260GTX woes

[DonInKansas]

SO I had to send in an MSI N260GTX after it would not stay in a game or run a benchmark for a minute or two before it would shut off my monitor. The system still appeared to be on, (fans spinning and whatnot) but it required a hard reset to bring back up. The original card eventually blew a cap.

I got back another card (RMA Dept says it's even new, not a refurb) and it's doing the same thing. I've tried 4 different NVidia drivers, 2 different PSUs (HX520 and HX620) and the screen still blacks out on me; playing a loop of music from the game for maybe a couple seconds before sound is kicked and I'm left with spinning fans and nothing else. It does the same thing running GPUTool...I get through about 3.5 minutes or so before shutdown. Temps don't seem to be an issue; Afterburner and GPUZ show the max recorded temp at 78C and the fan ramps as it should when the temps go up.

Have I just gotten unlucky with ANOTHER card or is there maybe something I'm missing? I thought I'd throw this to the masses before I send ANOTHER card back for RMA. The card has absoultely NO issues in 2D mode; the other one was the same.

[Binge]

A screen blacking out means that your display drivers are crashing. Have you tried using the card in a different system or with a different HDD?

[DonInKansas]

That's the one thing I haven't tried (no backup system and whatnot.) I've been looking for a reason to do a fresh reinstall, this may be it.

I think I failed to mention that also when the system shuts down there's also a funky smell coming from the case; pretty sure it's coming from the GPU--that's what makes me want to think it's a hardware issue. Same funk that came from the first card when it blew the cap but less pronounced.

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

Is it oc'd? try underclocking it and see if it will still black out.