Question about artifacts.

[thilanliyan]

For example, if the card overheats and artifacts does it mean that the video card is permanently damaged?

My 8800GTS loaded at 80C and then I tried watching a video at the desktop then it started artifacting. I reset the comp and everything seems fine but is my card permanently damaged?

I am not 100% sure if the artifacting was caused by the GPU but I think it's the most likely candidate.

 

[sisq0kidd]

Seeing artifacts can permanently damage your card, but that is not and is rarely the case.

If your card reverts back to a normal display, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Unless it's artifacting at stock settings...

 

[TheRyuu]

No, I wouldn't call it permanently damaged.
I might call it an unstable overclock though. I see you hit 650/1000 on yours. (mine hit similar speeds, and AFAIK, is rock solid stable).

You might want to try lowering your speeds a little bit to say 625/950 then try?
Mines on water so temps aren't a problem for me. And I think 80C is normal on the 8800GTS (I never used the stock cooler though).

It might be that the temperature made the video card a little unstable and the video you were watching was tapping into the video card for hardware acceleration. And maybe this combination is what set off the artifacts. Only other reason I can think of is it having something to do with the motherboard and the PEG slot but thats highly unlikely.

Return to stock speeds, then try it again. If it's still doing it it might be RMA time. If it doesn't artifact then start increasing the speed again until you find something that works.
I got lucky. Went straight up my speed and it just so happen to be stable