Vista Ultimate not running stable

ok, so stupid me, last year I bought vista ultimate when buying new components to build a new computer. I installed it at first, had huge issues, and gave up and installed XP instead.. but had issues with XP as well, and later was traced to defective ram, so I had that replaced, but never got around to re-installing XP. roll around to now, I figure i'd give it a try again, since I want to take advantage of DirectX10. I installed it (after a 2nd try, first time the installer froze).. and I try running the windows updates, and it freezes, after a few minutes of surfing the net, internet explorer freezes.. and im stuck. So fast forward to today, I'm installing it again. So here's my hardware setup: MB: Asus Striker Extreme CPU: Core2Duo 6400 (if i remember correctly) RAM: Mushkin Extreme ram (i tested the ram and they are fine - because i had corsair ram to begin with and they were defective) Video Card: 2x BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC'd editions Sound Card: Creative XFi Xtreme Music Hard Drive: Western Digital 300gb Power Supply (if it matters): Enermax Galaxy 1000Watt any insights / thoughts ? Thanks in advance!

Did you check for new Vista drivers - a lot might have changed in a year.

see, i can't even run the windows update program, and after a few minutes of surfing or even having the computer on, the processes start slowing down and freezing… i got to instal the video and sound card drivers, but after that, i gave up cause it froze even faster

Does it freeze in Safe Mode? What are your temperatures?

in safe mode, windows update won't even start up when i click it… and when i run it in normal mode, it just hangs and explorer crashes.. temperature should be roughly mid 30's C. maybe high 30's after a few reboots.

Well, your temperatures are great. I think I would make sure I had all the latest XP drivers from the ASUS website, pull all your extra hardware, one graphics card, and try again using the latest drivers.