I recently had to do a warranty return on a Gigabyte video card, and they have sent me a replacement. I've installed the replacement, done a complete re-install of Windows 7 x64, installed the latest drivers and the card is unstable. The new card is a Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 (GV-N56GOC-1GI).
When running games for about 20 minutes, or in some cases full screen video or flash video, the video will drop out and leave a black screen, often with the game audio still playing. I have to manually reboot the computer to get it to come back up. If I just 'restart' the computer the video is usually still compromised. If I turn off the computer with a full shut down (hold power button in for 10 secs) and reboot it goes back to running fine.
Because this is an RMA replacement I contacted Gigabyte and went through their support system. I've tried a number of different drivers, but the result is the same. They wanted me to test the card on another rig but I don't have access to one. They also suggested it could be a power supply issue.
The issue with the original card was the thermal system was failing, it couldn't cool itself and was overheating and shutting down. This card stays very cool and quiet, but intermittently stops working. It seems stable for most desktop applications, but fails when gaming or under other graphics load. One other note, because the card is unstable I threw in an old card, an AMD Radeon HD 4850 (512mb), and that's perfectly stable. No problems.
The point is that I don't want to spend another $35 and wait a month sending it back to Gigabyte and have them test it, especially if they say there's nothing wrong.
My question is, is there any other testing I can do? Does this sound like a power supply issue? I'm happy to replace either the power supply or the graphics card, but not both, and I'd hate to waste money replacing a component that doesn't need replacing. Any advice is appreciated.
Specs: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 - GV-N56GOC-1GI Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UDH3 Mobo Windows 7 x64 AMD PhenomII X6 1055T 8 GB RAM (Ripjaw) 5 Hard drives Corsair TX750 Power Supply