Computer locks up for no reason

[Syntex]

Okay so I have been playing SC2 since release and have had no problems with the game until now.

I played 20 or so games Friday night and was fine with 0 problems. I log in the following morning and go to play a game and the screen almost freezes but its where it locks up but the sound studders and its still moving but like 1 frame every 15-30 seconds and the sound will then go forward a second and studder on that sound part. I can't ctrl+alt+del, AftF4 or anything when it does this other then a hard reset.

I figured the first one was a fluke but it happened again then I played a whole match just fine then it did it again.

I tried today and its still doing it and it even gave me some graphical glitchs on the screen(about 15% of the screen will have squares as the wrong color when this happens) when your loading windows so I have a feeling its not specifically tied to SC2 but after updating the graphics card drivers it's still persisting so does anyone have any idea what it might be?

[Robbb]

My first guess would be a video card problem. Sounds like the card may be dieing. How long have you had the card?

It may also be a hard drive problem. When I used to play FFXI I would hear a quick "click" come from the computer and about 5 to 10 seconds later everything would freeze up on me, forcing me to physically shut down the computer. When it would happen the screen would freeze and I'd get terrible screeching sound.

[Syntex]

I googled it and this is what is happening currently.

Artifacts
Graphical artifacts are sections of misrendered pixels that stand out significantly when displayed on the computer's monitor. The presence of graphical artifacts is symptomatic of a failing graphics card. Artifacts usually show up as randomly miscolored pixels in a mosaic-like pattern. The presence of artifacts signify that any one of the graphics card subsystems--such as its memory or GPU--has failed.

Misplaced Textures
Graphical textures are the color patterns applied to 3D geometry to give it the look of skin or clothing. The graphics card's texture engine and texture memory are responsible for aligning the texture pictures to the geometry's edges. Missing textures or textures that are applied incorrectly can occur when a graphics card is failing. Misaligned textures severely distort the image rendered onto the computer monitor and are easily seen.


Read more: Signs of a Dying Graphics Card | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_5410687_si...#ixzz0ygyLDNXJ

SC2 has had several instances of textures being in the wrong spot, I just figured it was something else.

Anything I can do other then outright replacing it?

[Robbb]

You're out of luck, how long did you have the card for? Best bet is to start looking for deals on a new one.

[Rehont]

There are multiple threads on a few forums about SC 2 rendering too much at one time causing cards to fry. There is a line of text you can add to one of the files to fix this (I know if a vague explanation but if you google it you will find what I am saying, I did it to my file to save the card just incase)

[tol]

frameratecapglue=30
frameratecap=60

add this to your Documents>Starcraft II>Variables.txt