Is my graphics card dead?

Fireflash

So last night my pc was running idle all night just fine. I update Marvel Heroes (AGAIN!) then start playing. Soon after I start playing screen goes blank for a moment (no signal) then returns. A few minutes later pc reboots completely. At that point I figure it's a major issue with Marvel Heroes' latest patch, as they have a habit of frequently releasing patches with significant problems in them.

But then after I boot normally my computer crashes and restarts by itself not long after reaching the desktop.

I then boot in safe mode. No problems at all even after several minutes.
Booting normally without any graphics driver seems to be fine as well.
I update the drivers to the latest ones found on the Nvidia website. (Geforce gtx 460)
I reboot normally. Once I reach Windows I just don't get any image (no signal) but I can hear that Windows is still booting normally.
I install older drivers back from May and boot normally. Everything seems to be running fine for a while but my computer eventually crashes/restarts while im just browsing the internet looking at videos.

Are there other things I should be looking at before I declare my videocard dead and dump money on a new one? My computer didn't seem to be running hot, the air coming out of it was pretty cool. Also the windows Action Center flagged those crashes as graphic failures.

Le_Goat

I had a similar issue with my PC several months ago where the screen would just go blank, then eventually reboot. This seemed to be all out of no where. Eventually, it wouldn't even POST. I originally thought that may be the video card, but it turned out the be the PSU. Check to see if there are any blown capacitors inside the PSU; you can usually see them in the fan vent. Mine ended up having about 3-4 blown ones. Replacing the PSU fixed all the problems.

To be honest, this may or may not be related to your problem. Here's my post in case anything in there helps you: http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/176859/pc-won-t-post-which-part-is-the-bad-one.

Bruan

So, I may have a similar issue. (forgive me for piggybacking on your thread.)

The fan on my videocard never comes on. A few months back, it started making crazy chugging noises, and now, dead silent. It's been fine until I tried to play planetside2. Once I tried, the system would turn off completely, and the videocard itself would be hot to the touch.

should it be replaced?

Le_Goat

Yes. The fan is necessary to cool your card. If it overheats, the system can shut down or worse

Fireflash

Hah, after inspecting the insides of my pc I noticed that one side of my videocard wasn't snapped in the slot completely anymore. Boy do I feel silly. Seems to have fixed my problems now 0_O

Le_Goat

Fireflash wrote: »

Hah, after inspecting the insides of my pc I noticed that one side of my videocard wasn't snapped in the slot completely anymore. Boy do I feel silly. Seems to have fixed my problems now 0_O

Silly? We've all been there. But best yet, you're about $100 richer!

jungleroomx

Bruan wrote: »

So, I may have a similar issue. (forgive me for piggybacking on your thread.)

The fan on my videocard never comes on. A few months back, it started making crazy chugging noises, and now, dead silent. It's been fine until I tried to play planetside2. Once I tried, the system would turn off completely, and the videocard itself would be hot to the touch.

should it be replaced?

Immediately.

If a video card goes there's a possibility it can take the slot out with it, or worse the motherboard. It happened to me back in the day, playing F.E.A.R when it first came out (told you it was back in the day). My video card went kaput and took down the card slot and even after I replaced the video card and put it in the other video card slot my 2nd and 3rd RAM slots were toast.