Artifacts in HL2

[Ourumov]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v423/gonk/d1_canals_030000.jpg

Getting this sort of artifact in HL2, system is (with no OC anywhere):

Athlon XP 2800+ 333 FSB
PowerColor Radeon 9700 (non-pro)
512 MB Corsair XMS 3200 (clocked at 2700 because it was glitchy when not synch with FSB)
ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe

Catalyst 4.9
Latest official nforce drivers (forget the number)

Basically it starts to artifact after I play for any length of time. Those sorts of artifacts appear all over, and I get what I can best describe as "stretchy" polygons. Part or all of some objects appear to "stick" to a single point on the screen and when I turn my view they stretch. I've encountered the exact same issue in Morrowind, but not in any other games. I'm suspicious that my motherboard is bad as its the only component that has changed at all recently and I've had other issues of stability, etc (its being replaced at xmas). When it started cropping up in Morrowind I fiddled with all the video settings and AGP settings I could think of, but nothing seemed to have any effect. If anyone could give me any ideas or explanations it would be appreciated.

 

[ardenj]

Even though your not overclocking, it still may be a heat issue. Do you know what kind of temps your getting?

 

[Brent_Justice]

Tried the latest Cat 4.12 betas which are recommended for HL2? http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4701.html

 

[Ourumov]

I don't have any way of checking the temp exactly, but the card should be adequately cooled. I have 4 80 mm case fans, and I've checked to make sure the fan is functioning on the card as well. I did notice in PowerStrip that the memory is at 270 MHz but the core is at 276.75.. I'm curious if that could be the problem.

As for the drivers I won't have a chance to try them until tomorrow. I'm not that confident that they'll work since the exact same issue that happens in Morrowind wasn't fixed by a driver upgrade.