5/3/2013 9:13:16 PM By kevin@xbez Type:1
Hi, what are the idle and under load temperatures of the card? You can monitor the temperature by running the utility found here
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/SysInfo/GPU-Z/ . Once you run the utility go to the sensor tab. Make sure there is no excessive buildup of dust within your system, or on any fans/heatsinks.
You will want to keep your temperature below 90C while in 3D. You can remove your cooler and blow it out with compressed air. Be extremely careful as any accidental physical damage to the card would void the warranty. Take a coffee filter and put isopropyl alcohol on it. Coffee filters do not leave behind fibers that paper or cloth would. Clean the thermal paste off of the GPU on the card and the thermal paste that is left on the heatsink. Let the alcohol evaporate for five minutes to be sure that it is gone. Replace the thermal paste with new thermal paste. You only need a paper thin layer to fill the gap between the GPU and the heatsink. If you use too much then the thermal paste will push out on to the surrounding circuitry. Video cards use the same thermal paste as CPUs do so if you already have some it is fine to use it. If you do not have thermal paste then you can find it at almost any computer store including Best Buy. I recommend Arctic Cooling MX3 or Arctic Silver 5 which most stores will carry. Radio Shack carries Arctic Silver 5. If you are not comfortable replacing the thermal paste yourself or you would like us to check out the card then we can do that for you.
Try testing your card with another computer or test another card in your machine and check for the same symptoms.
Please try running another 3d application such as another game or a 3d benchmark. You can try 3dmark11 over at FutureMark.com Let us know if the crashes occur there. Kevin.