video "Shuddering" during gameplay

[davisphive]

Playing Battlefield 2 and a couple weeks ago I had some slow down issues.
It didn't look like framerate drop it was like my character was moving in slow motion.

Then got World of Warcraft. Had some "shuddering" problems. If I move around the game freezes for a few seconds and the audio gets caught in a loop. The cusor is frozen as well and then it unfreezes which is usually accompanied by the screen blinking to black for about .5 seconds.

I have the latestest drivers and bios installed.
Games are up-to-date as well.

My build is speced below:

3200+ AMD Processor
1GIG of RAM
80GIG HD
MSI K8N-Neo Motherboard
Albatron Geforce 6800GT 256MB Pci Express

My card is a factory overclock, I was wondering if I might be able to underclock it. Would that help? Also is there any definitive way to know if it is my Graphics Card or some other piece of hardware? Like a program to test the video card or a general hardware tester?

I will point out that I only have problems during games.

Any help given would greatly appreciated.


Update:
-----------
Ok, so I turned a temp warning setting on my nvidia control panel and started world of warcraft. After about 5 minutes I got a temp warning that my card had exceeded it's slowdown threshold which is 127 C. Ok so now I know what the problem is...I think. How do I cool down my card? I have three fans on my system, a 20mm intake, 2 exhaust, another 20mm on top and a 120mm out the back.

What I don't understand is that I have another computer with a similar build (slightly faster CPU and a 7800GT and I have no problems with it)

Again thanks in advanced to all who can help.

 

[Impotence]

:O OMFGWTF :O

Your graphics card should be nowhere near 127*c... I would take the side of your case off, make sure all your fans are working,

• tidy up cabling as much as possible to increase airflow
• perhaps give your computer a dusting (get it out all the air intakes etc),
• take the heatsink off your graphics card and check that the thermal paste is fine.
• If your still running hot, see about getting a bigger heatsink for your graphics card (and perhaps some bigger case fans? :P)

 

[davisphive]

Thx for the advice. After checking my card it appears that the fan is dead or dying. I'm replacing it with an Arctic Cooling one. Also my case was like a tomb. I just hope my card isn't damaged after running that hot for so long.
It was idling at around 80! :doh:

Anyway thanks again for the advice!

 

[Impotence]

No problem, the card should be fine as it was underclocking to protect itself :)