Is my graphics card freaking out on me?

Chase

:poly115:

I can't figure out if it's because I have Max and UDK opened together or if it's a separate issue. I've had them both up before many times without issue. I'll be working for about 20 minutes and then my screen bugs out and freezes. This is twice in a matter of an hour. The first time my screen connection completely blacked out. I'm going to just try having UDK open to see if it occurs again. Figure someone might know what's causing this in the mean time.

Justin Meisse

Your video card could be dying or overheating. If you've upgraded and kept your old card, try swapping it out and see what happens. If you don't have another card, open up your computer and blow out the dust with compressed air and re-seat your video card (take it out and put it back in). When you have your computer opened up, turn it on and inspect the card; is the fan spinning, are any unused power connectors dangling into it, is it groaning like a dying donkey? If everything seems good you could also try updating your video drivers.

Two Listen

My guess is either the video card dying or overheating, as Justin suggested, or your video card not getting enough power (power supply issue). I'd follow Justin's advice, and also just check how hot your card is running via whatever control center type app you've got for your type of card (nVidia or AMD). If you're unable to find any apparent issues with your video card, trying another power supply would be the next thing I'd recommend.

Steve Schulze

Another possibility is corrupted graphics card drivers. I've had that happen with the current system a couple of times. You'll want to uninstall your current drivers before upgrading to new ones as the dodginess can sometimes get passed through the upgrade process.

Chase

Thanks for the suggestions guys! I updated my driver and so far so good. Only time will tell. Ironic thing is nvidia updated telling me there was a new driver and I ignored it only to have this charma issue moments later. I need to clean out my pc for sure. It's been 6 months since ive dusted the thing out.

weee

even though it's working now, most likely it's dying, could be the chips, connectors or memory, be prepared it'll die out completely any time soon, so it's a good idea to grab another one as a backup.

iconoplast

Clean things out and check the temps on the motherboard, especially when the problem happens (if it happens again). That's a pretty classic look for the early stages of overheating. Death isn't necessarily imminent unless you ignore the problem and leave it running hot repeatedly. But most importantly, get that dust out. 6 months is too long, especially if you have any furry pets or anyone smokes where said smoke might reach your computer.

And don't feel too bad, I ignored my last driver update notification and got a blue screen within 5 minutes that faulted the drivers.

NegevPro

You should definitely try to make it a habit of cleaning your PC at least once a month in my opinion, keeps everything running at a great level and reduces headache in the long term. You should also monitor your GPU temps when idling and under load as well, and compare them to averages that other people are getting too. Depending on your card, it might also be worth it to replace the thermal compound as GPU manufacturers tend to do a halfass job with that and so replacing it (which would probably void your warranty) can provide you with much better temps.

ZacD

Time to get a GTX 980.

Chase

Ill hop right aboard that 980 train lol. Funny story about the thermal paste. The store I bought the parts from never put it on! I ran this baby for 4 years without knowing and any issues! Until the day it finally overheated and I got the bios message saying so. I know I should clean it out more often. Just get distracted from time to time. I need to upgrade the whole thing. 4 gigs of ram.....yikes