Failing Graphics Card?

I have a 6 month old Radeon HD 6800 series and every now and then I would get the "Display driver stopped responding and has recovered" then last night my screen had those artifacts everywhere and would constantly pop up with that error message, when I turned off my computer and turned it back on there were screen artifacts everywhere and it would eventually go to a black screen and then restart or go to the blue screen of death. Are these signs of a failing graphics card or is it something else?