Dots and Distortion and Frame Rate, oh my! (Assistance Required)

[Squashed]

I'm currently using a Radeon 9700 Pro and it has been working fine for quite some time (I forget exactly how long). But it’s been misbehaving lately. Colored (blue and yellow, to be specific) lines run vertically across the screen, congregating around things like desktop icons and my pointer. Polygons are stretched to some infinitely distant point. And my frame rate drops to nearly nothing. The first problem has been rather on and off, while the second two inevitably happen a few minutes into almost any of my games. Any help?

 

[mailpup]

Your GPU may be overheating. Is the fan on your graphics card still working properly? I say properly because just because it turns doesn't mean it's turning fast enough.

 

[Squashed]

That’s certainly a possibility, though it seems to be turning as quickly as it ever has, and certainly not slowly. How exactly would I go about checking?

 

[BringinHeat]

When you start seeing the artifacts that you have been seeing on screen that means that your card is over heating. There mite be sum dust build up on your heat sink try blowing it with sum compressed air and see if that works. :wave:

 

[Squashed]

Actually, a good thorough cleaning with compressed air was one of the first things I tried. Perhaps a third party fan/heatsink is in order, if that’s an option at all.

 

[BringinHeat]

Yea try another heat sink artic cooling or zalman make sum nice GPU heatsinks. Did you overclock the card at all or changed any settings on the driver maybe a newer driver???

 

[Squashed]

I haven’t been overclocking and the problem started at a completely random time, continuing through a few driver updates and reverts. So my best guess is that this is a hardware issue.

 

[Squashed]

While I’m awaiting and working to locate myself a new GPU sink, there’s another point I’m curious about. If this is indeed an issue of overheating, shouldn’t I be able to run things without problem after a long cold boot? Because, I’m not. Even letting things cool down overnight, the problems are still present right away. Does that suggest a problem other than overheating, or do I just fail to see the reasoning?

 

[BringinHeat]

Try this and let me know if you get the same problem. Run your computer and leave the side of your case off infact if you have a portable fan put it near the side of the computer and run it. If you still have the same problem then heat mite not be the factor. If everything runs smooth then heat is the issue.

 

[sllewe]

Constant artifacts, even after a cold boot seems to sound like bad memory on the card. I would try the new heatsink and if that doesnt work, id say the card is on its way out.