I just built myself a new computer with this graphics card. It works great and I have no problems except that the video signal will randomly "black out", and nothing triggers it. Most of the time when this happens, the screen turns black and everything works except the video signal and the reset button on the case (Connected directly to the mobo). Rarely, the cursor is still visible on a black background, and sometimes the color is white or gray instead of black. I have the latest drivers and updates for everything. Here's the rest of the system specs:

-Vista Home Premium 64-bit
-Core 2 Quad Q6600
-4GB OCZ DDR2-800 SLI memory
-XFX 680i LT SLI mobo
-2x500GB Maxtor 7200rpm SATA hard drives (RAID 0)
-OCZ 700W power supply
Nothing's overclocked yet.

My monitor is an HP w2207. I'm using a DVI connection.

I also tried the card in my old computer and it did exactly the same thing.


Anyone have any ideas?

Could be a dud.

That's one thing I was thinking.. Maybe..


Also, Crysis just blacked out during gameplay, and when I force-minimized it there was a message in the notification area telling me that the graphics driver had crashed. I couldn't see or use anything except the taskbar or start menu. Going to the switch user screen and back fixed it.. Now my question is, is it a driver issue, compatibility issue, or hardware issue, and if it's one of the first two, how can I fix it?

If it goes black and the GPU driver crash message has appeared, then theres a good change its your Driver. Update your GPU drivers from Nvidia and hope it helps.

I already have the latest drivers from the nVidia website (169.25).

You should also download some third party tools to monitor the GPU temperature and other stats. If something like the GPU fan is dead (or many other possibilities) you need to get a replacement ASAP.

Ok, I'll check that. I don't think it's a fan/hardware problem though because it goes away instantly when I reboot.

CPU temperature is ~38C, system temperature is ~32C, and GPU temperature is ~48C. The GPU temperature does seem a little high.. I just turned the computer on half an hour ago and haven't had anything open except Firefox since then..

Edit: I got a picture of it. Here's what it's doing:

Sometimes in black though, and sometimes the cursor's visible.

Ok, this happened in the BIOS while I was booting up. Should I ask for a replacement card?

If its happening in the BIOS then it isn't a driver problem.

This topic is a few days old, but if you're still looking for an answer, then I'd say "yes".