Alright, so I just put together this system for my own use. Here's the specs.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor 6000+ (3.0GHz) AM2
PC CHIPS A33G (V1.0) Socket AM2/ SiS 761GX/ DDR2 800/ A&V&L/ MATX Motherboard
2GB DDR2 RAM
500GB Hitatchi HD
A-Power 400W 20+4-pin Dual-Fan ATX PSU w/PCIe & SATA
DVD-RW
Radeon 9500 256MB PCI

Now I started the system up with no real problems, got windows xp installed. Noticed the system was running a little warmer than I was used to but I chalked it up to the extra processing power. I used the system for a couple days without a hitch, with the exception of a few video problems, which I fixed with a driver upgrade.

The problem is that I was gaming tonight, and the system shutdown. Weird. Not shut down as much as powered off. There was a small pop when it happened, and a slight burning smell. I let things cool down a bit, and tried to power the system back up, nothing.

My guess is that the power supply overloaded, and a fuse blew somewhere. Anyone else have a different idea? If this IS the case, how do I go about solving the problem? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Not quite enough info, but if I had to guess with what you had given me, ide say yes, the power supply blew. The reason I would suspect this is because it was under load when your system crashed. If you have a spare power supply laying round, try it out.

Yeah yeah cheap PSU will do that to you. My guess would be PSU as well.

hopefully it didn't destroy anything else with it. those cheap psu can destroy many other components.

Is there any wayt to know what wattage I will need for this system?

well the cpu uses the most power. judging your system i would guestimate 550-600watts. the most. 500watts at least. make sure that' you don't get a cheap one, cause these are the types of porblems that happen. my ocz gamextreme 700watt psu has been running for six months now with no issues. i rarely turn off my computer, if i do it's to swtich os.

Ok, I'll look into that. I just tore the old PS apart, the fuse inside is still intact. After plugging it back in I pressed the power button, and the cpu and case fans moved for a millasecond, and stopped.

Does this offer any more insight?

Anyone?

Get yourself a new PSU from a Good trusted Brand. Get a 500-550 watt

My friend just put together this sytem:

Q9450 2.66 12mb cache(6mbx2)
Asus EAH3870/G/HTDi/512Mb
ASUS P5K Intel P35 LGA775 1333FSB Crossfire 2xPCI-16x M/board
OCZ 2Gb Kit (2 X 1Gb) PC2-6400 ATI Crossfire Certified XTC
HUNTKEY TITAN 650 650WATT power
500Gb, 250Gb and 160Gb seagate HDD's

He cannot run 3dMark06 or 06-Vantage no matter what OS we try, but it works with my 8800GT OC2, we sent the card in and asus "fixed" it-it does the same thing, we probably are going to send it in again but i just wondered if there was something we might be missing??

any advice would be much appreciated
thanks