I'm running SUSE 9.3 and I like the YAST tool alot. I don't like that fact that If I go browsing the web for short period of time like looking at hotmail the screen gets scrmbled like the graphics is overheating but when I log out it looks fine. I log back in and it's back to normal. If there is no fix for this I will have to switch.

I run Battlefield 2 on the Windows partition overclocked with no problems. it has never reached 50 C.

I may have to try debian.

Very strange, indeed! Maybe it's not a heat issue on your video card. What kind of video card are you using? Nvidia? ATI? Did you install the drivers yourself, or did you let SUSE do it? I found out that the default Nvidia driver installation doesn't quite work out correctly.

Does the scrambling happen when you're browsing? Or, does it happen after a certain amount of time?

Just when I'm browsing. I can be looking at files on my network for hours or reading an pdf and I have no problem. I have a Nvidia 6600 GT. I believe that they are nvidia drivers that got updated(or downgraded) though YAST, but don't quote me on that. When I look at the properties the graphics don't have 3d enabled so they may be suse drivers.

P.S is Mandriva really amazing?

I've had Luck with Fedora to I was going to try FC4.

Did you get your Nvidia drivers through YaST? if so, that is out of date. Go to www.nvidia.com and manually download it. Should be version 77.77, I believe.

Also, can you post the monitor section of your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file? Open it using Kwrite or OpenOffice. Find the monitor/video card section and copy/paste here. Just want to make sure you are pulling the right Nvidia drivers.

And yes, Mandriva is also good. Just as good as SUSE. I use Mandriva on my desktop and SUSE on my laptop. Both are great!

PS - stay away from debian if you're new to Linux!

I had the same problem, its with all the nvidia 6 series cards. the default nv driver doesnt work too well with the 6 series cards. after installing the nvidia drivers from their site and enabling them with sax2 it runs just fine. As far as mandriva... well its not as good as suse in my opinion, its no where near as easy to configure as Suse's yast and most of the software that it comes bundled with sucks. But Im sure you'll find many mandriva users that will same about SuSE. You gotta just try them and see. And yeah I second the notion to stay away from debian. If you think its hard to find an RPM, trying to find a Deb package is like trying to find sugar in a sandbox. and I dont care what anyone says that "alien" comand is not full proof.