GTX 460 problems?

[MrK6]

I built a system about two months ago with the following:

MSI 870-G54
Ph II X3 740
G.Skill DDR3 1333 low voltage
1TB Samsung F3
MSI GTX 460 Cyclone
Corsair CX400
Antec 200 case

The CPU was unlocked to four cores, overclocked, and tested stable but through general usage the user noticed some frequent system instability (BSOD's, downloaded file corruption, etc.). The system also used well below the output of the PSU. Subsequent stability tests showed that the system had become unstable and I returned the CPU to 3 cores and stock speeds, but it didn't help. The user then noticed graphical corruption in games, with vertical and horizontal dot matrices appearing on textures in games. This looked like a graphics error, so the GTX 460 was boxed up and RMA'd. However, when we booted up the system with a temporary AMD HD 4350 installed, the system stability returned and stayed stable even after unlocking the CPU to four cores and overclocking it.

Has anyone ever had a graphics card affect an entire system like this? I thought it may be a PSU or mobo issue, but again, the PSU is way below output threshold (like 250W max while stress testing).

 

[Cerb]

Yes. Could be bad caps, bad RAM, bum VRM, maybe the GPU had some bonding issues...who knows. But yes, it happens. Some things, such as faulty RAM, get worse over time, and may take awhile to show up (confirmed by Google's study). Those kinds of artifacts are typical of hardware GPU or video RAM problems. Also, I can't imagine that system having any issues keeping everything cool.

If it were PSU, you would have much weirder problems, and generally not have those kinds of video artifacts, unless the PSU had some kind of fault that was damaging the video card...and there isn't really a way to trace that, with common tools and methods, that I know of.

 

[MrK6]

Generally what I thought, it's just an odd presentation. I suppose when the RMA comes in and it's tested will lead to a conclusion. The vRAM on the GPU is not cooled, but I haven't seen any mass issues being reported (and I imagine MSI has some top-notch engineers).