Help me.......Help myself!

I am very new to playing games on the computer. I usually use my playstation for games and my computer for school and work related applications. I have recently installed fs2004 as well as some other games on my computer and am having trouble playing them. The game appears but runs very slow meaning that I will give a command and the effect catches up like 5 seconds later. I had within the past year built my computer and thought that it would have no problems running games but it looks like I may have been wrong. This problem exists with all my games. The following is what I have running:

processor: celeron d 2.8ghz
video: ati radeon 9550 256
memory: 768mb
hard drive: 200gb

Any help would be useful. I would appreciate comments.
THANK YOU!!

Your CPU is fine, your ram is ok, you could use more but what you have is fine.
It's your video card, old. It causes the slowdowns you are having. Less FPS (Frames Per Second).

This link will give you an idea of what's available (scroll to the bottom links).

http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/05/24/vga_charts_vi/index.html

I have also noticed that my cpu runs at about 56 degrees during idle operation. I have been reading other posts and they were saying that this could cause slow display. Even if this was to be the problem and the CPU was cooled to an appropriate temperature will my graphics card still need to be replaced?

Yes the card is the key to high FPS that's why we're always buying new ones.

The heat can effect it also but in this case it's the card.
Open the case and clean the fans, especially the CPU fan. I would also add a fan in the rear on the grid to expel some of the hot air.
If you can add one in front also to bring in cool air that would be fantastic.

Let us know how you get along, good luck!

I am on a budget and the high end cards are way out of my league. Also, I do not have PCI express slots on my mobo to support them. How about the ATI Radeon 9800 XT? Do you think that this card will get me by on FS2004 as well as any other games within the next year? Thank you for your help.

Good choice, don't get the "all in wonder" one.
I have the ATi Radeon 9800 128mb DDR and am very happy with it...for now.
Let us know how you like it after you install it.

I was using this graphics card (ATI Radeon 9550 256mb) on my system only a couple of weeks ago and my system wasnt running slow at all, I was getting about 30fps even in some of the more detailed and busy AI airports so im afraid I disagree that its the graphics card, unless the drivers need updating.
It may not be the latest card out but mine didnt have a slow effect on my pc.
I fully recommend what Radarman said about an extra fan, mine overheated at times and this did help the system from rebooting

Heres a screenshot of my pc with an ATI Radeon 9550 256mb:-

http://flyawaysimulation.com/images/media/4833/nimrods/

I run a ATI 9200 and I don't have any fpsproblems being that I have the advanced graphic settings correct. Did anyone ask the guy if he had ajusted the graphic setting on his pc, and in the game. just a thought fellas.

I recently went out and purchased the ati radeon x850 pro to upgrade from the 9550. I also bought a new heat sink and fan for my cpu. The heat sink and fan dropped my cpu temp from 65 to 45 degrees while running fs. I do not understand what is going wrong now. This is happening with all my games including doom 3, battlefield 2, combat fs 3, and battlefront II. My system is as follows:

graphics: ati radeon x850 pro
processor: 2.8ghz celeron d
memory: 768mb

I can also admit I do not know too much about adjusting the settings of the graphics card so any help there would be appreciated.
Thank you for the help.

You RAM isnt the best but its enough to run the games you refering too.I guess that you have some other programms running on background while you playing and slow your games.

Try to disable some of them by using a start up manager program like the following

http://www.download.com/Advanced-Uninstaller-Pro-2006/3000-2096_4-10474392.html?tag=lst-0-5

Clean up your registries

http://www.download.com/Registry-Mechanic/3000-2094_4-10349249.html
Free one
http://www.download.com/RegEditr/3000-2094_4-10205070.html?tag=lst-0-2

And check for spams

http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10401314.html?tag=lst-0-1

(you have to update the above program )

Let us know your thoughts and your questions....

maybe cuz his processor is a celeron?

Some good links and tools there Greekman72, cheers