Is my video card dying?
 

Lately my computer has been crashing, the screen gets messed up, it looks sort of like static but with different colors and eventually the computer restarts. This only happens when I'm playing games, WoW, CoH, BF2142 etc. Originally I thought the video card was overheating but even after taking off the cover and putting a large fan blowing on it I still get the crashes.

My video card is an Nvidia 6800 GT, I've had it for a while now, almost 2 years I think. I'm pretty sure it's just because it's old and dying but I'd like to run it by you guys just in case before I run out and buy another card. Thanks in advance for any help!

Might be a power supply issue...
If you've upgraded hard drives/added any other hardware, you may need more power.
If the graphics card has a Molex connector for extra power, make sure it's plugged in correctly.
Insufficient power can be a probable cause as well as faulty RAM.
-GK

I have a 450W power supply and I haven't added any new hardware recently. I'll try swapping some ram in and out to see if that's the problem.

it does sound like the video card overheating. It could be that the heatsink has come unseated, and I think no amount of blowing will cool it down if that's the case. So you can try taking the heatsink off, cleaning it with alcohol, and putting it back on with some thermal grease if you're comfortable doing that, but then if you do it wrong you could kill it entirely so.. do at your own risk. :lol: There might be a way to check the temperature with some software as you can do for a CPU.

Well the temp is hovering around 65-70 which doesn't seem high enough to overheat.

65 to 70 C is fine for mine, I’ve taken my 6800 ultra to 100C without artifacting.

Is that 65 to 70 in game or just after the game. If it's just after, take a second monitor and set it up, run a program that can monitor the temp and watch it climb as you play.

It doesn't necessarily mean it's overheating, but that surely sounds like a video card issue.

What lokus is describing is the classic overheating video card. artifacting, then reset or hard lock. Even though the GPU is not overheating, maybe the memory is, the temperature sensor is only in the GPU

The 65 to 70 is ingame, nvidia has this cool temperature monitoring page and it records over time so I could alt tab and see what it was. It was also going higher in different games, almost to 80. I'm testing the ram now, so far it hasn't crashed with one of the sticks out but I'll need to test some more to be sure.

Edit: Ok it's still crashing with both sticks by themselves. What are the chances that both of them are overheating? These are Corsair XMS3200 1gb sticks by the way.

errr... i was not clear, the memory on the video card could be over heating.

Oh, lol. Some guys mentioned faulty RAM above as well so I figured I would try it. Is there anything I can do if the memory is overheating?

make sure the heatsinks on the video card are clean and dust free and still firmly attached. Never know they might of worked there way loose somehow. other then that i have no idea.

Hey Lokus, I have a 6800 GT as well and it's always did what you're describing. The screen scrambles and goes staticky and then the PC restarts. Is yours by chance an eVGA?

Yes, it is actually. My warranty is long gone now so I'm just going to get another card. Heh, I was actually thinking of getting another Evga because of their upgrade deal.

Yeah my PC has always restarted and scrambled the screen during the Battlefield games. It doesn't do it in other games, oddly enough...no WoW, no F.E.A.R., no HL2, nothing...only in the Battlefield games (all of them). I've replaced every component in my entire system including the power supply and the only thing that stopped the reset/scrambles in Battlefield is a new videocard. Shortly after I figured out that my videocard was causing it, I fried my CPU and mobo, so now I'm stuck with a videocard that resets my PC, no mobo or CPU, and a bunch of parts laying around. :(

eVGA makes great cards, but it's definitely annoying that it took me 2 years to find out why my PC was randomly resetting in BF (I was positive it wasn't my videocard :( ).

Sorry to hear that Lasereth. It happens more often to me too in the newer games, I can't go 40 minutes on Company of Heroes or Battlefield without a crash but sometimes I can go for hours on WoW. I ordered a new 7950 GT today, I can't wait until I can get some nice uninterrupted gaming time in.

Thanks everyone for your help!