Okay, so i am finally (after 5 years) a UCSB graduate with a degree in ethics and public policy. I am back home and so i am back online. HOORAY.
Things that have happened to me in the past months ive been out of the loop.
- Bought dog.
- Went on cruise.
- Graduated.
- Moved home to OC.
- Maintained Unemployment Status.
WOW WHAT A QUARTER!

okay so here's the new problem.
My buddy built a comp a while back and got over it after a mobo mishap and because he is going to law school decided to go for a lap top anyways. So he sold all of his almost-new shit and i scored a nVidia Geforce 7900 GS pcie for 150 bucks. but now i am getting a shit load of BSODs when i play WOW or when i do stuff with video. (starting a new file while one is running usually gives me a bsod.) I have seen that there is quite a bit of people with this problem and i was wondering if there were any known fixes any of you may have come across.

Imma test it with my other games right now and let you know if i still get the problem.

another question. is it a good idea to keep my box open if im trying to lower my vid card temps? i have seen a lot of ppl talking bout how overheating may be the culprit and when i open my box i get a drop of 4-5 degrees. i know boxes are designed to better circulate while closed but it seems that having it open is dropping it considerably. whatcha think?

GO GAUCHOS!

(sorry if this should go in the tech support section)

I've run my box wide open for years. In some cases it's cooler, in others it isn't. It depends a lot on your fan layout. With a good fan layout a closed box is always going to be cooler. If you think heat is the cause I'd recommend checking out that all your fans are working. My 6600GT lost a fan and I had the exact same situation as you describe. Other things: Have you tried using a driver cleaner and then reinstalling the drivers?
Are you running Vista?
Does the BSOD only happen while gaming?
Did you change anything else about your system around the same time? (e.g. new RAM?).

This is a good general rule, but in a lot of situations it shouldn't be followed. If your box doesn't have proper fan placement it can still be better to run it open, or if it's very full and airflow is obstructed.

Something else I forgot to mention previously - is the video card overclocked and/or overvolted?

Sounds like a heating issue.

or a few other things..

did you handle the vid card at all? you could have transferred some static to the card, and it wrecked it. the static could have cuased perm damage or it may eventually run out....

65c is around 150f, which isn't really that hot for a video card I don't think. I might be wrong about that though, I'm more familiar with CPUs.

Re: Static - I have never seen this actually happen and I have handled hardware in really shitty ways. I'm sure it happens, but in my experience modern equipment is a lot more robust than you would think.

Have you examined the board for any physical damage? I would go over it with a magnifying glass, look for any scratches to the board or any loose/bent capacitors.

As far as cooling goes, check out NewEgg.com - chances are you will find an aftermarket HSF you can put on there. If you have a small desk fan of some sort you can probably point that at the card to cool it pretty well in the meantime. Underclocking it works too. When my 6600GT fan died I underclocked it, undervolted it, and pointed a desk fan at it - I got about 2/3 my normal FPS and it still eventually overheated but I could get a good hour or three worth of gaming out of it like this depending on ambient room temp.

prob solved. XD