Windows freezing, GW the culprit?

Starting two nights ago, while playing Guild Wars, Windows 7 would freeze, the screen would go blank, and my vidcard fan would spin up to full speed. I have to hold down the power button to turn off/on my computer. At first I thought it was a hardware problem, perhaps my vidcard. But I put in an older vidcard from my old computer, and the crash still happens. The problem usually happens within 10-15minutes of playing Guild Wars. I didn't quite make the connection that it could possibly be GW (since I'm always alt-tabbing out and doing other stuff), until I realized my computer has been up and running for the past 12 hours, and I hadn't run the game in that time. Now it could still be a hardware problem, like RAM chips, but I like to get your opinions on the matter. Is there a way I could narrow down whether it may indeed be the game that's the issue, or perhaps bad drivers (I have the latest), or my copy of Windows 7 is fubared?

Thanks in advance!

My system:
Intel i860
Asus P7P55D-E Pro
Gigabyte GTX 460 1GB
G.Skill ECO Series 4GB (2x2GB)
WD Caviar Blue 1TB
Windows 7 64-bit
(No overclocking whatsoever)

do other games work ok?

could be your cpu overheating, have you checked your temps

I have the nVidia System Monitor up, and all temps (CPU/GPU/disk) hover at around 27-35ºC. I've only had Guild Wars up and running with the Monitor up. Haven't tried other games yet. I will do that once I swap my GTX 460 back into my computer.

check the temperatures whilst playing GW and whilst idling.

*ninjaed*


anyway, are you saying that the GPU stays under 35C during a gaming session? if so, I suggest testing with a second temp monitoring program (HWMonitor, Everest, etc).

Definitely sounds like a temperature issue. Make sure your PC is getting enough cool air around it, make sure the fans are clean, use a compressed air can to blow dust out of your case then hoover up your room.

Make sure your PC isn't too close to a heater and the room itself stays around 17-21C (62.6 - 69.8F) if you can. I'd recommend not much hotter than 24C in the room anyway. (I work in a data centre monitoring thousands of computers).

After that, reseat your graphics card, RAM, all the internal cards. Improper connections mean the device has to work harder to conduct signals, thus creating more heat.

Right now the room is in the mid-60's(F).

Both nVidia System Monitor and HWMonitor show various temperatures between 27-35ºC with the game running. I assume that's well within reasonable operating temperatures. As a spot check, I've put my hand near all the components, and there doesn't seem to be any excess heat.

I just ran memtest86+ for 3hours, and there were no issues.

At this point, I doubt it's my vidcard, since both vidcards I've tried have the same issue, and one of them is a 4 year-old nVidia 6600GT, which has never had problems before. And as for my GTX 460, again, the fan only goes fullspeed after a freeze. I assume if it was overheating, the fans would've spun faster a lot sooner.

something is fishy, normally that video card would idle at 35C or higher and hit 60-70C when stressed under load...