Computer lock up

[itlieswithin]

i have an issue with system lock ups and i was wondering if anyone could help me distinguish what part is failing because i think its the motherboard but im just not sure

i have a motherboard from msi its the 890fxa-gd70 and im getting system lock ups every time i go to play a game ive switch power supplies and switched between 3 dfferent video cards and the HDD works fine when i installed it onto another computer. the only thing i havent changed is the ram, processor, and motherboard. when my system locks up it just goes to a black screen and i cant do anything to get out of it i have to shut it down by unplugging it.

and if i was to replace the motherboard would going with amd 880 chipset make a difference in games

My build
MOBO: msi 890fxa-gd70
VGA: evga GTX 570
CPU: Phenom 955 II x4
RAM: g. skill 4 gigs @ 1600
HDD: 320 gig WD

 

[nikorr]

Did u always removed the drivers before reusing the system with different HW?

 

[itlieswithin]

yes ive even reinstalled windows just to make sure

 

[alyoshka]

Wouldn't it be better to replace the board with a 990 Chipset?
Instead of downgrading it, it maybe a good opportunity for you to upgrade it.

 

[itlieswithin]

yes im thinking about goin to a 990 but its alittle out of my price range.

 

[ivaroeines]

There are 2 possible causes that i see that i can see, power supply may be too small, or the sound-card on the mainboard may be acting up. Power-supply should be easy to check if its too small, you can underclock your cpu, this should reduce the needed power. Soundcard, try disabling it in either devicemanager or bios, see what happens.

 

[itlieswithin]

ill give the sound card a shot but i know it isnt the PSU i had an antec 650 watt in it then the lock ups started happening so i changed it to an OCZ 700 watt and the lock ups are still happening.

 

[ivaroeines]

There is 1 thing i forgot that i have come across that caused problems starting games, the windows sidebar in Vista can cause games not to start, if you do run widgets or the windows sidebar( widget program in vista ) you may try closing them down.

 

[alyoshka]

What slots have you placed the RAM in?