Fried MB or GPU?

[wargigas]

Not sure if this would be the right forum to post this in but guess it's close enough.

I recently tried to install a Geforce GTX 260. I had some major driver issues with it, and I'm actually not sure if it's a dud or there's a problem w/ my MB. I am currently using the MB in question, an old A-bit GD8 Pro, and it's working fine on my Geforce 8600 GT. However, every time I installed the GTX 260's drivers and restarted I'd get stuck in a BSOD loop when booting. Windows advised me that it was an infinite loop hang from the gfx driver so I suppose it is quite possibly just a bad card.

But at the same time I also started getting memory read/write errors (haven't gotten one in awhile though) and Windows was no longer able to recognize my IDE controller. My BIOS detects the DVDRW and my 2nd HDD but once booted Windows doesn't register them. I've tried replaceing the IDE cable, setting the jumpers to master and cable select, tried the two drives separately, even tried an old CDRW I had. Windows can't detect any of them. I tried to update the DVDRW drivers but they're installed using a flash utility the won't work because it can't detect the DVDRW either.

Without all these other problems, specifically Windows' inability to detect my drives, I'd assume the GTX 260 was shot (I did get it to work for like an hour before I green squares of death and it froze, leading to the updated drivers and subsuquent BSOD loops) but the MB seems to be the least common denominator w/ everything included.

Any suggestions appreciated

 

[wargigas]

Here's the rest of my setup, if it helps btw:

Abit GD8 Pro
Intel P4 560j 3.6Ghz w/ 800Mhz FSB and 1Mb Cache
eVGA Geforce 8600 GT (attempted upgrade to XFX Geforce GTX 260)
Kingston 2x1Gb DDR2 533Mhz
Thermaltake PurePower 500W PSU (Going to RMA this and get a PC Power & Cooling Silencer 500W)
Sony DVD+RW DRU820a

I know it's a fairly old and ancient system but even so it play Crysis at Medium/High Settings so I figured the best single item to upgrade was the GPU. An article here on Toms Hardware stress tested 8 games for FPS and the GTX 260 had the best avg FPS of 61 and my 8600 GT had an avg of 13...lol

For the short time the GTX 260 was working it played Crysis beautifully in the lower intensity zones at very/high settings. I thought it may have overheated or shorted when it got the green glitches but it did work to a point.

When I put it in, Windows detects but after the hardware wizard installs the drivers or I install from the driver .exe and reboot it gets stuck a BSOD loop again. Before installing the drivers though, it's functional. I'm using nvidia's new drivers from 10/15/08.

 

[Mondoman]

See how it works with the new PS (which is much better quality than your old one; newegg has an extra $15 off it for the next few days - code pcp15off). Your P4 is an energy hog compared to modern Core2Duo CPUs, and your new graphics card is also an energy hog, so I wouldn't be surprised that your older less-capable PS couldn't handle it.

 

[wargigas]

Well, the TT PurePower is brand new and the same wattage sa the PC P&C I was going to get, both meeting the min system reqs for the GTX