Is it possible for parts of a GPU to stop working but it still runs games?

[futurefields]

Is it possible for parts of a GPU to stop working right but it will still run games at the same FPS and everything?

 

[skipsneeky2]

Like the sleep bug issue i had with a 7970 shortly after release?It gamed like a beast,but leave the tower idle even watching a movie and the monitor goes to sleep and the only solution is a hard reboot lol.

That i think is the only example i could even come close to a experience like you mentioned lol.

 

[nurturedhate]

What parts?

 

[futurefields]

Something that would cause increased z-fighting in most all games?
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2422815

im starting to notice a lot more z-fighting in almost all my games, texture swapping, flickering shadows, those kinds of errors

 

[Pottuvoi]

New drivers?
Drivers can do all kinds of optimizations for performance.

 

[futurefields]

I'm still just running the Catalyst Omega drivers

 

[Fox5]

Overheating perhaps? Check that the fans are still running and that the card has good air flow. Maybe take off any overclocks.

 

[futurefields]

ive tried everything except for

1) reseating the GPU (because i feel the artifacts would be mroe prevalent if this was the cause)

2) driver uninstall/reinstall

 

[Piroko]

Are you certain that nothing altered the texture filtering options in your CCC? This kinda reads like something messed up either your LOD bias or your texture filtering, overwriting the ingame settings in its process.

 

[tviceman]

ive tried everything except for

1) reseating the GPU (because i feel the artifacts would be mroe prevalent if this was the cause)

2) driver uninstall/reinstall

I had a video card a few years ago that I had to constantly re-seat because it would eventually stop being detected but never displayed artifacts.