What causes this to happen?!

[Naysayer]

Wrap a blanket around your tower before he gets home and rev that baby up until you smell the sweet sweet silicon dripping inside. Tell him you're going to split time with him on his pc until you can pay for a new one by yourself. He'll buy you another within a week.

[Khemikal]

I would assume it is a heat issue as well. I would check the fan speed of your video card. If you find it running at 50-60%, why not bump it up to 80+? If it solves the problem, it will save you money on a new card. If it is too loud for when you aren't playing, turn it back down when you get done with a gaming session. Freeware program cost < new video card cost

[Fursphere]

Could be overheating.

[Nitro]

My case has 4 fans on it.. 2 up front blowing on the motherboard and video card. An 8in fan on top and a fan in the rear. The side panel is left off as this computer runs very warm.. That is not including the fan thats on the motherboard, video card and side panel (thats off).

It is very important to make sure you have proper airflow through the case. Sometimes people will install fans in bad directions (all blowing into the case) and they just end up cancelling each other out and your box overheats. In some situations taking the side off of the case does not help much at all either. Take a moment to think about how the air is getting into your case and out and what path that entails.

[Toonarmy]

I'll buck the trend here.

I had the same issue a few years back with an nVidia card (8600m I think...but don't quote me).

It turned out to be a driver issue (i.e. hadn't bothered installing the latest greatest)

[Allestaria]

Its not a driver issue. That I've kept up with. Last update was 11/26/09. Double checked that one.

I did have a fan that was out of the 6 that are in my computer. Rear exit fan. Replaced it and installed a new Vcool van below the video card.
Turned all fans from medium to high. Can feel the air flow and its loud now. But I can deal with that.

The fan flow is facing the proper way. 3 leading in 4 leading out. I've never had a temp problem until now. And it started with this video card.

After doing some more reading on this card. It turns out to be the one hubby and I tried to avoid buying. The 8800gtx just rewraped with a minor upgrade..
Oh well I'll wait till next year and buy me a good card.