New VGA or fixable

http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/6601/wtfdg2.jpg

I've had the same problem some time ago and I defragmented my hard drives back then. It helped and brought stuff back to normal. But it's back now and I can't seem to fix it.

it looks like your video card memory is overclocked too high. you might want to turn it down a bit.

I agree it looks like your card is either overclocked or simply running too hot.

My suggestion would be to take the side panel off the computer if possible and see if it helps.

Also look at the fan on the video card it could either be filled with dust or it could be broken.

I've never even bothered overclocking it, I'd try lowering it's performance down. And it has a 20$ cooling system. The panel has been open for a while. And YES, it has been overheated for a while despite of it's cooling system.

What kind of card do you have?

As I remember it the ATI 9x00 series often has a problem with the fan failing after a while.

(not really sure if you're saying you replaced the original cooler).

there are cards that come overclocked. some manufacturers do it on purpose to make their cards appear faster, so they (supposedly) sell better. i'm not sure if it applies to you though.

Video card = radeon 9800 pro 256/256 sapphire edition
There was time that it was kinda overheated.
Cooler now : http://img53.imageshack.us/img53/3927/cmvhcl61u1wd6.jpg

What the game looks like now :
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/2111/zomagadie3.jpg

These enormous artefacts started appearing the last one or two days...

So I gues... new VGa... ? :/

If you can afford it just buy another..fixing it doesnt always help in the long run.

this is what my radeon 9800 sapphire (also 256) started to do. i had a zalman heatsink on it after the fan failed (within 3 months of buying the card)

but it did last a year or two before pulling this.

yikes, my 9800 AIW did that some time ago when factions was still a little fresh, not nearly as bad though, often it would simply lock up my computer when running the game in full screen.

Just a note, btw, your card will run cooler if:

you turn off Anisotropic Filtering (completely), and if you run GW in windowed mode.

Games tend to run my X850pro over 70'c (75'c with HL2...) in full screen, with fairly high settings, guildwars stays under 65'c all the time in windowed, and varies as the framerate does. (as low as like 50'c)

if you already do the two things above, and you're confident your HSF are good... then i might suggest replacing the card entirely, since it generally should have a much harder time overheating in windowed mode. and likely, doesnt seem worth it to fix at that point

Usually the problem with those cards were that once you figured out the fan had failed (or was failing) the damage might already have been done.

it might be a good idea with your new card to limit the maximum fps it generates.

generally, i can tell no difference between 30 fps and 75 fps. maybe it's my monitor, or my eyes are a lot worse than i thought. who knows. anyways, by using the -fps command in the shortcut will allow the card to run cooler. there's really no point having the game run at 100 fps when you can't tell the difference.