comp artifacts, freezes then dies

[ParkwayDrive]

when im gaming, and sometimes when im not (although its more rare) my computer will just artifact terribly for a few seconds and then freezes and my only option is to restart

about the artifacts, they arent just some minor lines across the screen like i get when i overclock, it is full out random colors and fuzziness all over the screen and i cant see a thing....the sound sometimes keeps working or skips

my intial thoughts are either my power supply or video card and im leaning towards it being my video card since nothing is actually powering off and when i start up everything is fine

sadly, i do not have or know of any1 with a compatible video card i can swap in and test because i am still running a 6800 GT and most everyone else i know has upgraded

 

[ParkwayDrive]

shoot i just realized there is a tech talk thread that maybe this post would be better suited for, any chance i can get it moved?

 

[mrcool]

sadly, i do not have or know of any1 with a compatible video card i can swap in and test because i am still running a 6800 GT and most everyone else i know has upgraded

You don't need a "compatible" (if by compatible you mean identical) video card - you just need any video card to pop in and see if it works. If it works fine, then the problem is your video. If it doesn't work fine, they it's probably something else.

 

[Arn0t]

He could be running AGP, and in that case, he needs a compatible one. And he could also use the same ones, so he doesnt have to re-install another driver and such.

If you arent running AGP, yes, any card will work (well it still would with AGP, just harder to find), but that wont do anything, thats just testing to see if his Bus lines are running.

My assumption is that your graphics card is failing. Although not 100% sure, but i would go with that. Sometimes that happens to me, but i have a ATI 3850, and they have a program built into it called VPU recovery. That program alone will "restart" my graphics card, and everything will come back and respond. Im pretty sure nVidia doesnt have that. But like i said, it could most likely be your graphics card.

The first thing i would do is update your drivers. That could possibly fix it. But thats just a stab into the dark.

 

[Die Geheimwaffe]

Run the "Fuzzy Cube" in ATITool while keeping an eye on temperatures and watching for artifacts. This should put minimal stress on your CPU and RAM while maximizing load on the video card so you can further narrow down what might be the problem. This will also rule out the possibility that whatever game(s) you are running are causing the problem.

Also, report back what the temperatures are for you card after running ATItool's cube for 7 minutes or so. You didn't mention whether you knew if it was overheating or not.

 

[ScrappyDoo]

I'd also be curious to know if the system log shows anything unusual at the time your video goes haywire. I agree with Arn0t that the best guess is the vid card is starting to fail - which happens. But, there could be other issues too which makes checking the system log a good thing to do just to doublecheck.

 

[Hyperion*1400]

Your video card be dieing man...hate to tell you. I had that problem a while back... I happens over time as your Vcore become more and more damaged. It is typically caused by long term overexposure to heat or excessive voltage. My problem was caused by my voltage regulators overheating...