My 5850 flashes black pixels when enabling AA

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maximus87

Weaksauce
Joined
Apr 4, 2009
Messages
127
Pixels or artifacts, whatever you want to call them. It looks like a bunch of dead pixels blinking around the screen at random. At first I thought it was all games, but I've narrowed it down. It only happens when AA is enabled, and only in DX9 games. Here's a list of games I've tested thus far:

Dawn of War 2:
AA = Artifacts
NO AA = No Artifacts

Company of Heroes:
DX10 AA = No Artifacts
DX10 NO AA = No Artifacts
DX9 AA = Artifacts
DX9 NO AA = No Artifacts

Team Fortress 2:
AA = Artifacts
No AA = No Artifacts

Left 4 Dead 2:
AA = Artifacts
No AA = No Artifacts

Call of Duty 4:
AA = Artifacts
No AA = No Artifacts

Borderlands:
This game doesn't have AA so therefore no artifacts

It's an odd problem to have, and a disappointing one at that. I was really hoping I could finally get a video card that just worked out of the box as it should, but it looks like I'm going to have to fight with this one too.

Any suggestions besides RMAing this thing. I've already contacted XFX, but was hoping maybe there is some magic cure, that or maybe someone who has had a similar problem can chime in so I don't feel so alone. :(
 
I have a similar problem on the 5870, expect it's white dots, and only seems to happen in L4D2 with 4xAA enabled. Supersample AA is fine and so is 2xAA. My only guess is that the memory is bad and the error correction isn't working in certain situations, causing the artifacts to show up. Going to RMA the card after I get my 5970.

I presume you've tried reinstalling drivers?
 
I installed the 9.11 Cats on a fresh install of Windows 7, so no I didn't feel like it needed anything. And yeah, I've seen the white dots too, its like a combination of black, gray, and white. I wonder if it's pulling the colors from the menus or games, I'm not sure...
 
The pixel artifacts are due to memory problems.

AA actually uses up a fair bit of video memory which might be pushing some of the games which already have a high texture budget in to using a part of the video memory which is defective?

That'd be my guess, either way it doesn't appear to be a common problem from what I can see(?) I'd shoot for an RMA but make sure to note down the specific circumstances under which this occurs.

Does anyone know of a testing app which will fill the whole vMem completely and stress the GPU?
 
XFX replied back saying that it is a software issue, and likely would pass their hardware diagnostics. I don't know whether or not to believe them, what you wrote Frosty sounds more believable then what they had to say. I've been told to wait for 9.12 betas to fix the problem. Not sure how I feel about this.
 
OP did you disable catalyst AI in the drivers?

That function is known to cause graphics artifacts in some games. I had stuff disappear and reappear on me while I move around in Force Unleashed, but other games were fine. Sometimes I'd also see shimmering and/or white dots.
 
Yeah, I did. I tried turning it to advanced and disabled it, didn't make it any worse or better. :(

I think I'm going to try the beta 5 drivers or whatever and see if there is any difference. It's been awhile since I've installed ATi drivers, should I uninstall/reinstall, or just install right over the top of the 9.11s? I remember using Driver Sweeper and all that junk, but I've heard you don't really need to do that anymore.
 
havent see any dots problem yet, beside Crysis, but it was later fixed in 9.11 drivers..

my guess is you probably really have a defective card there.
 
maximus87 said:
Yeah, I did. I tried turning it to advanced and disabled it, didn't make it any worse or better. :(

I think I'm going to try the beta 5 drivers or whatever and see if there is any difference. It's been awhile since I've installed ATi drivers, should I uninstall/reinstall, or just install right over the top of the 9.11s? I remember using Driver Sweeper and all that junk, but I've heard you don't really need to do that anymore.
Click to expand...

Yeah the new ATI driver manager is quite nice. Don't know what OS you're using but it should be the same throughout.

That sucks you're getting the black dots. I'd try some betas out and then if it's the same thing, I'd RMA it. I agree that AA does use up more memory, and this behavior could be an indicator of defective RAM chips on your card.

Try one more thing. Try downclocking your card. I mean, there's no reason for you to artifact at stock, but if you find there are no artifacts at lower speeds, before messin' with the drivers, then you know you have a defective card. The downclocking method doesn't always work though as an indicator, but it's a good hint and whether you got a piece of silicon that wasn't up to spec.
 
Well I installed that driver, and no difference. So I opened up Overdrive and underclocked the card to the maximum it would allow me (550/900) and tried and still no difference. Sad. :(
 
I think I'm getting the run around by XFX support.

Is there anything I can do software side? They basically told me to wait for 9.12s but even then made it sound like it was my problem.

I'm open to any options, I'm considering reinstalling Windows Vista for shits and giggles just to see if I can replicated the problem on another OS.
 
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