HD 7970 Artifacting

[tonspike]

So I've encountered a strange issue...

My Diamond HD 7970 begins to artifact while overclocked in 3DMark Vantage/11, but then this artifacting carries over into other games. If I DO NOT run 3DMark tests, and run at the same oc'ed clock speeds, the same games no longer artifact (Skyrim, Half-Life 2, etc.). The artifacting ONLY occurs after I attempt either one of the two 3DMark benchmarks.

Even more strange, Battlefield 3 seems immune to this issue. Regardless of whether I run the benchmark(s) or not, BF3 never artifacts at the oc'ed speeds.

My temps are fine and totally within reason (I know another user had a Diamond card that ran hot). The only way to get rid of the artifacting from the affected games is to reboot.

On a final note, I've noticed that while loading the 3DMark test(s) a small black bar flashes at the bottom of the screen; this is always indicative of impending artifacts.

I am running the drivers from AMD's website.

 

[Sufu]

That's so weird...If you do not OC do you still artifact? And what if you lower your OC a bit or say run Furmark on this OC?

 

[tonspike]

That's so weird...If you do not OC do you still artifact? And what if you lower your OC a bit or say run Furmark on this OC?

If I don't oc then I do not artifact, but if I oc, run the test (thus causing artifacts), and then set everything back to stock clocks, it still artifacts until I reboot.

I just tried running Furmark, and it hit about 77c after ~5 minutes with the voltage up a tad. It crashed out around this point... Should you be able to run Furmark indefinitely on stable clocks? Or will it always eventually reach the point of crashing?

EDIT:

So I eased the throttle on the overclock, I'm running 1100/1525 now, and after 15 minutes of Furmark didn't see a single artifact or experience a crash. The artifacting seems isolated to the 3DMark tests, but why the hell does it carry over to other random games?

 

[Cube]

RMA it, they are new chips the first batches almost always have crap chips that still some how magicly pass and get sold.

3d mark is made to push the chips to limits so just because one game don't have it then the game is not maxing the chip/ I dont even think battlefield 3 will do waht 3d mark does to push the chips.

IT depends on what parts of the chips the game is using, if the game uses more parts of the chip that is semi defective you will get errors on the screen. if it don't use that then you will never see it and it will look fine. example the Tesslation section of the chip is bad game uses tessalation you see the errors when it heats up.

or it could be errors but I just exhange GPu when I see that since It has fixed it before and I did nothing to the drivers just popped the new GPU I RMA under warrenty worked fine the issues go away most of the time its not drivers and who wants to be stuck with a GPU that is broken.

or bad heat sink contact you can fix it your self or be lazy and RMA it and have them fix it.

 

[Appa]

YEAH! Curse that card for running fine at the speeds it was sold to operate at. Gotta RMA it, it's crap. Won't overclock to speeds it was never intended to operate at so it must be garbage.

Really, wtf is happening to this place?!

 

[Falkentyne]

No one is even reading the other threads, I see.
Use MSI Afterburner, beta 11, and se what it says the default voltage is for your card. If it's 1.112v or 1.050v, then you have a lower VID Card, and you will need to raise the voltage back up to 1.175v, if you want to reach max CCC speeds. The lower VID cards will artifact or crash at max CCC Speeds if you don't raise the default voltages, but should overclock higher than higher Vid cards, when both are set to the same volts.

 

[xoleras]

I get this quite a bit too on MSI lightning GTX 580, you're not applying enough load voltage to the GPU. Increased voltage should resolve the problem, I overclock my 580s to 950 gpu clock and I get dots all over the screen UNLESS i add +100mV in msi afterburner.

First - Powertune does not increase load voltage. Second - download MSI afterburner 2.2 beta 11 and install it. Run with -xcl parameter. Increase voltage by roughly 50mV to 100mV. Be aware that you will likely have to use manual fan 50% or higher to get stable
speeds, because the VRM will get warmer. Do not use auto fan!

I'm nearly 99% sure this will fix your issue.

 

[Forceman]

Or maybe just stop running Furmark, since that seems to be the only thing you are having problems with.

 

[DooKey]

If you are getting artifacts only when you overclock and you dedide to RMA you are fucking things up for everyone. Suck it up and live with your card if it runs fine at stock. Idiots.

 

[doz]

I returned my Asus 7970. It was artifacting but at stock clocks. Also would goto a red snow screen every once in awhile while gaming and the only fix was to restart. Not sure what the deal was with it I even uninstalled all OC'ing software just to be sure there wasnt some conflict.

