PC lockup during games, Vid card problem??

[ChangoMan]

Hello,

I've been having an issue with my PC lately in that it will lock up for a few seconds when gaming. With some games, it will rarely happen but when I was playing Spore and got to the land stage, it happens all the time. Everything will just freeze, the sound, mouse, screen, for like 10-20 seconds and then resume. Is this a video card problem? Overheating?

I just upgraded my system with new processor, mobo, ram, pretty much everything except the video card. I'm running Intel core 2 Quad Core and the video card is a GeForce 7600 (I think, im not at home). Also running windows XP.

Can anyone tell what is the cause of this? Thanks much in advanced!

-Chango

[Force Flow]

First thing I'd do is blow out the case to get the dust out.

Second thing I'd do is see what processes are running that shouldn't be, and possibly run some spyware scans.

Usually if things are overheating, the system will lock up and that's it. Resuming sounds like something else is using system resources.