PROBLEM: Graphics Card or Hard Drive ???

Hello, I have some problems. I don't know if this is a harddrive problem or my gpu problem. I have some screenshots, to show you what I mean. At first I thought the game I was playing was intensive (Crysis) but as time passed on, the problem slowly started to move to weaker games such as virtua tennis, call of duty 4 and etc. The problem that I see in some screenshots (that Rainbow Six one) is that weird pixel pattern with random colours clustered in rectangles. I see that for a complete split second when I turn on my Windows, maybe that's normal...or not.

Crysis:
http://img184.imageshack.us/my.php?image=213yy8.png

Virtua Tennis:
http://img125.imageshack.us/my.php?image=virtuatennis33bn0.jpg

Rainbow Six Vegas.
http://img125.imageshack.us/my.php?image=rbsvxy1.jpg
^^ I should also mention that Rainbow Six one was tried on my max resolution, the problem went away when I lowered it.

Again i am not sure if it's GPU or Hard Disk problem, certain events made me suspect that it's HD. Also, I just noticed that whenever I start up windows, I hear this noise, I think it was coming from the gpu, the fan maybe? The gpu goes to 69C when playing Virtua Tennis.

My Specs:
Intel E6750
evga 8800GTS 320mb
WD 500GB Sata II
Asus P5K
LG Optical Drive

Thanks in ADvance I really appreciate it. The reason I am asking, is if it's a gpu problem, I can get it replaced..... for a limited time only ....so I must find the problem. Bye

 

That isn't a hard drive problem. That most definitely is a problem with your video card, or the drivers for your video card.

 

I ran stability tests and 3D mark 06, the gpu seems to be fine, but....I dunno. Also I have the latest drivers for my card, so must be the card itself.

 

I have 500W PSU, and the card recommended is 400W, even if it consumes 200 or so. No unfortunately I cannot try it on another PC - no PC with such components as this one, and this PC is the only one with PCI-E slot.

And about the RAM, it's a 320mb version of 8800gts...hmm and it's also made by evga which should be good.... can intensity of the game cause these things or it has nothing to do with it? Thanks for your replies.

 

Ah, but WHICH 500 watt power supply? That's crucial.
It's definitely either a PSU or a Graphics card problem.

 

I have a Corsair 500W PSU which is considered to be good.

Also, when I start up Windows, the computer occasionally hangs of the windows logo. It happened just now. So I had to restart, which gave me a screen saying "winodws did not start properly ...blah...what do you wanna do? Last Known Good Config. or Start Windows Normally and etc. I chose las good known config, and it HANGED Again!!! So I did last known gud conf again and this time, it actually passed through - this suggests that it's definitely not a software problem, most likely a gpu problem, in its physical form.

Also, I have a APC UPS - a giant PC battery. I turn it on and I have to wait for a while until energy goes to my PC from it, if I try turning PC on immediately, there's a delay (maybe a UPS caused problem?) thanks in advance.

 

Firstly, try the system without the UPS, it sounds dodgy. If the problem still occurs, RMA the graphics card.

 

what's RMA?

 

Return Merchandise Authorisation.
The industry term for "take it back and get a new one"

 

I don't know if I have RMA, it's been like 6 months, but if I can convince they will replace it for me... is GTS still produced or is it Revision 2?

 

The GTS is still produced, and you can RMA anything up to 12 months.

 

huh RMA anything? Does the company provide you with that? Who provides that? And yeah i was wishing that GTS' wouldn't be produced anymore - they'd be forced to give me something better, like revision 2.

 

where did you buy the card?

 

It makes no sense for them to still be made. However, you may be able to get it replaced for something of equal value if not an 8800GTS 320. Try and push a 9600GT!
The RMA is authorised by the store you bought the card from. Speak to their customer service dept and they'll tell you what to do.

 

Hey I also noticed another problem - bluescreen. This usually happened when I try using MSN's draw feature too much, my screen starts blinking a bit then finally it gives me a BSOD. Right now, when I got a bluescreen I was in MSN but not talking to anyone. After the restart windows gave me an error report:

BCCode : 1a BCP1 : 00041284 BCP2 : C4E72001 BCP3 : 0000E14F
BCP4 : C0E00000 OSVer : 5_1_2600 SP : 2_0 Product : 256_1

Technical
C:\DOCUME~1\Eugene\LOCALS~1\Temp\WERcc39.dir00\Mini030708-01.dmp
C:\DOCUME~1\Eugene\LOCALS~1\Temp\WERcc39.dir00\sysdata.xml

and resolve???
http://wer.microsoft.com/responses/....2.0?SGD=f29f102d-81e9-4da3-b921-edc9256956eb

I am not sure if this is caused of GPU as well....hmm

 

That's definitely a faulty graphics card. Get it changed.

 

Oh really? I hope this is enough cuz they're going to test it by themselves and if my GPU passes it they'll consider it to be "good". None of my problems have reflected on the "stability test" unfortunately.
Do you happen to know much about mirc? Thanks btw.