[AniDanny]

Ever since I bought my computer (about a year and a half ago), it's sometimes had this error. Most of the time the problem goes away if I reset the computer, so I didn't really worry too much about it. Usually soon after I load up a game, it'll stutter for a second, then the textures just... explode.

http://s866.photobuc...Danny/?newest=1

Made a photobucket account solely to show this. A few pictures of World of Warcraft, Braid, and Team Fortress 2. It generally stutters a few times, with gameplay remaining normal, but the graphics being all screwed up. Then either the graphics get horrible to the point I can't see what's going on, or the game freezes up, or both.

Everywhere I've asked before has simply said I should try reinstalling and/or updating my video drivers, and I've done that dozens of times by now, and it's never changed anything. My suspicion is that there's something physically wrong with my video card, but I would hate to buy another one only to find out that that's not the problem.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814130319 This is the video card I'm currently using. If there's any reason to believe it might be a problem of compatibility with other components, I can list those as well.

If anyone has had similar issues, or knows of something that might fix this, I would love to hear about it. Thanks!

[Neil Jones]

Defective graphics card.
See if you can borrow one that fits your system from a friend or whoever before you commit to buying a new one.

[AniDanny]

Eh, figured that was probably the case. Just hoped that it wasn't.

I think I might've fried it early on... the fan wasn't quite mounted properly, so I think it was running really hot (like 90C) for the first week or two. It's possible that it would've been defective anyway.

Either way, thanks for the input!

[Neil Jones]

If the fan wasn't mounted properly in the first place you should not have used it, but instead took it back to where you bought it from as that would count as a manufacturing defect possibly. With all due respect if you buy a new car and find out the brakes aren't working you don't just carry on driving it, do you? You'd take it back.

[AniDanny]

Ah, sorry, I probably should have specified:

My brother and I assembled the computer ourselves. We thought the fan was mounted properly, and then when it was screwing up and running hot, we pulled it apart and tried again, and then we got it to snap fully in place. That seemed to fix the problem, but then about a month later (outside the 30-day return window), it came back, and has been a minor nuisance ever since.

I know that if it's a hardware error, it's my fault for screwing it up in the first place, and also for not trying to return it early enough. Was just hoping it MIGHT be a software error, so I wouldn't have to buy a new card.