Hard Drive a Cause for Graphical Corruption?

[Volume]

After getting an RMA on my gfx card and a whole new computer (except for hard drives), I've still been getting artifacts in games. Not really artifacts (like your classic "blocks" appearing on the screen), but geometry stretched across game maps.

So... I ran ATITool artifact test and no artifacts popped up. I even ran it at the same time as Prime95 - no artifacts for an hour.

But in games the artifacts are terrible right as I begin playing.

I figure a game is waaaaay more HD dependent than a tiny artifact testing tool, so the data the HD was feeding to the gfx card must have been corrupt.

Another reason I suspect the HD to be the culprit - it died last night. After about 3 months of heavy artifacting and occasional Windows corruptions. Before it died, it corrupted Windows to the point that it wouldn't boot. If replacing all my computer components didn't fix it, fine. New Raptor on its way. If that doesn't work, then I'll be dumbfounded. I'll just give up to be honest.

BTW it was a Maxtor Diamondback Plus9 that crapped out, not the Raptor in my updated sig.

Discuss, please.

[kjm2003]

Well, never heard of a HD causing any artifacts in games, in my life. Maybe potencial lag and/or freezing, but not artifacts. When you replaced your video card with the RMA one, did you also re-install the driver. And its also could be some currupt windows files that was doing something, since its sounds like the drive was dieing. But for the actul drive causing the issue, i highly doubt it. Well, at least in my exsperiance.

-Kyle


EDIT: Did that drive have your sys files on it???

[TeamStrykerCore]

I would say a fresh format of windows would have fixed the problem.

[Volume]

I thought people on this forum would assume obvious things like that would have been already done. :p

But yes... new drivers, new windows install, everything.

The only thing not changed or replaced was the hard drive, therefore logic seems to be pointing to the hard drive being the issue.

Sure, you may have never heard of it. But doesn't it sound right?

ATI Tool: how much does that depend on a hard drive?

Games: textures are stored on the hard drive. no new games out there actually run off a cd (in which case theyd go through the hard drive anyway). textures are relatively large files compared to older games. ones with properties such as bump mapping, etc. (excuse any incorrect terminology, you get the point).

the type of artifacts i have gotten included ones from texture planes going across levels, to textures turning strange colors (in dod:source i had wood textures going very bright, almost white, and i had other textures stained red or green).

windows corrupting once in a while, as game graphics did as well? id say there is a connection, even if i hadnt read on some forum about it happening to someone else.

[Volume]

EDIT: Did that drive have your sys files on it???
That drive had my OS and installed games/apps.

It was a boot drive.