I play BF2 all the time , have a rank of Master Sergent. Also dont seem to find much problems running the game on my Computer, 2gig ram AMDx64bit . 256mb 6800, usual crap.
You can also edit the intro movies out so you can go direct to the account screen and save about 450mbs of movie.
Gotta love the Jets huh Dont Shoot me to much if any one sees me in any servers.
Silver , Also your problem could be from the server itself, It happens to me allot (optus dsl) , i dont think its your problem but if it is id check your settings over and make sure u have most apps. closed when running BF2 (using cntrl ,alt del. and shutting down some (username) apps (not the system ones )