My computer appears to be sick with what I’m assuming is a hardware problem. I don’t have any spare components sitting around to switch stuff out and determine where the defect lies that way, so I’m hoping if I describe the problem some helpful dopers will suggest what the offending part might be or some tests I can do to narrow down the suspects. I suspect that its the vid card, but I’m hoping someone will come along and suggest something else (read, something cheaper to replace).
So problem: when playing any sort of semi-graphically intensive games I start getting various image defects: odd polygons in the way, discoloration, lines across the screen, etc. It usually gets bad enough within a minute or two of when I first notice it to make the game more or less unplayable. When I quit out of the game, the computer starts to go back to windows, appears to freeze up and then the screen stops getting a signal and I’m forced to restart. This problem sometimes appears within the first minute or two of starting a game, sometimes 15-20 minutes in.
Stuff I tried: updated drivers (didn’t help), checked CPU temps (fine), checked GPU/CPU fans (fanning along merrily), tried a few games to make sure its not specific to just one (same problem with all).
Computer: AMD 3000 chip, 1GB RAM, ATI x800 vid card, err…not sure what the motherboard make is but I can check if it’ll help.