Well, thought I would write in for help.

I built my computer about (2) years ago with the following specs:

Antec Super Lanboy Case
Antec 480W TrueBlue PS
AMD64 3200 Newcastle
ASUS K8V-SE Deluxe
1 gig Kinston PC3200 Memory
Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS
2 80 gig WD drives
Sapphire x800pro

When I first started gaming with it everything was fine. Then, when running games such as Farcry, Quake 4, COD2, Siberia and now Oblivion I get corrupted textures after about 30min of gaming. I didn't really think about heat at the time and would usually just restart and things would be good for the time being. It is really starting to get bad in Oblivion, especially in the outdoor areas.

This past weekend I finally discovered ATITool and found that during gameplay and the ATITool 3D test my card would get above 90C!!!! Ouch!! I immediatly bought a Zalman VF700-CU and my gaming temps have dropped to about 45C. The problem is I am still getting the corrupted textures.

Finally, I took the case side off and blew a desk fan in. I am in the low 40's for temp on everything and still get the corrupted textures. Long story short, is there anything else I can check to verify it is the video card that is bad?

Also, if it is bad, I am looking at an upgrade to a 7800gs. Any comments on that upgrade?

Thanks for the help,

In terms of corrupted textures, does it happen during other games and under ati-tools using "artifact scan"? If it only display corrupted texture under oblivion, then you might want to download the latest driver from www.ati.com. Also, is the CPU overclocked as well? Seems like you have a VIA chipset and they usually don't come with a AGP/PCI lock when you increase the CPU external clock speed -> problems for AGP/PCI cards... As far as AGP goes, the gainward bliss 7800GS+ is the fastest AGP card avaliable. Basically its 7900GT PCI-E counter part (24 pipeline) and the gainward bliss 7800GS is similar to 7800GT PCI-E (20 pipeline). Other competitors on the other hand come with 16-pipelines... As far as performance goes, going from x800pro agp to 7800GS won't be a huge gain since you only have a 3200+ CPU... If you have to spend $250+ on a 7800GS AGP, I suggest going to PCI-E instead. But before all that, try to contact your graphic card's manufacture and maybe they will accept it as RMA and give you a new in return...

TMP-Man

Asus P5P800-SE
P4 506 @ 4200Mhz 1.45v
Thermaltake CLP0024 w/ 1700RPM 92MM + AS5
1GB Corsair 2-3-3-5 DDR400
120GB/300GB 7200RPM HD
Radoen 9500 mod 9700 @ 375/600 CHS+RHS

I only see it in games. I have seen it in HL2, COD2, Farcry, Oblivion, KOTOR, KOTOR2 and Siberia. I haven't see it when running the artifact scan. In fact, I have never seen it outside of a game. Because of this, I have thought about re-installing Windows (haven't done it since I built the computer anyway) just to rule out software problems. My only hesitation is that the computer is running great except for this problem.

I have never overclocked any components on my system.

As far as drivers go, I have always kept them up to date. I always completely delete the old files and install the new ones.

I was trying to find the warrenty information from Sapphire but didn't have much luck. I will keep looking.