FFXI to run stable. I've uninstalled and reinstalled the game, and it changed nothing. I've ran Prime95 overnight and there were no memory errors. Any ideas anyone?