In my amateur opinion, I agree with others from the symptoms described it sounds like an overheating or possible power supply issue. If this graphics issues is only cropping up while running 3D intensive games or video that would be taxing to your card, it is most likely heat, if you notice it occuring even while browsing the internet or using software like Word and so on, its likely power supply.


My best guess would be its an overheating issue as was suggested above and can be fixed by just getting some pressurized air and blowing all the dust clear of your exhaust ports on the pc especially around the fans.


2nd guess: If you can remember exactly when you first noticed this issue, try to think of what you may have added or changed to your PC around that time. Installed or uninstalled software, added or removed hardware, etc. Even what should have been a trivial toggle like changing your gamma setting. That's my basic 1st rule for unraveling the majority of PC problems.


If you are comfortable playing with drivers, I would try rolling back to a previous version of the Nvidia drivers that you know worked on this card and see if the same troubles persist. There are downloadable card stress tests you can run to check the status of your card.


Worst case scenario, grab a cheapo returnable card and pop it in there and see if it doesn't solve your issue. Video cards do go bad, have shorts, power surges, poorly made, etc. This can result in fragments like what you are seeing, my last 4 year old card started whiting out the view, and as best as I can tell, it had just given up the ghost.


Power supply I am unaware of a stress test that can confirm if it is dying out, you usually just need to note the behavior of your PC. On most desktop PCs the power supply is usually only rock solid for about 5 years depending on use. I recently changed out the one on my 8 year old desktop PC that instantly solved issues that had cropped up for me.

Give us an update Pally,

I tried sifting through the Nvidia forums but sheesh...what a cluster#$%^ that place is.

 

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It's started doing it on a few web pages now as well.


I attacked tiw tih canned air when it started doing that the other night, and turned it off shortly after.


I've installed EVGA Precision and I'm watching the temperature. It's been running around 26 C. I'm going ot pull up a few things to make it nutty and see how bad it gets.


IF it is a temperature thing, how on earth do I fix it? I actually have the side of my machine open since I need to replace the fan on that side. The fan on the on the card works and all the fans in the computer work. I've cleaned out all the dust bunnies. What's next?


Oh yes, tried this too:





Didn't help.

 

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Too bad
Well, it was worth trying at least.

 

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It is most definitely not a temperature issue at 26c. If its just happening during general use, it might be a power issue after all. Without using a meter and knowing what rails need to be rated at, a simple (but possibly ineffective) way to see if your power draw is screwed up is by unplugging all fans (except CPU) and unplugging all disk drives and extra hard disks. Also remove all non essential USB devices that are powered by the port.

Again, this isn't a definite thing. The other option is, quite simply, that your GPU is damaged somehow but that again would lead me to a power issue. Its hard to really say because now the only consistency you have is the manifestation of the problem and not the cause.

I got it up to 46 degrees today but no fritz out. What's a "high" temp?

 

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For that card? 70+. Its cap is 95. Its not a heat issue.

yah 46 is pretty normal.

What does your heatsink look like?

Have you removed the fan from it, and cleaned the fins?


Don't do this unless you have the thermal compound to put back between the chip and sink.

 

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It starting to sound like you may have a defective card if you're having this issue on web pages.

it is odd that it's only effecting wow. I had a problem with a card I had when i didn't have a good enough power supply but all that really happened was i couldn't get more than 8 frames per second. I also had a problem where a fan died on my card and it ran the game fine, then the FPS would drop then completely freeze up my computer. So from my experience it doesn't sound like you're having either of those problems.

if you have 2gb ram for your computer you should be fine since you're using winXP 32 bit.

what processor are you using? Before I rebuilt my computer I had upgraded to a GTX 460 and was only getting like 50 fps at best. replaced my mobo/processor and went from 2gb to 8gb ram(also went to win 7 64 bit) and now i run at like 80 fps on the low end to over 200 fps on the high end.

but processor can make a huge difference and i'm not sure why.


the only real thing confusing me is that it is only WOW that is having issues. If need be and it won't kill you to do it, you might try Reinstalling WOW. it isn't "too" bad if you have the Cata disc or know someone who does. it'll install most everything then you have to run the updates. It could also be a complete waste of time to do that but if you have the time it wouldn't hurt anything.

 

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It's all about bottlenecks.


If you have an awesome graphics card, and a slow processor, your graphics are "waiting" on your processor to execute all of the required instructions.

If you have an awesome processor, and crappy graphics card, your processor is "waiting" in the graphics card to process all of the instructions.

If you have very little ram, both of the above are waiting on processed information to travel back and forth between all areas of the system.


Best case scenario? Having a system that is ONLY waiting on your broadband internet connection, if it ever has to wait at all.

 

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