Possible overheating issue or defective card?

[livngston]

Hi all. I just purchased a brand new Dell XPS8300 with a Intel i7 (2nd Gen) 3.4Ghz and 16GB RAM. I swapped out the base video card for a new Powercolor HD 6850 (and updated to latest drivers from AMD's website). During normal use at 1920x1200 resolution it appears to work fine.

Then I loaded up Skyrim. The game recommended the high graphic setting. However even when playing for more than 2 minutes, the display starts to develop artifacts and tears the screen (the display shifts a third to the right and then wraps around to the left side of the screen). At this point even if I exit to the desktop the display remains all messed up.

I have to do a hard reboot to correct the display.

On my old Intel Core Duo 3 Ghz with an older nVidia 9600GT, I was able to play Skyrim for hours on medium to high graphics with no issues.

Is this an issue of the video card overheating? I hear the fan kick in when Skyrim loads. Is this a defective video card? Should I exchange for a different brand 6850 like Saphire? Is the equivalent nVidia a better card?

 

[soulrider4ever]

Install MSI Afterburner and check the temps, you can use Furmark to put the GPU under load

 

[GreenGoose]

What is your power supply?

 

[wtourist]

The Dell case may not allow adequate cooling, which is why the above testing and temperature monitor is important. Could be the card or the temperature. What was the card installed before this one?

 

[livngston]

I will install the temp utility and see. The power supply is a 460W (which other people have said was sufficient for the 6850).

 

[soulrider4ever]

Couldn't hurt to ReSeat the graphics card too.

 

[livngston]

will try reseating as well.

Does anyone know if there is a difference in quality between Powercolor and Sapphire cards?