Graphical artifacts/computer freezing

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Whenever I play games, and only play games, I occasionally will have the whole computer freeze up with graphical artifacts all over the screen.

Again this only happens when i'm playing games. Sometimes it will be fine for 3 hrs, other times it will happen after playing the game for only 15 minutes.

I am 99% sure that it isnt a heat related issue, since even under load the temperature never goes past about 22 degrees Celcius. (using an Antec 900 case, with aftermarket CPU cooler, no overclocking, XP Pro, and minimal dust build-up)

My video card is a 9800GT, and i'm using the latest drivers from Nvidia's site.

Anyone have any ideas of the cause and fixes for this issue?

[Ikith]

22 celsius on the video card right? Whats the proc temp under load?

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22 C is the case temp

[Blubbartron]

Case temp is no indication of component temps unless the components are properly venting heat. If your heatsink on your GPU isn't firmly attached, the heatsink/fan aren't taking any heat away from it, and as a result your case stays nice and cool. Use ntune's monitor to see what your actual GPU temp goes up to.

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Ok following a stress test with ntune, it says the temperatures are:

CPU 26 C

System 29 C

GPU 57C

[Blubbartron]

Temps look good, so next most likely problem is driver-related issues. What games, specifically, cause the glitches? Just because it's the newest driver doesn't mean it's the most compatible with the games you're playing.

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Oblivion, Neverwinter Nights 2, and Lord of the Ring Online.

It occurs with the most current nvidia drivers, and the previous release as well.

Interestingly enough, it has never done it while playing FFXI.

[Solefald]

Could be your vram going bad rather than the gpu. That's what I'd put my money on.

What kind of motherboard and power supply do you have? What's the brand and model # of your gfx card?

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Asus P5N-32E SLI motherboard
Thermaltake Toughpower 600W
XFX 9800GT OC