[r3d0x]

Hey there, I'm new to this forum, and, really frustrated at my problem:

Yesterday I picked up an Acer 20" Widescreen LCD for my PC (AL2016W) and happily installed it, bumped up the resolution to 1680 x 1050, which is its native resolution. I'm using a BFG GeForce 6600 GTOC 128 mb, and the resolution took to no problem. I even went ahead and tried World of Warcraft at that resolution, ran fine. Dared to try Half-Life 2, and that ran perfect as well. I was more than pleased with the performance.

However, I turned off my PC for the night, and when I came home this afternoon to do some gaming, I encountered my problem. With nothing adjusted or changed, I can now play Half-Life 2 for about 30 seconds. After which time, my screen goes to a pixelated red and blue, and after 10 seconds of stuttering, the game and PC freezes.

Things I have tried:
1) Older "Supported" 77.77 AND 77.83 drivers
2) Switched from DVI to analog-VGA
3) NEWEST Nvidia drivers
4) Reduced overclocking (game played ok, but was very very choppy)
5) Disabled overclocking (Same error, 30 seconds to pixelated red)

A few other things... Any idea what might be causing it?

 

[schusterjo]

Will it work at lower setting? (resolution)

4) Reduced overclocking (game played ok, but was very very choppy)
5) Disabled overclocking (Same error, 30 seconds to pixelated red

)

Higher resolution makes the card work harder. did you check the temps after the crash? could of overheated the card and damaged it.

 

[r3d0x]

After the crash, Rivatuner logged it at a max temp of 73C, which isn't that bad at all. As for overheating and damaging the card, it may be possible, however when I took the card out and looked it over / smelt for burn, I didn't notice anything wrong.

As for trying it at lower resolutions, even at 1024x768 the crash occured. However, it did take longer for the crash to happen.

What i've tried NOW:

1) System restore (No effect)
2) Reducing both native and in-game resolutions (crashed still)

What i'm going to try is putting my old monitor back in, and seeing what happens.

 

[schusterjo]

however when I took the card out and looked it over / smelt for burn, I didn't notice anything wrong.

Well a bad card your not always going to get a burnt smell or any visual signs. Only a stress test can determine if the card is bad or try the card in another computer to see if it will do it there as well.

 

[r3d0x]

I've got my old monitor in now and im still getting the same artifacting thats going on. Is it likely that my video card (not more than 8 months old) has been damaged by the higher resolution setting?

 

[schusterjo]

I've got my old monitor in now and im still getting the same artifacting thats going on. Is it likely that my video card (not more than 8 months old) has been damaged by the higher resolution setting?

Did you have the card overclocked? if that's the case I probably would say yes that is the issue.

 

[r3d0x]

I thought it was overclocked but it turns out i had it clocked below the stock defaults. oh well, RIP this video card it seems.