Can a Graphics card 'go bad'?

[Caly]

My old Mac G5 desktop suddenly started sporting a lovely purple latticework.
I thought it was just an old CRT croaking.

Just in case I opened up the computer and cleaned out a ton of dust and cat fur.
I did notice that the fan on the graphics card had been mega-dusty.
I unplugged everything, re-plugged it.
Suddenly my desktop was crystal clear. I hadn't remembered it looking that sharp.
A few hours later and the purple squiggles were back.

I borrowed my PC's LCD and plugged it in.
The LCD now had lovely purple squiggles.
Uh oh...

Is this a 'normal' issue? Any thoughts?
Thanks!

 

[sulanebouxi]

Sounds like artifacting to me. Dust that gets caught up in the video card can be a cause of that since it adds to the heat buildup. But if everything's been cleaned off and the same thing happens in another computer, it may be a failing video card(my opinion, just a guess). If you can, test the same monitors with another video card.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Could also be a failing fan on the card, as sulanebouxi said, artifacts usually indicate a heat issue. But they can also indicate failing video memory

 

[Pez D Spencer]

Yep, sounds like heat. run it with the side off the computer so you can see if the fan is working. If the fan does work then you can always try underclocking the card to see if that helps.

 

[Caly]

I had the case open and the fans were working.
Should I just try buying a new graphics card?

Power Mac G5
CPU Type: PowerPC 970 (2.2)
Number Of CPUs: 2
CPU Speed: 2 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 3 GB
Bus Speed: 1 GHz


ATI Radeon 9800 Pro:
Bus: AGP
VRAM (Total): 128 MB