6800gt over heat?

Hi all

I have just picked up a PC from a friend and i think the graphics card is shot but can't be sure.
On first boot i had artifacts on the graphics bios screen but not too bad and on the intel screen i had a counter number like A1 or B4 like random numbers and letters at the bottom corner. I have installed a fresh copy of XP pro and installed motherboard drivers so it All without incident so it boots into windows fine. After installing 6800gt drivers and rebooting windows loading screen will pop up then when thats done it crashes and resets comp. If i try manually installing drivers it crashes halfway through and screws up the hal.dll. Anyone have this happen to them before? I just need to know if its motherboard or graphics card related? Any tricks?


The system is:

CPU :intel P4 3.0ghz socket lga775
MB :intel dp965lt with 1x1gb ddr2 ram(ram is brand new) 2008bios
Graphics: leadtek 6800gt 256mb pci-e 2004bios
PSU : Coolmaster 400watt (120mm fan i think)
Case : 80mm fan at rear. side cover is off

Thanx in advance

The 6800 gpu is notorious for running hot.I suggest removing the heatsink and replacing all the heat pads for memory and gpu,then try it again and see what happens.If the problems still occurs,then I would say it's the video card.It has simply run its course.Artifacts are caused by memory overheating on the video card.The gpu will give error codes.In fact,I recommend replacing the stock cooler with a good after market one as this should give better cooling.You can also try underclocking the gpu and see if it fixes the problem.Again this would show a relation to heat and thus again,I recommend an aftermarket gpu cooler.Goodluck.

Dahak

M2N32-SLI DELUXE WE
X2 5600+ (3.2)
4X1GIG DDR2 800 IN DC MODE
TOUGHPOWER 850WATT PSU
EVGA GTX 260
SMILIDON RAIDMAX GAMING CASE
ACER 22IN WS LCD 1680X1050
250GIG HD/500GIG HD
G5 GAMING MOUSE
LOGITECH Z-5500 5.1 SURROUND SYSTEM
500WATS CONTINUOUS,1000 PEAK
WIN XP MCE SP2

sweet guys i thought the card might have been cactus. I really wanted to make sure it was graphics card before i go out and buy another graphics card then find out its motherboard or something. I just wasn't sure about the A1 B1 weird stuff. Im not familiar with this motherboard. I will buy graphics card and if all is good ill upgrade cpu aswell.
Thanx for your help!!

Ive tried wiggling it and it didn't fix. I removed cpu&gpu fans/heatsinks and the gpu was clean as. the cpu was a bit dusty on the heatsink but nothing to bad. I tied the cables up a bit better for airflow and things. The graphics card is warm to touch. everything seems to be running normal. fans are spinning fast and not obstructed. still artifacts. maybe it is just the ram chips on the card.