2 Unique problems

[TravisR]

Hi there
I registered on these forums because I have 2 very unique problems related to Valve games on Steam and my graphics card
The first problem is with my graphics card, and that it, for unknown reasons, stops responding and restarts often while im playing a Valve game like Team Fortress 2
The problem is very like what I found here:
Display driver keeps crashing on the computer and receive error - Microsoft Community

The second problem I have is inside Valve games like TF2 or DoD:S (mainly those 2) and I find that my chat display either sometimes bugs out, or completely doesnt show at all (DoD:S)
But the chat function itself does work, as other players respond to my chat, its just I cant see chat at all on that game
I have tried the simple options like reinstalling and validating files, so its a problem deeper than that

Here are my computer specs, i apologize since if i havnt given enough detail since i havnt seeked tech help much recently

Processor: AMD Phenom x4 965 processor 3.40GHz
RAM 4GB
64 bit operating system

If you need anything else, im subscribed to the thread so dont hesitate to reply
Thanks

 

[TravisR]

My browser mustve derped and deleted the graphics card info

Here it is
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260

 

[PP Mguire]

Have you tried monitoring temps to make sure it isn't getting too hot?

 

[TravisR]

Well im really not an expert on technical equipment but i did dust out the interior a while back, so its not dust buildup, and the parts are all considerably spaced out
Thing is this crash happens primarily on TF2 and WoW, TF2 being not so graphics heavy than say, Black Ops 2, CSGO, or any of the newer games with these revolutionary graphics, so its got me thinking its something linked to the game

 

[PP Mguire]

Well if you haven't taken the card apart to clean the actual heatsink off and repaste it during its lifetime, it'll need to be done regardless to keep temps down. Easy way to find out, use MSI Afterburner and Kombuster to load your card and monitor the temps.

Make sure all drivers are updated, and when you play close out of ALL background tasks.