Video Problem

[Theo]

Please, help me!
In most games, like Guild Wars and Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption, there is a bug within my computer that I think it may be due to my video card or something. This hasn't happened before.
Well, it is very difficult to describe the problem as I am not English and I wasn't able to capture it as a picture or video, because whenever I recorded, the problem itself didn't show up! I only managed to catch only one picture.

Anyway, these red/pink things you see on the grass/road are the problem. Wherever I go, the first 20 seconds seem fine, nothing happens, but then, gradually, these things increase and increase. Every second they appear in different spots until they become so much that I am unable to see what I am playing and it is also very bad for my eyes and I cannot see anything. I wasn't able to record it because they stop when I record and appear again when I stop to record. Same thing for pictures, only on this one have they appeared. The same thing is for Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption land battles. The first 20 seconds are OK and then these pink/red circles appear everywhere. Is there a way to fix this? Please help me!

[[BTF]Defiant!]

One Idea..

Could it be your video card overheating?

Open your computer and clean out any lint, dust, carpet material.

Be sure your computer fans are working.

Be sure your computer is in a well ventilated spot.  Don't put it inside a desk or where the fan holes are up against a wall.

You can try directing an external fan at your computer.

[[BTF]Sigma]

To add to Def's fan idea...make sure you have a clear path of air through your PC. I found that by adding two fans...one front, one rear... I got a great flow that went across my VCard and out one of my HD bays.
What video card do you own?

[PANTONE 7717C]

To see if it could be heat related, try this: - in the games, turn down the video quality (low resolution, fx, etc.) to make the games less demanding on the vid card. This way the card has to work less hard and will probably stay a bit cooler.
Also, try to Google for "video card artifacts".

[[BTF]adam]

I had this same problem recently in World of Warcraft, my card would begin artifacting slowly then become unplayable. I would eventually get shutdowns and complete freeze-ups.

Things to try:

1) Reseat your graphics card and power pin (if it has one).

2) Take off the heatsink and remove the dust from on the heatsink and underneath if any has built up.

if that fails, (like it did with me), i'm afraid the only option is to buy a new graphics card :/ but a card that plays stuff like guild wars and wow and basically mid-graphics intense games are very cheap now, I got a 6800 GS for £28 brand new, and it's been perfect for over a week so far!

[Theo]

Could it be your video card overheating?

That's most likely the causation of the problem.

What video card do you own?

NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT (128 MB)

Be sure your computer fans are working.

They are. The computer is as noisy as an... aeroplane!

To see if it could be heat related, try this: - in the games, turn down the video quality (low resolution, fx, etc.) to make the games less demanding on the vid card. This way the card has to work less hard and will probably stay a bit cooler.

I'll try this. If it doesn't help, I'll clean out the dust out of the PC and especially, the video card. I'll make sure I report once I try it.

Thanks for your answers, I'll consult these things and try them. Meanwhile, you could give new ideas if I won't fix it.

[Theo]

Thanks a lot, guys! Switching 'Texture Quality' from Medium to Low fixed the problem! No more stains!
I'll still remove the gas and dust from the video card right, just in case, because it has been there for three years and hasn't been cleaned for that long.