Greetings,

I'm experiencing a very weird problem with my computer. Every time I try to perform 3D tasks, such as playing video games, my computer shuts down - actually, my monitor fades to black even though it remains on and my computer still appears to be working. When this happens, I can't do anything except manually restart the computer. This only occurs when I play video games that seem to be in 3D. I have inserted old 2D games (i.e.: The Sims, Starcraft...) and I can play them without interruption, leading me to believe it has to be something related to my graphic card or power supply unit.

I didn't have this problem before I began to play Empire: Total War (which is a bit taxing in term of power requirements). All of a sudden, during gameplay, the computer crashed and a smell of burned plastic made its way to my nostrils. I waited for a while, and then opened my case and noticed my graphic card was clogged with dust (could it have caused it to overheat and fry?). So, I cleaned the whole case, fans, PSU, graphic card, and so on. I made sure I had all the latest drivers installed, and when I tried to play the game again, the same thing (that I described in the first paragraph above) happened. Can anyone help? Thanks in advance.

Here are my computer specs:

• Operating System: Windows XP Pro, SP2
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6400, 2.13 GHz
• Memory: 2030MB RAM
• Hard Drive: 1.98 GB
• Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT/GTO
• Sound Card: IDT High Definition Audio CODEC
• Power Supply: 450W