Video Card Overheating

[Korvan]

The card in question is an ATI x1900. Shortly after the expiration of the warranty, I began to notice strange visual artifacts showing up. While playing WoW (World of Warcraft), I would get polygons that would stretch out to infinity and other texture glitches. I thought that it might be heat related but I also noticed that the fan on the video card would never go above idle speed. I started monitoring the temperature, and the artifacts would only appear once it rose past a certain point.

I then downloaded RivaTuner which allowed me direct control over the fan's speed and this solved the problem for over a year. However, as time went by, the temperature at which the glitches appeared got lower and lower until now, with the fan at full speed, the glitches will appear almost immediately in WoW. The game is still playable and the video card rarely locks up (maybe once every 3 days). However, any other current game will lock up in about 5 minutes (Dawn of War 2 being an example).

I have cleaned out the GPU's heat sink and even removed it and reapplied new thermal paste (the original application was quite shoddily done). I've looked into under-clocking the card to see if that helps, but both RivaTuner and ATI's Catalyst control panel won't let me under-clock underneath the factory default speed.

I'd rather get my card working than buy a new one, but that is mostly a matter of pride and stubbornness and not financial. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[Mr Bean]

Sorry, your in the same situation I was in about five months. You are on the edge of a dead video card. When you get graphical glitches that occur at lower and lower temperatures, soon it's going to occur about five minutes after boot, then one minute, then lock on boot.

Sorry

[Korvan]

Yeah, I was thinking that was the case. Time to go shopping then!