GTX 260 Screen freezes

Issue is after couple minutes into any game (Crysis, HL, Mass effect) they usually freeze up and the screen has huge pixel (red, blue color depending on where the game froze) usually have to restart my computer, but this has never occured when i am not gaming. I have updated all the drivers, ran memtest, Monitored the temps (CPU is at 52 and Graphic card at 47 when it occurs). I do not know what the next course of action is done everything i know, has anyone encountered anything similar to it. Is this something simple like bad graphic card ?


Config:
Case ( Coolermaster HAF 932 Full-Tower Gaming Case w/420W Power Supply Black )
Power Supply ( 680 Watt -- Power Supply SLI Ready )
Processor ( [=== Quad Core ===] Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q9550 (4x 2.83GHz/12MB L2 Cache/1333FSB) )
Processor Cooling ( Certified CPU Fan and Heatsink )
Motherboard ( [SLI] Asus P5N-D Nvidia nForce 750i SLI Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE-1394, Dual PCI-E MB EPU Technology )
Memory ( 4 GB [1 GB X4] DDR2-800 PC6400 Memory
Video Card ( NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 896MB w/DVI + TV Out Video )
Video Card Brand eVga
Hard Drive ( 500 GB HARD DRIVE [Serial-ATA-II, 3Gb, 7200 RPM, 16M Cache] )
External Hard Drives [USB 2.0/eSATA] ( None )
CD/DVD Drive ( 16x DVD-ROM Drive Black )
Network Card ( Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100) )


Thanks

Gonna to return it and get a new card and see what happens.

I'm having the same problem in Crysis now that I've reached the aircraft carrier battle. I can play for about 5 min before my PC completely freezes looping the last sound and the screen going either black or redish in color forcing me to hard reboot. What's weird is I can play STALKER, Left 4 Dead, & C&C3 for hours with everything to the max without issue. I've ran Prime95 on all eight cores (4 physical 4 virtual) for 11hrs & 33min without error so it has to be the cards or drivers.

Specs:
Core i7 920@3.4Ghz
Gigabyte EX58-Extreme
OCZ 3G1600LV3GK
2 x XFX GTX 260 Black Edition
PC Power & Cooling 750 Silencer

I've tried running each card individually but still the same issue. Tried uninstalling and reinstalling Crysis with all the latest patches but didn't work. I just submitted a help ticket to XFX to see what they say b/c my suspicion is that it's an Nvidia driver issue. I found this thread where a bunch of gtx260 users appear to be having the same problem(s) some worse than others http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/s [...] =17944911. A bunch of them are downclocking the core to get it to run stable but that isn't always working for everyone in the thread and doesn't really explain my situation of only one game failing so far (guess I should install some more games to see if I can get another game to fail).

I'll repost when I get a response from XFX or find any solution.

OK maybe i FOUND somthing ?

NVIDIA SYSTEM INFORMATIE
Videogeheugen systeem: 0 MB
Gedeeld systeemgeheugen: 0 MB

NVIDIA SYSTEM INFORMATION
VGAMEMORY SYSTEM: 0 MB
SHARED SYSTEMMEMORY: 0 MB

AND XFX SENDED A REPLY TO ME

The told me PSU NEEDS 40 AMPS on the +12 volt line ( I HAVE 42 )
The told me to scan my HD @ Memory ( both done no errors )

Greetz Dirk Hope Some On Have Some Information Soon ! thanx

Ok, now I've tried Dead Space which seems to work fine but when I try HL2: Episode 2 with everything turned up it freezes within a couple minutes of playing (this will be a major problem for me if it occurs with Episode 3 whenever it comes out).

My friend recommended uninstalling the Nvidia & Realtek drivers, restart in Safe Mode, use Driver Cleaner Pro to finalize cleaning, restart back into Safe Mode, Install Nvidia drivers 181.20, restart back into Safe Mode and install Realtek drivers, restart again regular and install Direct X. Did this last night and it still froze on me for HL2.

I do have some good news in that I was able to play through Crysis after I lowered the resolution to 16xx and set Shadows and Particle Effects to Medium. I also installed RivaTuner and bumped my GPU fans up to 60% but I couldn't play through the game with that alone, it required the lowering of settings (I'll try lowering some settings with HL2 to see if that works as well).

Still disappointing that I'd have to lower anything using the hardware that I am... it definitely seems like it's software related to Nvidia's drivers since some games run perfectly with everything cranked up and others don't. I'll install some more games to see what works and what doesn't.

If Nvidia doesn't get their act together, then my next card may be an ATI card too (I've been with Nvidia since my GeForce 2Ti)

I still think the dual GPU solutions need work. If you take 2 4870's and run them in SLI they just SCREAM. Likewise with SLI. I'f I had the board to do it I would buy 2 cards and do CF or SLI.

That might be the case, but I'm about to RMA my second 260 GTX, both had the same problems: The card works great for a few weeks, then all the sudden, lockups. I know it's not a heating issue as the GPU temperature never rises above 45 degrees C (I'm using an Antec 900 Two and I've added the optional 120mm side fan, and keep the card fan @ 60%).

When I RMA'd the first card, the admitted that it was faulty. I expressed concern to them indicating that I had no way of knowing whether or not the next card would have the same problems - they assured me that the card was thoroughly tested before it went out, but I still have my doubts. Hopefully, they'll replace it with a 275 or better. I'm fed up with this 260.

I have had the same problem with my GTX 260 BE. I figure out that it was fan speed problem. When I play any game, fan speed won't go more than 45% that's why it was overheating. The only solution i found is EVGA Precision. This is free software you can google it. In software I set speed of the fan to 70% manually and playing any games without any problems.
See if it helps.... Sorry about my english

I wish I knew how I could help you guys. From the outset though, it could be a heat issue or insufficient power. Even if you're PSU shows 40 amps, and your card requires 40, or your PSU is a hair above, you need to remember that there is other hardware drawing from the same source. When you play a game that puts strain on your hardware, like Crysis, things are bound to happen. It could be any game for that matter.

(knock on wood) My new rig I built in the last week or so has had zero problems. Everything when in fine, booted up first time, no crashing, overheating, etc. Hell, it booted into my old OS perfectly fine with all new hardware, BEFORE i installed Win7.

I thought that was a trip I had forgotten to back all my stuff up, but then I was given a 2nd chance, hehe.