Video card crashing and causing artifacts

[KillerCharlie]

Lately my graphics have been messed up... I've been getting some bad artifacting in games. Sometimes the game completely crashes. Sometimes an ATI message pops up saying it reset the card and I can keep playing. Sometimes the artifacts are so bad I just have to quit.

What's the problem? I'm guessing it's the memory? I cleaned the dust out of the heatsink/fan that covers the card and that worked for a while, but not the problems are worse than ever and it's clean.

What should I do, but a new heatsink/fan? How much would that cost? Is it guaranteed to fix the problem?

 

[Udgnim]

your video card is dieing

 

[Bill Brasky]

What kind of card is it, and have you checked temps with gpu-z? It also matters if you're still under warranty.

 

[mindless1]

Make sure the heatsink is on good, point a fan at it and see if the problem rate decreases. Probably not the memory, you'd tend to get sparklies first instead of artifacts. Also downclock the card and see if it improves... probably overheating - or was and now permanent damage.

 

[KillerCharlie]

It's a X1950pro (Sapphire). It was only mid-level when I bought it. Maybe I'll take the heatsink off, apply some silver junk to the memory, and put it back on? If a new heatsink costs $30-$40 and there's risk the card is permanently damaged, then it's probably not worth putting money into. I could probably buy the same card now for $100.

I should also mention that games always start okay, then the problem occurs and gets worth with time, so it's probably overheating.

 

[dajeepster]

I've had power supplies going bad that caused problems like this for me.... cards were fine if I didn't run anything that was gpu intensive, but as soon as I ran something gpu intensive, either the screen would go blank and the cpu locks up or the computer just randomly reboots.
if I didn't run anything gpu intensive, the computers would run fine... took me the longest time to narrow it down to the powersupplies... i had previously thought it might have been the OS, but with 5 different OS's and the same problem occuring, i had finally narrowed it down to the power supplies... the hardware was good... had the card and powersupply with two different builds with the same results.. only the gpu and psu were the same... replaced the psu, and problem went away.

the gpu(gtx280 and open box) was only about 3 months old while the psu (pcp&c 610) was going on 3 years and seen heavy usage since it's inception (seti and folding)... replaced the psu with a pcp&c 750 and everything has been ok since.

 

[KillerCharlie]

So it could be a computer power supply problem? How can I tell if it's that or the video card?

 

[faxon]

So it could be a computer power supply problem? How can I tell if it's that or the video card?

swap the card for one with equal power draw or swap the PSU out for one that's newer and/or with more 12v wattage

 

[blanketyblank]

Just upgrade your card. $70-$100 can get you a 8800GT(or one of its revisions) or a 4850 (faster in most games). If you can come up with $120-130 you can get a 5750.
That's the most reliable way of fixing/diagnosing the problem.
If the new video card doesn't work you can blame the PSU.

 

[tweakboy]

Well artifacts mean your BGA memory on the video card is getting too hot.

If it crashes then your GPU might be cuprit or drivers.

Try uninstall nvidia drivers and install latest WHQL,,, gl