Bad performance w/DVD games

[gospel]

My PC specs are not out of this world but are well above the recommended specs to play a couple of DVD games I have. However, on these games everything is very slow or the game runs fine for different amounts of time (sometimes an hour) and then crashes the PC. I have played more system demanding CD games with no problem. I know it is not a cooling issue and I know that my DVD burner is fast enough (although I believe when playing a game I am not even using anything from the DVD).
Anyway, I just thought someone on here might have an idea what it could be?
System specs are as follows:
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice
ATI Radeon X700SE PCI Express 256mb DDR video card
2GB DDR PC2700 RAM (1GBx2) Dual Channel
120GB WD 7200rpm w/8mb cache HD
Win XP

[theProgram]

$opening = "::wavewave::";

echo = "Might be the type of game, or what's needed to play the game, such as direct X. What game are you trying to play, so we can look up the specifications and such, also what version of direct X are you using?";

$procedure = "Open run -> Type dxdiag -> hit enter -> on the first page will tell you what version of direct X.";

$echo = "Some older games will not support direct X 9, and most newer games will not support 8 and older. Does your machine have any problems playing DVD movies?";

[gospel]

Originally Posted by theProgram

$opening = "::wavewave::";

echo = "Might be the type of game, or what's needed to play the game, such as direct X. What game are you trying to play, so we can look up the specifications and such, also what version of direct X are you using?";

$procedure = "Open run -> Type dxdiag -> hit enter -> on the first page will tell you what version of direct X.";

$echo = "Some older games will not support direct X 9, and most newer games will not support 8 and older. Does your machine have any problems playing DVD movies?";

I have DirectX 9.0c (I think it is the latest version?). The games that I am trying to play in DVD format are Company of Heroes and Sniper Elite. I'm not totally sure but I believe Rise of Legends (CD game) has as high or higher recommended specs and it plays flawlessly on my PC.

[gospel]

I've been thinking. I wonder if it could be because my DVD drive is my slave drive on the same IDE channel as a CD burner? I may have to take the CD burner out of the loop and make the DVD master and see what happens.