graphics problems in WoW and SC2 thanks to GTX 260

[secretanchitman]

for a few months now, my evga gtx 260 has been acting up. whenever i played WoW, the graphics would corrupt and turn all sorts of funky colors/graphics. i figured out that if i alt-tabbed out of the game and went back into it, the colors would return to normal. however, this was only a temporary solution, because it would go back to the weird graphics in a few minutes. fast forward to sc2, and it does the same thing! weirdly, its only affecting blizzard games. i have street fighter 4, cod4, splinter cell, and multiple other games, and they are all just fine and can run for hours and no graphical errors will happen.

i have reinstalled xp with the latest nvidia drivers, and still the problems happen. my temps are around 61C (just closed out of sc2 now because i couldnt take the damn graphics problem), and i have a pretty sufficient amount of airflow in my case (6+ fans, exhaust and intake).

what should i do about it? rma? wait and see? any help would be great!

PS - desktop has a core 2 quad q9450 2.66ghz @ 3.4ghz (been this way for 2 years now), asus p5q deluxe mobo, 2x2GB ddr2-1000 ram, multiple sata hard drives, enermax 500W psu, and an evga geforce gtx 260 896MB.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Is the card overclocked? Try turning down the memory clocks a bit.

 

[lsv]

Sounds like overheating/OC not lasting. Try reverting all clocks to stock and playing for an extended period to see if it's an issue within your OC.

 

[fire400]

check the paste if it's crusty in which case you may have to just underclock. check the fan speed on the card if it's rotating at the right speeds, look at it physically too.

 

[Borealis7]

Bake it.

 

[Piotrsama]

Bake it.

Just because he has problems with 2 games? I don't think so.

 

[nitromullet]

Definitely sounds like an issue with your specific card. I logged many flawless hours on a GTX 280 in WoW, and I'm not aware of any known issues with the GTX 2xx cards in this game. Try the previously suggested ideas, and if they don't work contact EVGA for an RMA. As long as you registered your card you have a lifetime warranty backed by a solid company.

 

[Piotrsama]

what should i do about it? rma? wait and see? any help would be great!

Contact EVGA tell them your case with full details and see what they say/offer.

 

[Pantlegz]

Definitely sounds like an issue with your specific card. I logged many flawless hours on a GTX 280 in WoW, and I'm not aware of any known issues with the GTX 2xx cards in this game. Try the previously suggested ideas, and if they don't work contact EVGA for an RMA. As long as you registered your card you have a lifetime warranty backed by a solid company.

WoW may not have issues but I thought I read online that SC2 was burning up GTX260's... Mine doesn't have any issues but thats not to say that other people aren't haveing issues.

 

[imaheadcase]

The sc2 issue was resolved in a patch from blizzard already.

Does sound like a overheating issue. Get some canned air and spray that case and fans out. Leave the case cover off while you play games and see if it is fixed or now.

 

[secretanchitman]

The sc2 issue was resolved in a patch from blizzard already.

Does sound like a overheating issue. Get some canned air and spray that case and fans out. Leave the case cover off while you play games and see if it is fixed or now.

all you guys were right about the card overheating! the entire case was really warm and the bottom left of the side panel was really hot. honestly, it bsod'ed on me about an hour ago (with the case off!), and it was probably due to overheating of the gtx 260. im going to get a spray can of air and get that damn dust out. if that still doesnt do the trick, im RMAing the damn thing. fortunately, this card was my step-up from an 9800GTX and it came with a lifetime warranty.

thanks for all the help guys! ill let you know how everything goes!

 

[secretanchitman]

hate to resurrect this old thread, but guess what? the gtx 260 keeps corrupting, so i emailed evga and after doing everything they said (ran their oc scanner, checked the 12v rail in the bios, sent them a screenshot of what was happening), they gave me an rma number so im going to send in the card tomorrow.

however, i just swapped in my 8800 gts 320MB into it, and amazingly, the same damn thing is happening both in wow and sc2. the 8800 gts never had an issue in my other computer so now im thinking its either the motherboard (asus p5q deluxe) or psu (enermax 500w modular). any ideas? i would hate for evga to just give me another video card when it might not even be the problem at all...

 

[nanaki333]

do you live in a cave in a volcano? maybe everything is just overheating!

 

[CosmicMight]

Sounds like overheating to me, you have an oc'ed cpu and vc cranking out the heat.

I have had no issues with my GTX285 - unless my system overheats. It's pretty frustrating crashing midgame tho, lol.

 

[MustangSVT]

Doesn't sound like overheating issue anymore if it happens with another card.

Hmm, yeah thinking mobo or psu issue is the logical step.

Try to troubleshoot step by step.
First start by running cpu in stock clock and unplugging any excess hardware peripherals (extra sata, usb devices besides keyboard mouse) and test the games again.

Odd that only happens with blizzard games.

 

[secretanchitman]

you guys were right! it seemed to have been my overclocked q9450. i put it back to stock and the corrupted graphics havent come back as yet (after playing sc2 and wow for a bit).

this is why i love at so much!