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Artifacts recently showing up

C

covertash

Gawd
2FA
Joined
Apr 24, 2006
Messages
991
Hey everyone.

Recently, in the past 2 weeks, I've been getting artifacts creeping up on me. They're basically black bands that jut out just about anywhere off anything. So far they've appeared in both Counter Strike and Call of Duty 2 as those have been the most prominent ones. Here are some screenshots in Counter Strike: Source:

http://img178.imageshack.us/my.php?image=458d82baii1.jpg

http://img72.imageshack.us/my.php?image=458d84deqz5.jpg

http://img72.imageshack.us/my.php?image=458d87a7qs7.jpg

At first I thought my video card was failing as I had tried ruling out any driver issues by first uninstalling and reinstalling various Catalyst and Omega driver revisions. I even formatted and started from scratch twice and I still got those same artifacts. So thinking that heat may also be what's causing this I also tried running with the side panel off. No difference there either. I came across a post on a different forum about how overclocking the CPU may cause artifacts. Thinking I had nothing to lose at this point I reverted my CPU settings back to default and fired up Counter Strike again. To my amazement, I didn't get those artifacts anymore! :eek:

I'm now in sort of a quandary here. Although I still haven't completely ruled out the video card, I now am faced with a new possibility too. The fact that artifacts are not showing up when my CPU is at stock speeds leads me to believe it could be a power supply issue. As you can see from my sig, my whole rig is powered by an OCZ 520W Modstream power supply. Using an online calculator to calculate my power usage, I thought it would have been enough, but this might not be the case.

So I ask you guys for all the help I can get! Is it still my video card (X1800XT) that is at fault, or is it possibly power supply related? Or both? Or could it be something else entirely? Unfortunately, I don't have extra hardware lying around that I can swap out to test but I can possibly scrounge up some money to buy parts for testing if truly need be.

Keep in mind, this has only started to happen in the past couple of weeks, so at least one piece of hardware is starting to head south. Also, everything except the CPU was at stock settings.

Any help you guys can give is extremely appreciated!
 
Hey bud, Merry Christmas and sorry for your issues. I feel bad for you as I know things like that make me very sad as well.

I have a couple things to throw in here. To start, temps and drivers don't seem to be an issue since you uninstalled/reinstalled drivers, formatted as well as removed the side panel of your case. Just out of curiosity however, what are your idle and load temps on the video card and cpu? Have you tried cranking up the fan speed on your video card?

As well, you mentioned downclocking your cpu helped to eliminate these artifacts. Wondering, did you downclock your cpu via a multiplier or by lowering your FSB? I ask this for a simple reason that believe it or not some Infenion ram chips based on CE-5/CE-6 cause these issues when clocked too high. I see you have Ocz Platinum based chips but you didn't mention which ones. I know the PC4000 based chips have video card style artifacts if clocked too high, It has happened to me with very similar black streaks, flashing etc until I lowered my FSB below a certain threshold. This usually starts anywhere above 250fsb but it may be happening earlier on yours especially if you have lower binned chips. Keep this in mind.

If you truly feel ram isn't the issue then it very well could be the power supply having a hard time under load which is evident when the cpu is clocked higher as it draw more amperage as well as more wattage from the PSU running everything at full load.

I would crank the fan up on your video card, It will be very loud but for testing purposes do this with your cpu and ram clocked back up and see how you make out.

If that fails and still exhibits artifacts try and lower your fsb a bit, but not too much. Maybe 5mhz at a time until you don't see the artifacts anymore.

If both of those aren't to your satisfaction you may want to look into a new psu. A nice Silverstone Zeus will do wonders for a system like yours. I have a Powerstream 600w and though it has done me well for 2 years now I am really looking into a 750w Zeus myself due to other problems my system has been showing that I think may be PSU based.

Please do let us know how you make out, I hope this helps as I wouldn't want your holidays ruined by hassles with your system.

ONE MORE THING, you said the artifacts didn't come back when you downclocked your cpu, did you give it enough time to see if the artifacts really don't show up or did you do a quick test? The artifacts may still be evident, it just may take a little longer for them to show up. You never mentioned how long it usually takes for the artifacts to be visible to keep a rough timeline on how long it takes for them to show up with each change you make to your system. Good luck!
 
^Good tips... but if none of that works I think the memory may be fuxxor'd on your x1800xt due to heat, which may be irreversible. I doubt that your power supply is the issue 520w is plenty for your setup.
 
Wow! Thank you so much for your response! :eek: Ok to answer your questions:

- I use ATI Tray Tools to monitor temps and to adjust the fan speed on the video card. The idle temp hovers around the low 50's (usually 52C) and since I started using my fan speed scheme I've never seen it go past 70C on load.

- My CPU, when overclocked, is around 32 - 34C idle and 48C load after intense gaming. And 50C at load during Prime 95.

- When I downclocked my CPU it was through the FSB - going from 300MHz down to the default 200MHz. The multiplier is still at 9X. The RAM, OCZ Platinum PC3200, was on a 133MHz divider. I will try running Memtest, but I have a feeling the RAM is ok as I haven't run into any other stability issues.

- Normally the artifacts take anywhere from 2 - 5 minutes to show up in games. Since downclocking, I played Counter Strike for over half an hour and had no artifacts come up. I will try again at stock and at higher clock speeds and see what happens.

