6970 with AXPII Cooler getting random artifacts

[Dmac122383]

I recently installed an Arctic Xccelro Pro II on my XFX 6970 videocard and getting random artifacts. They look like the polygons dont end and like the lines stretch out and looks like its is smeared. (I'm at work atm so when I get home I will post some screenshots)

I took my time and installed the heatsink/cooler correctly. All my temps are very low(GPU, VRAM, etc)

The only time I get these weird artifacts are with playing Battlefield 3. But it seems like if I restart the game a few times they go away. I've played several other games with no issues whatsoever such as Skyrim, Batman, L4D2, Payday;The Heist, and a few others. I've also ran Furmark and MSI Kombuster on several different tests/settings and no issues whatsoever with those utilities.

I wanted to rule out my overclock being the issue so I put the clocks back to factory settings and also un installed drivers and reinstalled drivers. I've tried 11.12, 12.1 preview, and also older 11.10 and 11.9 drivers.

 

[Dmac122383]

I really need some help with this issue.

I'm getting more and more artifacs with different programs now. Its very weird, most games run fine with no issues or artifacts. But if I run furmark now at 1080p resolution or MSI Kombuster I get artifacs. Lower resolutions are fine.

Diablo 3 beta, dungeon defenders, and bf3 all have artifacs but several other games are fine like skyrim, gta4, l4d2, payday the heist, borderlands, and batman games.

Temps are no problem on the card, idles temps are 30-40degrees C and load temps are 55-70 degrees C. I pulled off the main heatsink to check the ram/vrm heatsinks and those all look good and I didnt get the thermal paste/adhesive all over.

I really dont know what I could of did to cause these problems as the install of the aftermarket heatsink went good and I also double checked my work. I also double checked that I plugged in both both cords (6pin & 8pin).

PS i have the card at factory clock settings and running amd catalsyt 11.12 drivers. I also tried several different driver packs.