Little squares crash

[killer_snipa]

Hi, if anyone can offer me some good solid advice I would really appreciate it.

I have had this problem for a few months / maybe a year or more now. Sometimes, a game, or application (google earth) will simply crash and the screen will look as if squares have been picked up and shifted to the side

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t283/killer_snipa/P6290364.jpg . I really don't know if this is anything to do with my GFX card or if its my CPU. All my video card drivers are up to date etc. But the problem has become more pronounced again recently and it is really driving me mad, the fact that I cant just sit down and play a game. I also noticed that the phase LED's on my MB light up to 3/4 when this happens, and the power light on the front goes off for some reason.

Specs:
MB Gigabyte EP43-DS3
CPU Intel Q6600 @ 3.00GHZ
GFX Radeon HD 4870 512Mb (normal speeds)
RAM 2GB Corsair Twinx XMS DDR 2 @ 800MHz (default speed)

 

[wa1]

What about the card temps?
PSU? Brand? Model?

 

[killer_snipa]

Card temps Idle 66°C @30% fan, 51-53°C @40% fan
Load 82°C @40% fan (10min furmark)

PSU, EZCool 650W (budget was a bit stretched thin when it came to PSU tbh)

 

[wa1]

Did u connect the power connector?
Your temps are normal.
Have u install the latest version?
have another computer? so u can try your card there...

 

[killer_snipa]

Yeah, both 6-pin power connectors are plugged in.
I'm guessing you mean the latest version of the catalyst drivers, and yeah I have them, but I'm fairly sure it isn't a driver issue, because I've had the problem since about version 8.8.
Don't really have another computer I could try it in.

 

[wa1]

If u already tried the older version then i would say your card is broke.
Still on warranty? U can get a replacement...
But still, the only way i think to test whether the card is broke or not is try on another computer...