On-screen garbage and distortion after driver/card malfunction?

[Kazumi'Zorah]

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A few hours ago my display abruptly started becoming distorted, colored garbage flickering all over the screen, 3D graphics stretch and it's a mess really, as the image shows, I can hardly type this. Uninstalling nvidia drivers or switching to intel graphics stopped it but it returned when I went back to my gfx card even with updated drivers. Does anyone know about this and how to fix it?

I should mention my power supply has been making a distinct buzzing sound for a few months now. I was told by my tech guy that it should be a problem but I should point it out just in case. I should also point out that while I don't have any actual numbers the card itself was cold to the touch.

[Leon8200]

does it do anything diferent if you run it in safe mode?, cause if it run's ok in safe it probably is a driver related issue,
try driver max 7 to update you driver, it's free but you have to provide an email adress to activate it
http://en.softonic.com/s/free-download-drivermax

[Kazumi'Zorah]

Safe mode looks normal but I think that's because it blocks the nvidia drivers anyway. Driver max doesn't work for me, it keeps telling me that it doesn't work under "compatibility mode" when I'm doing no such thing, 'm running Win 8.1

[Leon8200]

Well I realy think it's a driver that's causing the problem if driver max did not work for you try Io bit's driver booster, it's free. http://www.iobit.com/driver-booster.php
and did you try rolling back the driver to a previously installed driver? that may also fix the problem.

[markbarkins]

Had this card/driver combo been working fine up til recently? Is there another PC you can test the graphics card in? Also, your MB may support SLI between your onboard graphics and your card. Check for this and disable/enable it to test.

Card could be jacked, but I would definitely try it in a different PC first to find out.

[Kazumi'Zorah]

I've put this issue up on the nvidia forums and it leaned towards a serious hardware issue, which if true means I've been set back $400.

https://forums.geforce.com/default/t...-malfunction-/

I will try the card on another system but I'm not holding my breath at this point. And if that's the case I will be switching to AMD so if I may divert the topic of this thread slightly....given that the most demanding game I will ever play would be ME3 maxed out @ 1080p, preferably at 70-120fps... can I get any recommendations?

[markbarkins]

You should check to see if your card is still under warranty. If it isn't you should be able to pick up a 7870 2 gb for ~200. If you'd rather go with the newest gen an r9 270x is a little better than the 7870 but you'll pay ~100 more. The r9 prices are a little inflated right now. Either of those should easily hit those FPS for ME3*

*As long as your CPU/RAM are solid.

If you want to spend less, post your specs and we can see how close we can shave it and still hit 70 fps with max settings.