Computer Problems - Graphics card going Bad?

[Dhaark]

Hello, ive had this pc about 4yrs:

Windows Xp Home
Pentium 4 1.8ghz
1gb of Ram
Geforce4 ti 4200 with AGP8x




its been great until about a year ago it would do everything i threw at it fine.

I played Everquest on it with full graphics for 3yrs with no problems (played 3 accounts on it at once sometimes, along with Yahoo/AIM running and sometimes even a webcam) without even the slightest bit of lag.

I played Everquest 2 on it with medium graphics and 2 cams running through yahoo with no problem.

then....

i tried a Trial of Dungeon and Dragons Online. The trial ran great on medium graphics (i played about 3trials) and decided i was hooked enough to buy the game. I bought the game and set up a subscription.

The next day i started freezing for 5mins at a time until my PC would restart. So i reduced the graphics and found i could play fine except for a few zones, in which id zoom in and look at the ground while running through. This worked for awhile, Eventually the bugs worked themselves out for a bit. Until i ended up getting bored with DDO.

I got an inventation to betatest a game. Which i had fun with once able to get into it but, after 30mins of good game play i FROZE up and could never actually play it again.

I moved on to some free MMOs "Xiah" being one of them. I began to have the same freezing problems as i did in DDO except they would only last about 45seconds to 1min. I got tired of the aholes/botters in free mmos.

So i went back to DDO (after 6months...with all the updates since i'm looking forward to playing). But, after Reformating my pc, Cleaning it with 10 or so different anti -virus/malware/spyware program. I'm back to square 1 or worse,

I FREEZE constantly for the most part, every 30mins or so i might be able to run around for 5mins before i start to Freeze up a good bit again. I've updated my Graphics card drivers (the graphics card is old "Geforce4 ti 4200 AGP 8x but, being that DDO worked Great with medium graphics before.... it should work now. If not on medium graphics it should atleast work on VERY LOW settings.)


So what im wondering is if anyone has any idea's on what i can do, to reduce the Freezing problem, if not completly fix it. I know i need a new graphics card but, I need to get by with what i got for now. So any help would be GREATLY appreciated.


Thanks, Dhaark

[leroys1000]

Make sure you have decent airflow through the case.
1 fan in front blowing in and 1 in the back blowing out,at least.
Make sure the airflow is going across the graphics card.
Sounds like it's been overheating.
Also make sure dust hasn't buit up on the cards heatsink.