Yeah true, I didn't see that part. Definitely not the monitor then if your actual programs are freezing.

Get a cheap new graphics card.

Yeah, overheating would definitely cause your computer to freeze up, or even shut itself off. That's why I was asking if you could hear your fan sounding like a jet engine. If the fan is constantly on at max capacity, it means it's getting way too hot in there.

well it sounds normal to me.. but ive had it sitting idle for at least 3 hrs now and it hasnt happend so my guess is that one of the games i play is too much for the graphics card... but im not sure cuz ive played the game all day sometimes and this never happend

If it's a laptop instead of a desktop, something you can do is get a laptop cooling pad. For $20 or so it should pretty much fix the problem by giving you much better heat removal than just the laptop fan.

nah its a desktop

Hmm... I guess you might just need to buy another graphics card like Torm1 suggested.

Before doing that, if you can open up the case (turn the computer off, unplug everything from the back of the tower, and then open it up. Touch something that's made of metal before touching any internal components (that way you discharge any excess charge you might have). If it looks really dusty inside, that could be impeding the air flow and causing some of the heat problems. Especially focus on the fan, the graphics card, and the case's vents. Use a can of compressed air to blow it out. Absolutely do NOT use a vacuum cleaner.

ive already done all of this lol im not a complete noob with cmputers just suck at figuring out problems with hardware. but thanks for the input

If you can still see your mouse move, but you can't get programs to respond, then this may be a RAM problem.

This happened when I got a new overclocked video card. The heat made drivers crash and took a while to recover. Try opening up your case and pointing a fan at it and if it goes away that was the problem

ya im pretty sure it is the problem because my video card gets so hot i can barley touch it.