8600GT Crashing Issues

[Aleatoire]

My friend has been having some issues with his 8600GT.
Every time he starts to play a 3D game it the computer, not just the game crashes. I think it might be a cooling issue as it reaches temperatures of 94C which seems really hot, but when you put your hand up to fan the temperature seems fairly cool.
There have been compatibility issues with the card before and it had to be underclocked but the crashing has only just started happening. There are also streaky lines down the screen.
Any ideas as to why it keeps screwing up?

The setup:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 @ Stock
2GB A-Data 800mhz RAM
160GB Seagate HDD
Acer EG31M Motherboard
330w FSP Group Inc. Power supply
Albertron 8600GT 256MB Graphics

EDIT: Even in minor 3D applications like the 3D cube thing in the program ATI Tool the temperature gets into the 80's and goes up extremely fast. Like from 60C-85C in a few seconds.

 

[Aleatoire]

Seems we have resolved the issue. Pretty sure it was just heat related because we cleaned out the dust and used a house fan for extra cooling and all seems well now.

 

[Aleatoire]

Seems we were wrong. Same crash happened again with temperatures around 70 degrees celsius.
Just some extra info. When it crashes everything freezes up and the picture goes all funny and broken up and a repetition of sound comes out of the speakers. There is no blue screen and you have to manually turn it of at the power supply to get it to stop. After restart it works fine again until we start playing another game.

 

[sabot00]

The cards dying.

 

[Aleatoire]

Yeah, thats what we figured. Just hoping there was some other explanation.

 

[sabot00]

There could be, but that seems the most obvious/likely.
You can swap the card to another computer & see if it works, that would rule out card dying.

The good side is the 8600GT 256MB is cheap as a nickel, even when it just released.

 

[Aleatoire]

Yeah. He is getting a new PC soon so it should be OK. Thanks for the help.