 

[tonspike]

Lmao @ all the people in the thread getting upset over overclocking. I'm not complaining about my card not being able to overclock to X speeds, I was simply trying to understand an issue I thought strange, as I have never encountered anything similar before and hoped for some insight.

Oh, by the way, this is [H]ard|OCP as in OVERCLOCKING. These are the kinds of things we talk about, so what's the problem?

 

[Porter_]

Even more strange, Battlefield 3 seems immune to this issue. Regardless of whether I run the benchmark(s) or not, BF3 never artifacts at the oc'ed speeds.

BF3 is a demanding game but i haven't found it very useful in testing for artifacts. i can run BF3 all day long at 1200 MHz core with no artifacts but as soon as i load up Crysis 2 and ATItool i get them. those too programs expose artifacts the quickest for me.

 

[haste]

dirt 3 has been a good test for me. artifacts show up within a couple minutes if i have bad o/c. some weird artifacts, grey straight lines running across the screen. similar to what another poster has described in BF3 from the planes nose.

 

[FrgMstr]

Well, my words were pointed specifically at Cube. Not the OP.

 

[Falkentyne]

BF3 is a demanding game but i haven't found it very useful in testing for artifacts. i can run BF3 all day long at 1200 MHz core with no artifacts but as soon as i load up Crysis 2 and ATItool i get them. those too programs expose artifacts the quickest for me.

The best way to test for artifacts in BF3 is to grab a jet and fly in chase cam mode. Ground pounding doesn't seem to work as well since there's less geometry visible.

 

[Porter_]

The best way to test for artifacts in BF3 is to grab a jet and fly in chase cam mode. Ground pounding doesn't seem to work as well since there's less geometry visible.

 

[KaptainKhaos]

Use any Crysis game, tend to be very sensitive to overclocks that are to high/not enough voltage. Crysis/2 will crap out really quickly with poor overclock. When pushing my 7970 to high in MW3 i noticed characters just floating in the air was pretty funny. RMA ing cards just because they won't overclock really high is sad, man up and buy another one.

 

[P4rD0nM3]

Lmao @ all the people in the thread getting upset over overclocking. I'm not complaining about my card not being able to overclock to X speeds, I was simply trying to understand an issue I thought strange, as I have never encountered anything similar before and hoped for some insight.

Oh, by the way, this is [H]ard|OCP as in OVERCLOCKING. These are the kinds of things we talk about, so what's the problem?

No one's getting upset about you overclocking.

But some people suggest to fucking RMA a card because it doesn't overclock well. WTF? People nowadays RMA their fucking hardware if it doesn't perform well up to their 'expectations'.

If it works fine on stock speeds, don't RMA it. If that specific card doesn't overclock well, then tough luck. Buy a new one and sell the other one...BUT DON'T RMA it.

 

[kidsafe]

No one is even reading the other threads, I see.
Use MSI Afterburner, beta 11, and se what it says the default voltage is for your card. If it's 1.112v or 1.050v, then you have a lower VID Card, and you will need to raise the voltage back up to 1.175v, if you want to reach max CCC speeds. The lower VID cards will artifact or crash at max CCC Speeds if you don't raise the default voltages, but should overclock higher than higher Vid cards, when both are set to the same volts.

Just giving another anectdote, but my HD 7970 is OC'd top 1125MHz just fine on 1.112V.

 

[fausto412]

So I've encountered a strange issue...

My Diamond HD 7970 begins to artifact while overclocked in 3DMark Vantage/11, but then this artifacting carries over into other games. If I DO NOT run 3DMark tests, and run at the same oc'ed clock speeds, the same games no longer artifact (Skyrim, Half-Life 2, etc.). The artifacting ONLY occurs after I attempt either one of the two 3DMark benchmarks.

Even more strange, Battlefield 3 seems immune to this issue. Regardless of whether I run the benchmark(s) or not, BF3 never artifacts at the oc'ed speeds.

My temps are fine and totally within reason (I know another user had a Diamond card that ran hot). The only way to get rid of the artifacting from the affected games is to reboot.

On a final note, I've noticed that while loading the 3DMark test(s) a small black bar flashes at the bottom of the screen; this is always indicative of impending artifacts.

