Advice Please-Loss of Texture Detail & Color

Hi all,
Got a question that has had me stumped for a long time.

I've always liked UT 2003 and still play it at times.
I built a new computer last fall, Core 2 Duo 6750 and had a 8800GTS vcard.
UT 2003 would run for several minutes and then lose details in textures and the colors would change to basic colors such as black, red, green, no off colors nor many colors. After trying all the settings I could in the game I finally found an nVidia driver that worked for the most part--177.35 I think, but once in awhile it would have this problem also. Had a crashing problem with Far Cry until driver change also.

Fast forward, now have a 9550 on a Gigabyte P45 with a eVGA 260 vcard.
Same problems all over again, but no drivers seem to work now. The game seems to run a little longer in 16 bit mode than 32, but I don't know if there is a reason for it.

I have Googled this problem so much, with no luck, than I am Googled out. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Mike

Have you tried securing your video cable--or using a different one that you know works?

Yeah, sounds like the cable or monitor. Have you changed those since the new build?

Did you reinstall Windows when you went to the 9550 and 260?

Gee guys,
I never thought of the cable giving problem. I don't understand how that could be? Works for awhile in 32 bit, usually longer in 16 bit. Plus for awhile with the one set of drivers it worked almost perfect.

I did add a new Samsung 215 monitor and I used the cable that came with it, I think, or if not, it was a cable that came with a Viewsonic monitor I had.

I did reinstall Windows with the new upgrade. I wonder why Far Cry didn't give the same problems if it was with the cable?

I know one thing, it has been one heck of a problem to solve, so any ideas you can pass along would be helpful. I know I'm now desperate cuz I'm exhausted trying to figure this for so long.

Thanks,
Mike

OK I just tried a new DVI cable... Sorry to say, that didn't help....
So, any other ideas?

Thanks,
Mike

Maybe run memtest? Dunno.

Actually I've run my 260 vc underclocked, as much as possible.
Memtest maybe, but at this point I'm beginning to think it is the mainboard,
Gigabyte EP45-UD3P... Did read earlier tonight that I may have a related problem.
My internal card reader, a AFT XM-35U is not working properly, getting a yellow exclamination point in Device Manager. Been looking at this problem all over the net
too and not had much better luck until I read that it could come from the PCI Buss and
that 50% or more of those experiencing it had been fixed by pulling the battery and discharging the mainboard. I mite as well update the BIOS while I'm at it.... Sounds to me if the PCI Buss could goof up in such a way, so could the v card.

Thanks,
Mike

Just an update.
I flashed-updated my BIOS.
I let the jumper stay on the Clear CMOS for about 5 hours.
I played UT2003 for 45 minutes without any problems, a record.
CPU, C2D 9550 was oc'ed to 3.95 Ghz.
Down side is my card reader still is not fully recognized, still giving me a yellow exclamation in Device Manager.

This is my 2nd Gigabyte board in a row that I have had problems with. I think I will try something else next time.

Thanks for the input guys. If anyone has any ideas on the card reader I'm open to suggestions on that too...

Thanks again,
Mike

Probably a stupid question, but did you install drivers for the card reader?