Weird graphics problem?

I explain this with a screenshot.

http://img813.imageshack.us/f/wtfy.jpg/

So when I'm playing Guild Wars it randomly messes my screen up. After that I have to reboot to fix the screen. This started like a week ago.

Computer specs:

Nvidia Geforce 8600GT, not overclocked, driver date 3.4.2010
windows vista 32bit home premium
amd phenom 9500 quad core 2,2ghz

hmm.. what else

Viewsonic 22" 1080p full hd monitor
direct x 11?? should i roll back to supported dx10?

Thanks in advance

My screen looked EXACTLY like that when my video card exploded.

I occasionally got that problem too (8600 GTS). I assume it's just the card overheating. It's been months since that happened and the card is still working fine.

Blow the dust out of your Video Card's Fan and heatsink. If you don't have a video card or are unsure as to what a Video Card is please feel free to use Google. For a technical response your Video Card is spitting up Artifacts due to the core Overheating, most likely due to your Room Temperature or Dust Build Up.


I'm not ruling out Warlocks though. They're responsible for almost 50% of Computer Related issues so remember boys and girls if you see a Warlock call your nearest Warlock Detection Agency and by god don't go near the Warlock, under no circumstances go near that Warlock, I'm serious if you go near it who knows what will happen.

What I find funny is how you blocked out the names of all your Desktop Icons, just a little bit of information I can easily remove those little black bars. Actually I can tell by most of the icons what exactly that program is so it kinda made me laugh.

From top to bottom (Starting at the Recycling Bin)

Recycling Bin

Some sort of Tower Defense Game?

My guess is this is probably A) Porn or B) A program you're ashamed to have like Runescape?

ITunes

Firefox

Really?

Really x2?

Steam

Lmao Old Icon

CCleaner (looks like it needs an update too)

Counter-Strike: Source

CPU-z

Chrome

Guild Wars

Looks like an Armor Games icon

MSN

Is that what I think it is? Lmao!

Text document, it contains your Credit Card #.

Portal

Skype

Don't know actually

Team Speak

Mumble?

It looks like a Linux Distro but I again don't know

Ventrilo

PS: For future screenshots Print Screen, Paste it (Control + V) into Paint and Crop / Cut the relevant section out so I don't need to lol @ hiding icons for no reason.

PPS: If you update to a DirectX version your GPU doesn't support nothing will happen, it'll be installed but your Video Card will still force the highest supported DirectX version by default however for Guild Wars the lowest is DirectX 9 so DirectX 11 has absolutely no relation to this issue.

PPPS: I'm not trolling, I'm actually laughing at your screenshot while at work and my co-workers are looking at me. Who am I kidding, I have no Co-Workers I'm an unemployed mid-20's Build Warsing No-Life Troller. (That was a joke)

I'm serious though your GPU is spitting out Artifacts due to Overheating, should probably turn off your computer to reduce the risk of any further damage.

I love this. made me LMAO

Actually I was expecting some creative advice in this section of the forum, not something about the dust on heatsinks.

Sir Baddock, nice that you found my screenshot funny, I don't.

"S: For future screenshots Print Screen, Paste it (Control + V) into Paint and Crop / Cut the relevant section out so I don't need to lol @ hiding icons for no reason."

RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GO you too.

I blame Harry Dresden.

Seriously though, this worries me, as my wife's computer is having the EXACT same issue, it looks just like the screenshot provided. However, I can't say for certain it's a heat issue, as she's cleaned out the card and the PC, and the issue only occurs when playing Guild Wars; doesn't do it during any other game or when playing video. Also, it happens whether the settings are set to high or low, and it's random, sometimes occurring right after booting and logging in, sometimes after playing for hours, and sometimes not at all. It's completely random, and a restart always fixes it.

We first assumed a bad pin on the VGA connector, but I dunno.

Oddly, this "static" that appears on screen in GW does bleed over to the desktop as well once GW is closed, but is usually just discolored pixels, not the crazy moving static like old T.V. "snow" that happens in the game.

EDIT - The OP mentioned DX11. I forgot that, I should add that this only started happening on my wife's system recently when she upgraded from WinXP to Win7 too. Prior to the upgrade this has never occurred.

It's a heat issue, what's present on the screen in the picture provided are artifacts which is what happens when

A) A video Card Overheats

Or

B) Magnetic Thermal Compound makes contact with the circuit board.

Edit: The reason this is only happening in Guild Wars is due to ATI and nVidia's attempts to stop GPU overheating by reducing a GPU's operating frequencies while in 2D Applications namely the Desktop. When Guild Wars or any 3D Application (Games, DivX Videos, etc) are launched the operating frequencies are once again altered back to the rated speeds and thus causing the GPU to overheat because of A clogged fan that cannot push air over a dusty / dirty heatsink. That or someone modified there GPU and didn't use non-magnetic Thermal Compound from like 9001 years ago.

it is a fustrating problem - it is worth check your nvidea drivers are upto date
the dust clogging upthe fan and heat sink is valid. it cannot hurt to chect but do ensure you disconnect the unit from the main supply first.it is also worth checking Ms updates.
I have alterted the setting to run at a minimum level.
ihave also added an additional fan fortuntly located by the gpu to assist ibn cooling

Well the main cause of artifacts is overheating. The main cause of overheating is dust in the fans/heatsink. It's normal to suggest those before anything else.

If you want to check for overheating, you can download a program like HWmonitor that will allow you to see the readings from the different temperature sensors is you can't see them through your video drivers. It will help rule out overheating as an issue.

I didn't post the link for HWmonitor, however you can google it, it's made by CPUID. It should be the first result you get.

EDIT: have you tried another 3D intensive game, something like half-life2, crysis etc...

Half-Life 2 will most likely not cause Overheating it's more CPU dependent, however Crysis will easily stress it. My suggestion would be to just download 3DMark Vantage open up HWMonitor or GPU-z and look at the temperatures sky rocket. Additionally there was an nVidia driver a few months ago which screwed with most nVidia cards and made them Overheat by throttling the GPU fan speed to 1% - 10% at all times.

Less than GW?, i'm not doubting you i'm just curious to know. You're right though, crysis will make the temps skyrocket way faster. If you really want to stress your GPU enough to fry it, go with furmark .

Yes less the GW, at least on my system anyway with GW running I use 25% CPU resources and about 50% of my GPU resources. Switching over to HL2 I use 50% of my CPU (Multi-Threaded, it's maxing 2 cores) and most of the time I don't see my GPU peak over 30% usage.