I am running the drivers from AMD's website.

furmark isn't supported.
set your powertune to +20. Don't run furmark. It forces the GPU to do something 99.9 of software does not do. It's a torture test but no game will do that.

nothing wrong with that card. the problem it's the user here. Overclocking isn't guaranteed. You want guarrantees that you will overclock so high...spend the extra dollars for a factory OC card.

OP is just ridiculous here.

 

[kinjo]

No one is even reading the other threads, I see.
Use MSI Afterburner, beta 11, and se what it says the default voltage is for your card. If it's 1.112v or 1.050v, then you have a lower VID Card, and you will need to raise the voltage back up to 1.175v, if you want to reach max CCC speeds. The lower VID cards will artifact or crash at max CCC Speeds if you don't raise the default voltages, but should overclock higher than higher Vid cards, when both are set to the same volts.

Exactly What fallen tyke said check your default volts I have seen 4 different 7970's so far my two ( which I sadly had to sell and my cousins two) and between the 4 there were 3 different stock vids 1.17 1.05 and 1.112 one of the 1.112's could do 1125 but the 1.050 absolutely could not and as fars as I can tell no one with a 1.050 cards has been able to hit 1125; But thats not a bad thing thing 1.050's are still great they will hit 1125 if you give them 1.17 volts so theres no reason to rma if you have one.

 

[Porter_]

Exactly What fallen tyke said check your default volts I have seen 4 different 7970's so far my two ( which I sadly had to sell and my cousins two) and between the 4 there were 3 different stock vids 1.17 1.05 and 1.112 one of the 1.112's could do 1125 but the 1.050 absolutely could not and as fars as I can tell no one with a 1.050 cards has been able to hit 1125; But thats not a bad thing thing 1.050's are still great they will hit 1125 if you give them 1.17 volts so theres no reason to rma if you have one.

yep that's true with my 1.05V card. i couldn't hit 1125 MHz without giving it a little juice. i don't need 1.175V though, 1.1V is all i need to get to 1150 MHz. small increments in voltage go a long way with these cards.

 

[tonspike]

furmark isn't supported.
set your powertune to +20. Don't run furmark. It forces the GPU to do something 99.9 of software does not do. It's a torture test but no game will do that.

nothing wrong with that card. the problem it's the user here. Overclocking isn't guaranteed. You want guarrantees that you will overclock so high...spend the extra dollars for a factory OC card.

OP is just ridiculous here.

Let me repeat myself:

I'm not complaining about my card not being able to overclock to X speeds, I was simply trying to understand an issue I thought strange, as I have never encountered anything similar before and hoped for some insight.

I was unfamiliar with Furmark up until that point so forgive my ignorance in that regard. I touched my voltage up a tad, and throttled back on the oc and it seems to have stabilized.

The only thing is that my supposed voltage increase (from within Afterburner) is not reflected in any other software. It shows up as the stock 1.175. What gives?

 

[EPOQ]

XFX Black Edition here (non DD) -- 1125/1575 at 1.17V. Maxed the sliders and +20 in CCC, unlocked voltage to 1.17V in afterburner. Heaven runs perfect, BF3, Skyrim, no crashes. I don't LIKE Furmark because it's MEANT to crash the damn thing. If it plays fine for extended periods in a game, the card is fine, leave it alone. That's how I feel.

 

[Dan_D]

If your card runs fine at stock speeds, it's fine. Furmark and 3D Mark causing artifacting where games may not indicates an unstable overclock. I don't know why this is hard to understand. It shouldn't be RMA'ed as it works as advertised. You need to back down your OC settings until you don't get artifacts anymore. Thats kind of how overclocking works. You take your clocks to a certain level, then find out what works and settle on that. Overclocking is largely luck of the draw. Sometimes you get a good card, CPU, etc. Othertimes you get one that runs at stock speeds and does little else.

 

[tonspike]

XFX Black Edition here (non DD) -- 1125/1575 at 1.17V. Maxed the sliders and +20 in CCC, unlocked voltage to 1.17V in afterburner. Heaven runs perfect, BF3, Skyrim, no crashes. I don't LIKE Furmark because it's MEANT to crash the damn thing. If it plays fine for extended periods in a game, the card is fine, leave it alone. That's how I feel.

That's the sentiment I've settled on. If my games run fine, but the synthetic tests show problems, I don't really care, as long as everything else is within reason.

 

[haste]

i only use furmark because it usually shows me errors very quickly and it allows me to understand the limits of my overclock faster. furmark errors usually translate into game issues for me.