Black Screen, PC Still Responding

[HotGore]

Ok I have a strange problem and have been struggling with it for awhile. When I go to play certain games at some point the screen will just go black, I can still hear the game, the game will still respond. It is as if the video card stopped out puting to my monitor. After a little my monitor will go into sleep mode. Sometimes it will recover and everything will work, sometimes I have to alt tab, or CTRL ALT DEL, other I have to reboot. Now if I shut down properly, when I reboot everything works fine, but if I do a hard reboot I wont get any video, even at post. I have to start up with my monitor unplug, then restart again with my video plugged in. Overclocked or not it still happens.

I have heard people blame drivers, Vista, and even Core 2 Duo's. So I am seeking any solution. If anyone can offer a solution please do so. If anyone is experiencing similar problems then write your specs down and any relevant info.

My specs are:
Asus P5K
Gigabyte 8800 GTX-With squeaking capacitor.
2gb OCZ Platinum
e6600 @3.6ghz
Corsair 620HX
Win Vista Ultimate

Tried Driver releases from 159.xx on. Using the 163.75. This has happened between two Windows reinstalls.

Some apps that are affected:

Bioshock
ATI Tool fuzzy block
Ghost Recon 2
UT3
Lost Planet
Sometimes sitting at desktop with Areo

[Kurz]

I hear a RMA coming...

[Bootup05]

The squeaking cap on your GTX is not a problem, loads of people have it.

What are your card temps btw?

[HotGore]

The squeaking cap on your GTX is not a problem, loads of people have it.

What are your card temps btw?

Temps are 47 idle and can climb up to a high of 52 load.

[Max0r]

Most likely either a vidcard or mobo problem. Might be something with the motherboard's power to the slot the vidcard is in. But if I were in your shoes, I'd RMA the that vidcard for another one. I bet you that'll do it. If it doesn't, it's probably the mobo.

This is assuming all the supplemental extra power and stuff is connected properly.

There's a chance it's PSU related as well. I don't see any reason not to swap out the card for a fresh one.

Background:
I once damaged an abit 478 board by shorting it off with a screwdriver by accident once near the AGP slot. Some time afterward, I found that certain higher end AGP cards either wouldn't work with that board at all, or they would do the same thing you're experiencing when playing a 3D game for a while, and then never work again. In that case it wasn't the cards themselves, but the combination of a damaged motherboard and a power hungry card (only certain brands though).

[HotGore]

Hmm interesting. I have dumped a lot of water all over this board. Also could it be the south bridge over heating too?

I don't really wanna RMA this board anyways since I am so lazy, but maybe I could finally send back my dead 680i.