My Compaq has A Bestec PSU

Do you have Artifacts when its in the other PC. or moms PC

If you have artifacts when its in the other PC then the graphics card is Probably defective :dead:
I guess you can try unpluging stuff

OK, I just needed confirmation. But you know what's weird? When in the Sims 2, and I turn up the "Sharpen Edges" setting to max, the artifacts disappear...

Here is What I do, to Blow the dust outta my Desks tops. I use either A blow dryer On the COLD setting on Med. or so . Or Borrow My Friends Air Pressure hose. Both of those Have worked for me and For free too :approve: . But that is just me and what I do. to get the dust out of my systems . Hope this Helps !!
Angelbear

Oh, I blew the dust out....but I still don't understand why when AA or AF is turned to max, the artifacts go away...

Blowing regular air in or sucking it out, with or without dust and other particles puts your system at high risk of static electricity. The dryer the dust, and lower the humidity, the greater the risk. Vacuum cleaners are by far the most dangerous, but hair dryers, and any other device that moves a volume of air and dust or other particles. Canned air using one of the five top gasses such as difluoroethane gas or others dramatically limits static discharge. Risk is increased the faster the air and particles move.
You may think your system is safe because you have been doing it for weeks or years. You may someday be surprised. Static electricity can destroy a hard drive, any chip on the motherboard, CD-Rom, any PCI, AVG, or PCI-Express card, memory, flash drive, floppy disc, power supply.
You can prove this by running your own tests. There are various films that will record the streaks, and many other devices.
We have been in the repair business since 1986. We have seen what seems like every possible combination of damage from static electricity.
You will be shocked by what you learn... Shocked I tell you!

Raybay,
what you say is true... if you keep the system grounded through the 3-pronged AC plug, you can minimize static charges. Here in Southeast Montana, our dust is more like fine sand, minus my cats hair. I use a toothbrush to loosen debris and then I use the dreadded vacuum cleaner to pick up the loose stuff. I use a grounded wrist strap when I am working on a motherboard outside the case. I clean a computer before I work on it, and I clean mine out every three months or so

the artifacts you are experiencing can be caused by bad drivers. update your drivers and update your game to the latest version, if not already done so. if it still produces the artifacts, the card is probably defective and you should be able to get an RMA.

yes, but only the static charges in the grounded components. grounding only the case but not yourself creates ideal conditions for static discharge. i ground the case, then attach my wrist strap to it.

i cannot imagine under what circumstances anyone would need to use a toothbrush to make physical contact with PC parts to clean them, unless they were cleaning oxidized contacts or removing dust that had gotten wet. i use dust-off, which is a canned gas that is compressed by propellant. can dusters are able to sufficiently clean any amount of dry dust.

The grounded wrist strap, and the three pronged connector do little or nothing for the static electricity, as it is nod derived from the electrical connections. But rather from the swirling dust and particles, magnified by the force and speed of the blower or the suction.

Where did you buy the grounded wrist strap :suspiciou ?

Yes, but they still reduce the chance of electo-shock somewhat to the computers hardware, don't they?

Static electricity follows normal electrical rules to a point. You need a build up of electrons and then a place for them to be attracted to. This movement is called current. A good wrist strap will not allow electrons to build up enough, and a good ground might just attract these dangerous electrons away from the sensitive components, to a chassis ground. A tooth brush soaked with a little WD40 will not hold a static charge. A spray mixture of water and fabric softener can dissapate static too

http://www.contacteast.com

Or here:
http://www.stanleysupplyservices.com/category-leaf.aspx?id=171

Yes they do!

Well, it is a whole lot more complex than that, when you use the power in which a lot of particles are present. Remember your readings of Benjamin Franklin's experiments where lightning is a form of Static Electricity.
You just need to be careful, and cnogizant that a blower can destroy a computer EASILY. Millions upon millions of dollars of damage are caused yearly in corporate environments. We run such tests at industrial locations.
You can Identify such static problems, if you care, with a Static Meter such as those designed for measurement by TlectroStatics, Incoporated. We have their model 9000, which measure the amounts, as well as the polarity. It requires test equipment to determine for certain whether the static electricity can be easily dealt with... Solutions might be humidity, Ionization, grounding, induction, or others. So sometimes the wrist strip will work. However, nothing works once you have dust swirling inside a computer case with the force of a vacuum cleaner or a compressor. Most often, static electricity does not occur. But anybody who owns a repair bench is wise to have protections against it.
You can also deal with it with electronic static neutralizers, that are close to a grounded shiedl or casing... breaking down the static electricity through ionization.
You need both necessary equipment, and experience. Static electricity in this environment is the not the joke of rubbing a balloon against a wool sweater or walking across a wool carpet with leather soled shoes.
It is always dangerous to blow dust out of a case, or to extract it through suction. Sooner or later, if one continues to do this, he or she will cause a failed motherboard or other devices.

Canned air is expensive. I have so many systems coming through here that using it is not cost effective for me. My main work station is a grounded metal rack. My desk is where I configure and assemble motherboards. It has a grounded static mat. My wriststrap is grounded to this mat. I have a meter system that tells me if I need to change straps or mats because of wear or damage. I am sure that most technicians are fully of static electricity and it's ability to damage. Home handymen may not be so careful. I see so many failed new computer build posts on this site, that I can't imagine how the computer parts might have been mishandeled. Good building habits need to be learned, and this takes time. I have been a electronic component-level tech for over 40 years, for the Federal Government and many of it's sub-contractors. I have worked in a military clean room. Boy, did I hate that!