Is my GPU dying?

[Lemonade727]

Hey everyone, I have a second PC that's been going strong for several years but I've encountered some issues today.

I turned the PC on and starts to load up Windows normally, but when the desktop loads up the screen goes black and then there's static and snow as if you would turn a tv to the wrong channel. That stays on the screen for about 5 seconds then it goes to the desktop normally, but at this point one out of two things happen, either the computer completely locks up or the screen flashes black every 10 seconds and/or when you try to open something and it opens up with corrupted graphics and continuous 10 second screen flashes.

Could this be a sign that my GPU is dying on me? Or is it another hardware failure? I've never experienced this particular problem before so I'm not sure what to do with it. It's on a fairly new install of Windows so I don't see it being a corrupted file but it could be, I'm not sure. Any suggestions and/or advice?

 

[Drinkyoghurt]

it could be a sign of dying, but the card could also be overheating, check the heatsink for dust clogging and clean it out

 

[Lemonade727]

it could be a sign of dying, but the card could also be overheating, check the heatsink for dust clogging and clean it out

That was my first thought so I opened the case, removed the heatsink and blew all of the dust out (it was packed but it's pretty much spotless right now). Same problem. Cleaned out the power supply, took the fan off the CPU heatsink and cleaned that out, reseated everything and it's a no-go so far.

 

[chevro1et]

Can you try a different video card in that rig to test?

 

[Lemonade727]

Can you try a different video card in that rig to test?

I might be able to snag a 7300GS from a friend of mine...but he's not even positive if it's in working order (his current rig doesn't have a pci-e slot so he can't try it out for me). I wouldn't be able to get it until Saturday, but if that card doesn't work it wouldn't be a good test, because I would be unable to tell if it's the video card or something else. I have a strong feeling leading to the video card being the culprit, as I've had problems with the displays completely going out with the monitor engaged...but I haven't had these effects in the middle before so that's what's confusing me at this time .