Computer shutting down because video card? Any way to repair?

Last night, after being on computer for about half an hour it randomly shut off by itself. I opened the case and cleaned all the dust out, turned it back on accordingly, and after being on another 30 minutes or it shut down again. Sometimes I noticed the fan on the processor stopped spinning so I figured that was the problem, I made sure no wires were touching the fan. But it kept shutting down and at quicker intervals each time, to the point that it would instantly shut off after being turned on.



Anyways long story short, I took to the shop, and the guy said that when he took out my video card and put his in that it had been running an hour flawlessly. So he assumed its my graphics card. I have pretty expensive graphics card, or it use to be at least. The EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS Video Card, Now I am wondering what I should do. I bought that graphics card in 2007. Should I invest in a new graphics card(kind of short on cash) or can my old one possibly be repaired by the manufacturer?|||Without seeing the PC or knowing what temperatures the CPU and video card are running at, my two guesses are overheating (caused by a clogged heatsink) or a failing power supply (they do degrade over a period of years).



Replacing your video card would definitely work, if only because a lower powered video card is in it's place. If you don't have a reliable power supply of at least 550W from one of the better firms (Antec, Corsair, OCZ, Seasonic, etc) I'd look to replace that first.



EDIT:



Those are all decent quality components, and your power supply is adequately sized for the 8800 GTS. I would install RealTemp http://www.techpowerup.com/realtemp/ to monitor core and GPU temperatures and see if overheating is the issue. If that doesn't pinpoint the problem, I would remove the graphics card and RAM modules, make sure the contacts are clean and reinsert to ensure good contact (sometimes they wobble loose under thermal cycling).



" it kept shutting down and at quicker intervals each time" could be a heat issue - as whatever is overheating doesn't get much chance to cool down when you do a quick power cycle. You might also try a stress test on the CPU ( http://downloads.guru3d.com/IntelBurnTes… ) or the GPU ( http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/ ) to see if you can isolate the problem. It very well could be the graphic card failing, as your tech said, but I haven't seen any proof of that diagnosis yet.|||There is no reason that I can think of that your graphics card should effect your CPU fan. I think your shop guy is trying to sell you an extra component. Still, things act in odd ways. I would start off by determining if you also have on board graphics and, if so, just going with that for a day and seeing if it fixes your problem. If so, perhaps you do need a new card, or, if the card is passivly cooled, to put a fan on it.