Flickering monitor, Freezing Computer, and Lock ups in game

[AkDang]

recently, my monitor has been flickering and then the whole computer freezes and/or the monitor just shuts off [with a soundloop of the last sound in game]

before i could play HL2, but now i cant even play Counter-Strike without this problem occuring. i used to run CS at 85 fps before but now i'm forced to run it at 60 fps because of the flickering/freezing. It still freezes at 60 fps sometimes. I tried to play Lineage II. . .same result.

i suspect that this may be overheating or my outdated hardware, but i'm not sure what to upgrade

according to EVEREST Home Edition:
OS: Win2000 Pro
CPU: Intel Pentium 4, 2.4 GHz
VGA: GeForce FX 5200 [128 MB, AGP 8x]
Memory: 512 MB [two 256MB DDR SDRAM]

Temperatures
Motherboard: 38 °C (100 °F)
CPU: 48 °C (118 °F) it goes as high as 122°F in games
Aux: 31 °C (88 °F)

is there any other info i need to provide ? what about the PSU ? [and how would i find this info?]

i only have 1 fan and it's used to cool the CPU, the video card does not have a fan, it only has a heat sink that gets really really hot. . .i touched it and could not keep my finger there for more than 2 seconds literally. I tried opening the case with a fan blowing into it. this seems to help a bit but my computer ends up freezing anyways.

i have already updated the drivers for my video card. i haven't tried to overclock anything.

Any suggestions to what i should buy ? i got alot of christmas money =) Thanks so much :rotflmao:

[Spider]

That's pretty hot for a 2.4GHz Pentium.

If there is any dust build-up on the fan and the heat sync it may be causing you some
excess heat. In the BIOS settings you should be able to see a performance section
with temperature read outs, what is the CPU idling temp in there?

[AkDang]

hmm i don't see a performance section. . .

the button i have to press is f2 and it doesnt have that. . .i guess it's because this mobo is old =/

[renegade600]

tell about the harddrive, how big is it and how much available space is left?

[AkDang]

37GB harddrive, 9GB left

can anyone confirm that i'm logging into my BIOS setup properly?
when i press F2 at the boot up screen, it looks like this
http://docs.us.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/pe400sc/en/ug/j0323c30.htm#1043404

there is no way to check temperatures according to that guide.

Updated Specs:
Dell PowerEdge 400SC
OS: Win2000 Pro
CPU: Intel Pentium 4, 2.4 GHz [Intel Canterwood i875P/E7210]
VGA: GeForce FX 5200 [128 MB, AGP 8x]
Memory: 512 MB [two 256 MB Kingston PC2100 DDR SDRAM]
PSU: Stock 250 Watts, +12v = 16A
2 Optical Drives (1 dvd burner)
Seagate 40 GB, 7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA

[Spider]

It doesn't look like your Dell has the ability to display temperatures.

You can try using Hardware Sensors Monitor (http://www.hmonitor.com) to see if temps are displayed.
If it shows them as shadowed (not there) then you don't have a temperature
readout ability on the motherboard.

[renegade600]

you can try taking the cover off and run as normal to see what happens.