How do you know when a video card is about to die?

I have an nvidia video card. My last one lasted about a year before it stopped working. This one I have had a little over a year and now started to see lines at the top of my screen. I haven't changed anything recently...How do you know when a video card is about to die?
I suggest downloading the latest drivers for the card. Make sure the fan on the card isn't full of dust and that you don't have a PCI card directly under it obstructing airflow to its fan.

A video card should last for years. If you're going thru one every year make sure you have an adequate power supply, especially if you upgraded from onboard graphics to a card because if you don't your video card(as well as the other devices) will not be running at 100% efficiency which could result in what you're seeing on your display and the video card, as well as other components, may fail. Also make sure your case fans are working and arent dusted up too. If your display does this as soon as you start your puter up it would probably be drivers or underpowered power supply. If it starts happening after machine has been on for a while look for overheating issues. You may want to try your monitor on another puter too to make sure it isn't the device that's ailing and be sure your connections are tight. There are progs that you can monitor the temp of your card and adjust the speed of the fan on it. you may have it on your machine or you can get something like Riva tuner to do it with.How do you know when a video card is about to die?
Video cards shouldn't just go out like that. You may need to have your PC looked at for cooling problems. Your system internals may not be cooled properly, causing failures.
Normally they don't die it is more likely your monitor cable. It may have been bent so that he internal wires are now broken. If you still think you need a new card, you might want to look at this site:



http://www.gamegiants.net/index.php?cPat
The card will likely die all at once, so the lines you're seeing on your screen is probably NOT due to the card.



Take out the card and clean the edge connectors, as well as the socket on the motherboard, with either an air blast, or contact cleaner, both are readily available at your computer store or Radio Shack.



Try and re-install your graphics driver and see if that clears up the problem.



As the previous poster suggested, you may then want to check the integrity of your physical connections - the connector, the cable, and even your monitor.



Change out the video cable ( you can borrow one from a friend for a few hours ). Then try changing monitors.



If all that fails to solve the problem, then you may have to try installing a new card.
They are called 'Dead Pixel Lines' I had the same problem a long time ago. The problem is with your monitor. It needs to be replaced!