Problems playing games... please help!

[edz]

Hey guys, hows things?

I have a major problem which I have been spending hours trying to resolve with my computer. Whenever I play games, it freezes/crashes.

My computer is:

Pentium 4 3.2GHZ
Intel D915PGN mobo
1g DDR400 PC3200 ram
XFX Geforce PCX 5300 128mb PCI Ex
BenQ LCD monitor
Thermaltake 400W PSU

The problem: I have Windows XP Pro w/ SP2 installed. I have all the latest drivers for everything. I installed a few quite old games: Warcraft 3, FT, Quake 3 and none of them seem to be able to run. Whenever I get in game or even in the menu for warcraft 3, my computer just crashes. !?!?!

Attempted Solution 1: I have swapped ram just to see whether the ram was faulty or not with other "working fine" ram. In the game it still crashses/freezes.

Attempted Solution 2: I have taken out the graphics card, tried a ATI Radeon X700 256mb PCI Ex card. The games work fine for about 5 minutes then it crashes/freezes again. (In the game i can see glitches as if they were incorrect drivers, but i did download latest ATI drivers)

Attempted Solution 3: Tried my graphics card on my mates pc, in the game it still freezes..>!?!?!

I thought it coulda been my graphics card that was faulty but then it seems like its more then my graphics card thats faulty?! I have run out of ideas on what it could be? Has anyone ever had this problem or have some suggestions?

I know I could just completely buy new graphics card, ram, mobo and that should solve the problem but thats the very very very VERY last resort.

Please help... Thankyou in advanced!!

EdZ

 

[Watzzupp]

have you made sure you have the latest direct x?

 

[Trizoy]

Try memtest

 

[edz]

yeh i got directx 9.0

ok i got the memtest program.

I don't think its the ram though because my video card screws up on my mates comp as well?

 

[Skizzor]

Maybe get a new video card. 6600GT perhaps

 

[edz]

haha yeh, that was my option but I tried my friends video card on mine and still had the same problem! I need to know what exactly is the problem.

 

[edz]

bump,

hey i was doing the mem test and left it on for about 4 hours. When I came back I got this message not from the memtest but Intel Desktop utilities?

Seems like my cpu is overheating when demanding applications are being run?! Could that be due to it being very dusty? faulty cpu? I have a pretty big heatsink on it..

any ideas?

 

[edz]

sorry, here is the attachment.

 

[Decadence]

well it wouldn't hurt to dust it off, would it?

 

[The Astroman]

New heatsink? More fans?