I think My OCZ 8800gtx is dying artifacting!

[reznik]

core 2 quad @ q6600 Go, 2.7Ghz (1.25 Vc)
corsair xms 2- ddr2 800 (at default values) 2 X 2gb (1.9v)
OCZ 8800GTX
GA-N650SLI-DS4
500Gb Western Digital SATA2 - 16MB - 7200RPM
OCZ GameXtreme 600W
Windows: Vista home premium 64
Antec-900 Gaming Case
AMW X1900Ds 19 Inch 8ms TFT Monitor
_________________________________________


Sigh, i really dont know where to begin, for the past 2 weeks ive been gettin major issues with my system!
i bought it last summer and it has pretty much run fabulously until now mean iv had the odd crashes etc but hell thats what u get with vista.

Anyway ive been recently gettin some bad crashes mostly in game, bioshock, grid, DIRT (never crysis thus far funny enough) dont recall AOE3 crashing, sometimes windows desktop hangs and freezes.

So i remember 2 weeks ago i replaced my old core duo with a Q6600 Go, i played around with the values (clocks, FSB, ram timings voltages the whole lot) although i always kept within safety limits and warranty specs.
(max i went with cpu was 1.5v).

So considering the bad mobo i got my q6600 runnin stable at 2.7 ghz low temps at idle and 100% load 55-60 deg c Max. (p95 all night) so my cpu was was chkd of the working list, i then made sure all my other components were working i.e gfx card (ati tool tested) and memory, then chkd the temps volts and everythign was runnin normal. i used mem test for memory modules all tests past.

Now after that i bought a copy if bioshock and thats when it was revealed to me something was wrong, i cranked it up full settings ran superbly fast and nice, but kept crashing at random times. (according to alot of forums bioshock
is pretty buggy) i accepted that and realised its EXe was always at fault since windows kept saying error bioshock.exe
all my other games including hl2, crysis, world in conflict, sins of solar empire ran jsut fine up till then.
But soon as i kept playing bioshock (3 days after i bought it) the crashes became more random, and rather than crashing to desktop the computer kept freezing, hanging etc. I tried some other games including DIRT and GRId
and simalar stuff happened.

I then re tested all hardware with p95, ati tool, mem test rigerously it seemed fine inclusing temps.

Now it was only until 2 days ago that bioshock revealed ARTIFACTING, blotches of blue, split screen effect like my
monitor was smashed but it was graphical....then it crashed. After that i knew it had to be texture related.
i first swapped out the memory for different memory but still made no difference so i knew the memory was fine,
i then moved on to my video card all temps were stable and the hottest its ever ever been was 71 degrees which
is fine (under hardcore stress testing and a hot room!).

i then ran ATI tool once again now this is where it gets confusing, it started beeping after like 3-5 seconds
and claimed it found a artifact. (i ran it at least 5-6 times each time it beeped after few seconds)

i then restarted my computer rechked bios and realised i had kept my q6600 OC to 2.7ghz but kept the system voltages under auto control,
(i accidentally left it like this one time only) because of this while i was runnin ati tool before (when it was beeping due to artifacts), i had noticed my v core jumping to < >1.5v (1.52max)


Anyway so while in bios i reset it to manual control changed my voltages everything normal but set v core to 1.3v
in hardware monitor it showed v core at 1.25 and all the voltages were not fluctuating anymore.

Im posting right now and its morning iv run all these hardcore tests overnight ( pics)
and its 100% fine.

Question:

1. Why did it artifact before in Ati tool after few seconds but not after runnining it all night, was it cause of the
system voltages set on auto when cpu oc? (fluctuating voltages)

2. why did bioshock before show graphical artifacts nevermind the crashing, temps were perfectly safe then, other games
also crashed i may have seen couple of dodgy horizontal lines in GRid.(iv played some games seems ok, bioshock i dare not)

bascially i saw graphical artifacts that suggested somethign was defo wrong although temps were always within safe limits
i tested overnight everythign simultaneously (see pics) and its shows to be ok.

so why the graphical artifacts in bioshock bad crashes hangs,(all voltages were manually and safely set at that time)
and that one time artifact beeps in ati tool? i stil get random hangs and crashes either in game rarely from

if it was all drivers, software etc, it would never had causd those graphical artifacts and caused that one time ati tool
to artifact beep and mad computer hangs.
and if it is hardware why on earth this time round all tests including ATI tool ran overnight perfectly.
there are still crashes in games soemtimes computer freezes,windows desktop hangs (ranges from 10mins hours to 2 hours some times a day omg....)(all random)

the point is i know somethign is wrong but i dont know what, the thing is i have about 2 weeks max before my warranties
become invalid and i want to know if its my hardware thats bust so i can then replace them, is psu? vid card?!!


i know this is a F***** long post im really sorry but i really would appreciate your help im absolutely stumped and stressin

thanks in advanced.

(pz ignore the p95 time jump from 28th of june to 27 time is correct the date i changed back cos i had reset csmos)