Is it my graphics card?

[Trondure]

When I run games (like Fallout New Vegas) my computer will play for about 3 minutes and then it will shut off and I have to unplug it and plug it back in. Im wondering if its my graphics card. My RAM and processor meet the requirements. My graphics card is
Intel(R) G41 Express Chipset

 

[dividebyzero]

Your "graphics card" is an chip on the motherboard. It's possible for the chip to fail- which would entail buying a discrete (seperate) graphics card, or another motherboard with onboard graphics.
Before you get to that stage I would check the tempreture of the CPU.
Firstly, check to see if the heatsink/fan is clogged with dust. If it is I would recommend at the very least blowing the dust out with a can of compressed air or electrical contact cleaner.
If you haven't already, download a utility like CoreTemp. And monitor your processor tempreture at idle and while gaming.
If the system is turning off due to the CPU's thermal tolerance being reached, then you may need to reseat the CPU - a fairly painless operation. You will need some thermal paste (to renew the old paste), some cleaning (isopropyl) alcohol and cotton swabs to remove the old paste.
At this stage I would check the temps first, and then attempt to eliminate the possiblities for crash causes one at a time -as the cause could be power supply or RAM failing.

On restart after a shut down, are you greeted with a blue screen or a white script on black screen alerting you to any problem?

Does the shutdown only occur during gaming?

 

[Tmagic650]

It really sounds like your PC is not strong enough to handle any gaming. This may also be a power supply issue

 

[dividebyzero]

Don't look now Tmagic, but I think your TS account may have been hacked by an autistic chimp.

It really sounds like your PC is not strong enough to handle any gaming.

Really? Not strong enough for any gaming? Is this a common trait for LGA 775 socket systems, or just boards with integrated graphics?

This may also be a power supply issue

Covered -in as much detail- in the post above yours.
I would have thought that 12k+ posts might lead you to be a little more constructive towards our OP's problem

 

[Tmagic650]

Trondure has not given many specs... On-board graphics never gives much power to gaming. The shutdown PC issue may be the real clue to the trouble

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

I would have thought that 12k+ posts might lead you to be a little more constructive towards our OP's problem

I would think that it makes you pessimistic, and horribly disappointed in the ample quantity of inane posts.
Tmagic650's post did seem nearly as poor though...?

That graphics card is pretty hopeless for playing fallout though, AFAIK.