whats the most likey cause for failure?

[gsrcrxsi]

so my brothers machine has been acting up. i recently swaped it into a new case with MUCH better airflow and dropped his temps by like 20 degrees, lol. while doing so, i noticed a few caps on the MB were bulging. not good i know, but the board wasnt doing so bad by then. basically the machine will either randomly shutoff, or the screen will go white and everything locks up (even with music playing, it will lock and just skip like a scratched cd)

also his video card has been making very strange noises (the fan is probably failing) and hes seeing artifacts on the screen.

so whats more likely? the card screwing up and locking everything up? or the MB being the culprit?

system specs:

P4 HT 3.4 GHz Prescott
Asus P5D2
Zalman CPU cooler (dont remmember the model, it has radial fins and lays flat on the HS, not vertical like the 9500/9700)

hes had this machine for a while and if he gets an upgrade there wont be a need to get anything crazy (he doesnt really game lol). just wondering whats more likely the cause of the problems. thanks!

 

[CGR]

It could be either.

The fact that you see bulging caps makes me lean more towards the board that is causing it.

 

[gsrcrxsi]

yea i think so too. heres what the screen looks like on a good day lol. it was getting a lot worse when i was trying to upload the pic lol.

sorry for the huge pic

 

[OnDborder]

http://www.badcaps.net/pages.php?vid=2

 

[hank123]

what do temps look like? have u tried re-loading the video drivers?

 

[CGR]

Well, the ss shows video issues, however that could still be from bad caps on the board.

 

[ScottinIndy]

I would try out the graphics card in another computer ( If available) The more options you have for narrowing down the problem the better.

 

[technoViking]

I had the same processor still do actually and I jacked in an 8800gt and it ran games fantastically on high settings, but if he doesn't game then there is no need for an 8800gt but don't write it off that you couldn't use an 8800gt with that p4, it would work fine.

 

[EchoTheDolphin]

If all your stuff is getting jacked up at the same time I'd also look at replacing the PSU.

 

[gsrcrxsi]

well i swapped in a different card and boom problem fixed. put the old card back in and the poblem was back. its definitely the card. but my bro is cheap and hes gonna tough it out for a week til summer starts lol. thanks guys.