Games freeze

[odoylerules89]

So I have 1.8 GHz processor with a ATI Radeon 9600 256 MB video card and 1.2 GHZ of DDR memory. I know those aren't great specs but the thing is I have this problem even with older games like Command and Conquer Renegade. I'll be playing BF2, with it running fine, and all of the sudden it will freeze up for about 10 seconds, go to black, and then come back. Anyone know what the problem could be?

 

[odoylerules89]

This is incredibly frustrating. I didn't have this problem before with a video card that was way worse and no RAM.

 

[sghiznaneck]

Sounds like it could be a heat problem. What did you mean by "No RAM"?

 

[odoylerules89]

Sounds like it could be a heat problem. What did you mean by "No RAM"?

Before I had like 256 MB of RAM and now I have 1200 MB.

Actually though that was incorrect, now that I think of it this problem happened with Command and Conquer renegade before I upgraded my memory. So it's either the video card or something else.

My brother, who gave me the card said it sometimes had heat problems, so I guess it could be that. How should I fix that?