Those pixelations seems to be like artefacts, which are generally caused by overclocking the card too much or overheating. Since you can't RMA it, I would recommend checking the card as Render said; as long as you're careful it can't hurt. Make sure the fan is working as well, I've had a card burn itself out because the fan (sleeve bearing
) eventually clogged itself up with dust and stopped working.
You should also get an utility to monitor the card's temperature and fan speeds; most modern cards are equipped with temperature diodes. I use ATITool for this purpose, which should still work on your nVidia card. Perhaps someone else who has a nVidia card knows of a better utility.
What BIOS did you flash your card with? Can you please explain further on why you couldn't overclock?
Jam it back in, in the dark.
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spikeh