KN8 Neo2 Platinum Nightmare - please set me straight!

Question

Hi,
Thank you very much for reading this post.  Any help would be greatly appreciated, as i would like to avoid the RMA process
My problem: Intermittently, machine will not POST – (CD/DVD drives keep flashing/resetting forever)… no “beep”, and pc needs 4sec hold of power to shut down (don’t know if this gives any detail in sequence of post or not).
My Config:
K8N Neo2 Platinum
AMD Athlon 64 3500+
Corsair Dual (Twin) DDR 1GB PC3200XLPRO – in “Auto” originally, now in 2-2-2-5 with 2.75 volts
Antec TRUE POWER 450 (modular PSU)
2x Seagate 200MB HD in Raid 0 (stripe) (on SATA 0 and 1)
Floppy
Sony 4x DVD+/-R and LG 52x CDR on IDE 0
EVGA NVIDIA 6800GT 256
BIOS 1.2 (as shipped)
- NO Overclocking
Sequence of issue:
I built the machine last weekend and hooked everything up (I know a mistake) and machine would not post…. So I started unplugging, started with IDE-0 and it posts fine. So I think – ok so my issue is here….replace IDE cable and move drives to IDE 1 and I am fine. Installed windows…soft rebooted many times, fully installed my whole system, programs, drivers, etc. THEN – I did a HARD REBOOT. Problem comes back. I move CD Drives to IDE 0 and it boots fine again!.... Install games, play games for 5+ hours no problems.
Now I get this non-post issue every 3 hard boots or so. First boot after the problem, bios tells me I have a failed OVERCLOCK, adjust in setup…which is BS but I have to go to bios settings, change nothing, then it boots fine.
One other thing – the memory is supposed to be a 2.75 volts according to Corsair, so I changed that (bios seting is RED – not recommended) and this change does not seem to affect anything (can post and operate normally for a while then get no post again).
I have built 10+ systems and this is the most frustrating issue ever for me!!! My guess was:
1) loose connection – nope – reset everything 3x
2) Power – tried using different power connectors for 6800GT card but don’t know if there are any specific issues here (maybe the card needs a connector with nothing else on it?)
3) RAM / CPU / MB issue: I have tried moving ram in slot 2/3 but same issues. I reeeeely don’t want to have to re-seat the athlon64.
THANKS FOR ANY/ALL INPUT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 1

And here's an important thing to read :
It's comming from an article at ModdersHQ community"
Quote
The Noisetaker probably performed the weakest out of all 3 in the test.  However, considering this PSU is only rated at 470w, compared to 510w and 550w; and it does not have adjustable rails, it did very well.  The rails were all well within reason, but the Noisetaker showed the largest drop, especially on the 12v rail. I think the 6800 Ultra was beginning to suck more juice than the Noisetaker had.  Unfortunately, here is where you can see the downside of dual 12v rails:  there is no "backup" or "reserve" current.  
Each 12v rail has about 15 amps of current, compared to the usual 34 amps or so on a normal PSU.  Now, if you add them together, everything is fine.  But the problem arises when you suck too much current from a single rail.  With a regular PSU, the current ceiling is very high(30a or so), so even though you might be running a ton of fans and drives, chances are you can at least unplug something if the rail drops too low.  Also, if you have less fans and drives, then you have more current at your disposal.  However, if you are only working with a 15a current, then your ceiling is much lower.  You have no "reserve" current to draw from that would be designed for fans and drives.  So even if you have a single drive and fan plugged in, you still only have 15a for your motherboard, CPU and graphics card.  And there is no way to access that other 12v rail without running a molex from the second rail.  That is most likely why you see the dip in the 12v rail from idle to load.  Although not huge, it is noticable, and with a smaller PSU would become a problem.
That can explain our problems...!!!