Yeah... It's me....

I've gone through about 5 GPUs in this machine in the last 6 months and the current is having driver problems. When I boot into Windows Desktop everything is fine until I run a program, the screen flicks on and off, the desktop tries to correct itself and eventually it BSODs. Booting into Safe Mode works (I'm writing this in it ) but it Event Viewer says nvlddmkm.sys is causing the problems which is related to my Nvidia 98000 GT. I've tried updating to the current drivers but that hasn't helped.

For more info on the dead GPUs see here:

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/p/19355103/19784409.aspx

Have you swapped out your power supply at all? It's entirely possible in my opinion that the power supply could be providing poor-quality power on the GPU header, and thus frying your cards. It would seem unlikely to me that all five of the GPUs have been faulty while the rest of your machine is fine. Have you tried any other operating systems? I seem to recall that you have a particular lackadaisical attitude towards malware, too, which could be part of the problem.

WE REQUIRE ADDITIONAL WATTAGE.

Hmm, that's actually a possibility too. Are you sure that your power supply is sufficiently powerful to handle the graphics card you're using on top of everything else?

I haven't changed any component since I bought the machine from Dell, so yes, it should have enough power. No, I haven't swapped it for another PSU, I don't have another one and you can't find any here (meaning expensive shipping costs probably...)

"particular lackadaisical attitude towards malware" What's this suppose to mean?

Perhaps I'm confusing you with someone else that didn't have good antivirus/antispyware protection on his computer. At any rate, Dell typically ships their machines with power supplies just barely powerful enough to support the components you have, with little or no leeway for more power-hungry components. Have all the four replacement GPUs you've used been the same model as the original, then?

Perhaps you've confused him with Dshiznit?

That's entirely possible. I find TOB players DShiznit, Dontar, and Lucas W. to all behave similarly within certain parameters. Back on-topic, same GPU?

Yep, all been NVIDIA 9800 GT

Hmm, fair enough. It's stil extremely possible that your PSU is pumping noisy power to the GPU; I suspect some kind of hardware problem like that rather than a software problem.

Power supplies generally aren't that expensive in my experience. Not only can you get a good one for around $50, but the power supply is pretty much the only component of your computer that's almost guaranteed to still be compatible with every future computer you own, as there's only two configurations, and most of the new ones support both.

An excellent point. My only concern would be him spending that money if another piece of hardware is the actual culprit.

A $50 PSU is not "a good one."

I got a 500 watt one with both IDE and Sata connections, and universal 20-24 pin connector for $50. I'm sure there are better ones, but as far as I know, short of the cray2, no computer needs more than 500 watts of power.

Who needs that much power? Seriously?

You've never built a gaming rig. My two friends who have built their own gaming rigs have a 1kW and 1.4kW PSU. Dual 9800 GTX, and Dual Radeon 4890's, respectively (and Core i7, cooling, multiple terabyte+ HDs, 4GB of RAM, etc).

My GPU seems to be working atm, no driver problems. I'm sure If I try to run a game it will crash but. Maybe the PSU is supplying power but not *enough*?

Absolutely, this could definitely be the case if those are your symptoms. I'd ask if the fan on your GPU isn't spinning for some reason, hence overheating, but I doubt you would have had five defective fans.

It could be overheating, I haven't cleaned my computers fans since the day I got it, I don't even know how to get them out to clean them....