How to check for defective video card?

[HarryPot]

I've had some animation and graphical glitches with my MBP (late 2011).

It really seems to be software related, but just now, while playing The Sims 3 and having it minimized, I noticed all the animations were about 2x worse than usual.

Now, animations such as Expose shouldn't require a lot of video memory, and a 6750M 512mb should be enough to run The Sims 3 and Expose right?

Is there an easy way to check if the graphic card is working correctly?

 

[miles01110]

Does your screen look normal in Finder? If so, it's probably working just fine. Graphics card problems are usually pretty obvious...

 

[HarryPot]

Yes. It looks good.

I think it is just me going nuts with this animation glitches. They make the whole Mac experience so bad.

 

[Mal]

Does your screen look normal in Finder? If so, it's probably working just fine. Graphics card problems are usually pretty obvious...

While usually true, it's not always the case.

OP, the only good test is either to keep using the computer, or take it to an Apple Store or AASP and ask them to test it out. They won't get a false positive generally, but there's no guarantee they'd get it to fail a test even if the graphics card is beginning to fail. Worth a try if you can spare the time.

jW

 

[HarryPot]

While usually true, it's not always the case.

OP, the only good test is either to keep using the computer, or take it to an Apple Store or AASP and ask them to test it out. They won't get a false positive generally, but there's no guarantee they'd get it to fail a test even if the graphics card is beginning to fail. Worth a try if you can spare the time.

jW

Will using the included Hardware Test with OS X be enough?

 

[borisiii]

If you start seeing anything like this, it may be a sign that your computer is on the way out...

 

[Mal]

Will using the included Hardware Test with OS X be enough?

No test is perfect. Running that and getting a failure is a good sign that it has failed, but the computer can pass that test and still have problems. I've seen it many times.

jW

 

[someotherguy81]

Maybe its not the video card.

My friend had a MacBook Pro and the whole right side of the screen was all fuzzy and distorted. I tried to print screen using command-shift-3.
After that, i zoomed out of the image and saw that it was fine. So it must have been a monitor problem. So my friend got a new monitor and its fine now.

Your could also be a monitor problem.