Computer not performing...

lately my computer has been very loud when I play games. After a while of playing, the game's colors will flicker and mess up then the game will freeze. I think something got overheated. I've cleaned out the fans and dusted everything, but it still does it.

any suggestions?

 

sounds like a common case of video card 'artifacting' caused by overheating. while playing a graphics intensive game, feel the video card heatsink and see if it is unusually hot. if it is, there are a few things to check:

First, go into the driver configuration and make sure the card is not being overclocked. If you've overclocked another part of your system, it could also be overclocking the card if the settings are not correct.

if that doesnt work, it is still under warranty, you might want to RMA it for repair or another card. if it is not under warranty, you could buy some arctic silver thermal compound and clean and reapally the heatsink (or upgrade to a better heatsink).

 

Nothing is being over clocked. But, yeah, it is overheating. I booted up my game and the tempuratures were at 80+ within 5 or so minutes.

I think I'm just going to buy a new heatsink and Artic Silver.

How does Artic Silver work and how do I find out what kind of heatsink I need?

 

also, how do I find out if I've already damaged my card? I don't know if I have or not. I just know the artifacting seemed bad.