- One other thing I've tried is taking off the stock heatsink and remounting it while adding a fresh layer of Arctic Silver 5. I've also taken a can of air and blown out the dust that is lodged inside. So far, I've done this twice and the second time I've even applied a layer of AS5 on the memory chips as well in hopes that *maybe* I can improve the contact between the memory and the thermal pads on the heatsink. Still, no luck.

The reason why I questioned my power supply is that it only has 28A on the 12V rail and having an X1800XT, 2 hard drives, 2 DVD burners, and 3 case fans (as well as 2 UV lights not mentioned in my sig) in my system might be a bit strenuous. Especially with my overclocked CPU. Plus, this didn't happen immediately when I was testing my overclock. It was a gradual thing that became very apparent only in the last couple of weeks. I've had this system since the end of August, and it has been overclocked since mid-September. It's just strange that through all my stability testing and gaming these past few months that only now these issues started creeping up.

I am seriously considering on getting a Corsair 620HX power supply just to be done with it - and for future usage as I plan on moving onto DX10 cards over the summer anyway.

I also have requested an RMA with Newegg for the video card (this was before I posted here), but I fear the worst as Newegg's RMA policy is that if they don't have the item in stock they will offer a comparable replacement or refund my money at market value price. This doesn't sound too good as there are no longer any X1800XT 256MB versions available and surely the price would have since plummeted with all the newer cards out now. Unless I'm interpreting the policy wrong. It would be awesome if I could get an X19xx series card! :D

Anyways I really appreciate the time for your responses as I know it's Christmas Day and you could be doing other things. So I whole heartedly thank you both and wish you have a very happy holiday season! :cool:
 
Your very welcome on the responses. Believe me, I LOVE to help all I can as it is very saddening to have your PC act up on you. I literally think about nothing but my PC when its acting up like yours is so I can relate.

I am glad you did things like reapplying thermal paste, reseating the heatsink on the card as well as blowing out all dust. That is something I failed to mention.

Now, going from 300fsb down to 200fsb may be a bit extreme. Why not go from 300 down to 280, 260 etc until you no longer see the artifacts. You may be able to put your system higher than 200fsb while still maintaining a clean gaming experience. Your PSU may not be the issue that is true, however if you have the coin and want something of better quality for the future than getting another PSU may be something to look forward to. I just don't want you disappointed if the issue returns even after a new PSU. The other poster was right, it could be damaged ram on the card due to stress/heat or just a weak card at birth however if you keep the card at the same clocks/temps, I can't see how it would work fine if you downclock your cpu which is a completely different part of your system.

I have to ask as well, do you have the latest bios on your board flashed? Perhaps you can fool in there with some settings if you know what you are doing? What is your PCIE voltage set at? What is the frequency your PCIE port is running at?

Lastly, did you try and flash the PE bios to that card at all?

Let us know how you make out with selecting a higher FSB and the answers to my questions above. If I think of anything else I will surely let you know.
 
Just to add my experiences, exactly the same issues started coming up with my card (X1800XT 256 MB) after I installed and started playing NWN 2. I'm also using an Opteron 165 @2.6.

My card has been overclocked, but going back to stock speeds on the X1800XT does not seem to help. After looking at the temps, the card goes into the high 80's with an Accelero X2, which seems a bit odd.

Will get back to you after a bit more testing.
 
Thanks again for everyone's help.

To answer your questions cantankerous:

- I tried playing Counter Strike again shortly after I made my second post at stock settings. Sure enough, the artifacts came back within minutes of playing! :mad: So it seems no matter what settings I use, I still get the artifacts. I have since moved up to 270MHz on the FSB and the problems still persist.

- I have never flashed the BIOS to the card. Everything ran at stock settings since I was afraid of heat issues as the card ran hot as it was. I was also afraid since I wasn't sure if the PE BIOS was meant solely for the 512MB version of the X1800XT cards or not.

- I don't know what the voltages are on my PCIe bus as my motherboard doesn't report that. (Or at least, I don't know where to look, lol.) But when overclocking, I always ran in Async mode, leaving the PCIe bus at 100MHz.

So from the deductions above, I went ahead and just sent the card back in today for an RMA through Newegg. I reinstalled an old Radeon 9800 Pro (thank goodness my motherboard supports AGP cards! :cool: ) and have had no problems whatsoever. I'm still interested in the Corsair power supply for a future DX10 upgrade, but for now I'll hold out until I get my replacement card. Here's hoping that I can at least get something similar back, if not something a bit newer. :D

As to vlad_Swe, all I can say is good luck to you and hopefully it's just a simple heat issue. Let us know how things turn out for you.

Thank you so much again to everyone for your contributions! Happy holidays! :)
 
let us know how you make out when your new card comes back. I bet my arse it will be fine, however if not look into another psu asap.
 
A quick update:

I received my X1800XT back from Newegg. It seems that it is either a refurbished card or the same card I originally had that got repaired. Whatever the case, it looks like things are looking good again and that's all I really ask for anyways. I just hope that this card does not start to crap out again any time soon - at least not until it's time for my DX10 upgrade, which I'm shooting to do this summer. :D

I just want to say thanks again for everyone's help, especially you, cantankerous! Let the gaming resume once again! :cool:
 
Congrats! Seeing any kind of artifact on screen is scary and unnerving. Reading threads like these makes me happy to be part of the [H] forums :D
 
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