Macbook Pro 2008 Graphics issue. HELP?

Question

I have the 2008 Macbook Pro, 2.6Ghz intel core 2 duo, and have recently encountered the graphics issue which was very common in this machine. My mac is nowhere near dead though, it still runs most of the time from 10 mins (worst case) to a few days- before it freezes and glitches and dies. Most of the time it lasts around 1-2hr. I took it to the apple store and they said it would need a new logic board costing over £300- no thanks. Recently, I have been using SMCFanControl and ramped up the fans to around 5000rpm from 2000 rpm. I havent had any troubles for over a day. Will this carry on- as long as I dont let it over heat- is there any other fixes or advice. Thanks. Please reply!

Answer 1

I couldn't say what is causing the problem. You have graphics, so I assume the GPU is working. If it is hot, then perhaps you need to stop doing whatever causes that such as gaming. You might also check the CPU:
Pre-Mavericks
Open Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder.  Select All Processes from the Processes dropdown menu.  Click twice on the CPU% column header to display in descending order.  If you find a process using a large amount of CPU time (>=70,) then select the process and click on the Quit icon in the toolbar.  Click on the Force Quit button to kill the process.  See if that helps.  Be sure to note the name of the runaway process so you can track down the cause of the problem.
Mavericks and later
Open Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder.  Select All Processes from the View menu.  Click on the CPU tab in the toolbar. Click twice on the CPU% column header to display in descending order.  If you find a process using a large amount of CPU time (>=70,) then select the process and click on the Quit icon in the toolbar.  Click on the Force Quit button to kill the process.  See if that helps.  Be sure to note the name of the runaway process so you can track down the cause of the problem.