Graphics lockups in WoW with GTX 280?

[Hreidmar]

For the past two weeks, I've been experiencing frequent and infuriating lockups while playing WoW. During routine running around, the screen will flash with a tiled pattern of some random graphic (about 1" square or so), with a different pattern about 1" square where the mouse was. This locks up Vista 64, and my only option is to do a hard reset. Whatever sound was playing keeps looping sometimes, other times stops.

I'm trying to determine what could be wrong. My specs are:
Vista 64, GTX 280, E8400, Corsair 750W PS, 6GB DDR2. No overclocking at all - WoW is pretty much the only game I play so no need to push it. I never experience any lockups or issues outside of WoW, and it has been pretty stable up until a few weeks ago.

Initially, I was inclined to blame it on a bug introduced in latest WoW patch, but someone on their forums suggested my graphics card was going bad or my PS was not up to task. I downloaded SpeedFan and temps are 50-53* at idle, rising to 60-64* when running game (at 2560x1600 res).

I did notice that the voltage on the SpeedFan app was listed as a very steady 11.40 on the 12V line - is this within spec? Any suggestions on what to try?

Any playable demos you can recommend that would let me know if my card is going or not? I tried downloading Mini Ninja's but the installer barfed with a DirectX 9.0 error (damn Vista!).

[3.0charlie]

Your card may be about to let go. Run 3Dmark06 in loop, to see if the same patterns are back.

[Hreidmar]

Thanks! I downloaded 3dmark06 and it fails with a similar pattern on the 2nd test (Firefly Forest or something like that). I guess my card is going. It's an EVGA, but looking at my warranty information I suspect I'm SOL since I don't think I ever registered it.

[Gellidius]

you're having the same problem with your GTX 280 as i've had twice already. I send the card back and they give me a new one.
My problem arose when folding.

When my card runs in 2D mode, it's ok, but not when running full steam.