Odd Artifacts During Simple Desktop Use

[Eluder79]

I've got an Asus DCU2 7970 Top edition and I've noticed some strange artifacts while simply browsing this forum, or fumbling with MSI's AB and even Asus' GPU Tweak.

Basically when I'm reading a thread, where each message is separated by the red border, sometimes I'll notice a pixel (artifact) bouncing around only in the red border. This is even at stock clocks. Same happens when I'm using AB, I'll see an artifact for a split second, and again, only in the red areas (I'm using the red theme for AB). Finally, I see the same with Asus' GPU Tweak which is also using a red theme.

Do I have a defective card, or is it something else? It just seems so weird that it only (seems) occurs on red coloured graphics. I don't notice any artifacts in Heaven or 3dmark11 when stress testing my OC.

Just want to see if I need to return the card before it's too late.

Thanks.

 

[Syndicated_Death]

a few quick questions. does it happen at all resolutions, and do you have another monitor or video cable to test with?

 

[Eluder79]

I haven't tried any other resolutions to be honest, and yes, I do have another monitor and DVI cable to try out.

 

[Syndicated_Death]

I have had similar issues for a few years now with my monitor. but my issue is green pixels across my screen. I think it's due to noise in the DVI cable. but I figured to be on the safe side and rule out your card give the alternate monitor/dvi a shot. if it is dvi cable related I would suggest you isolate it from your power cords as that seems to be what triggers my issue.

 

[NotJay]

it really sounds like you have bad card with all the error you get from bench and this ;/

 

[Eluder79]

It's a brand new monitor and cable, but I guess it could have issues, my first monitor did.

Maybe it is a bad card, but I don't have any issues at stock with games it seems.
It's just when I try to push the core past 1125MHz.

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

I had artifacting (blue "snow" and flashing blue lines) at stock speeds on my Gigabyte 7970 OC card.

I RMA's it, and got myself a Sapphire stock card instead, and I'm having the same issues with it...

Now I'm not sure what to do. RMA it again, or are they all like this over DVI?

Here is some video of my artifacting:

Sample 01.

Sample 02.

I know it's not my monitors, as they were fine on my 6970's and previous video cards as well as from my laptop...

I'm at a loss here...

It doesn't look like anything that could be caused by driver issues...

 

[Eluder79]

Mine definitely doesn't have those issues.
Mine are simple sparkles on certains parts of webpages, like this red border above this message.

If you're having it with both cards, I would think it's something else in your setup. Maybe a bum cable or something. Since you have the Dell U3011, why not try the Display Port connection instead?
I'm going to try that after I try my old monitor tomorrow.

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

Mine definitely doesn't have those issues.
Mine are simple sparkles on certains parts of webpages, like this red border above this message.

If you're having it with both cards, I would think it's something else in your setup. Maybe a bum cable or something. Since you have the Dell U3011, why not try the Display Port connection instead?
I'm going to try that after I try my old monitor tomorrow.

I have three monitors, one center and two side. The DP always works well. The DVI outputs are what are messed up.

The problem did not occur with my two 6970's right before replacing them with a 7970.

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

Is it normal for these things to idle at 56C with everything (including fan settings) at stock?

Seems awfully hot.

 

[tunatime]

if it works fine in games have you tried raising the 2d volts somet?

 

[NotJay]

Is it normal for these things to idle at 56C with everything (including fan settings) at stock?

Seems awfully hot.

if you have multiple monitor and have shitty airflow yes
mine idle @ 46~50c depending on room temp with 2 monitors
yes i do have shitty airflow in my d650

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

if you have multiple monitor and have shitty airflow yes
mine idle @ 46~50c depending on room temp with 2 monitors
yes i do have shitty airflow in my d650

My case has pretty awesome airflow, but the idle fan speed is only 24% which may explain it.

Running on 3 monitors here.

This is much hotter than my old 6970's, but they were DCII models. I just don't have much experience with stock designs, I usually buy the ones with the beefier heatsinks.

I plan on ripping this heatsink off and replacing it though, for maximum OC. I'm thinking a Corsair H80, and some ram/VRM sinks should do a nice job

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

Interesting.

I have noticed that my artifacting happens on the HDMI and DVI ports only, regardless of what monitor I use.

It starts on EVERY cold boot, and gets progressively worse. If I leave it long enough, the DVI signal goes "out of range" and the image disappears all together. But if I turn the artifacting monitor off and on again, it goes away, and stays away until the computer is rebooted.

It's really quite strange. Since it affected both my Gigabyte board and now my Sapphire board, I'm hoping it is a driver issue (though I have never seen a driver issue do this before) and not a hardware problem with the design...

 

[Eluder79]

Maybe you need to enable the alternate DVI mode in the CCC?

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

Maybe you need to enable the alternate DVI mode in the CCC?

Hmm.

Not familiar with this setting.

It's already checked on both of my side monitors.

Maybe I should uncheck it and see if that does the trick next time I reboot.

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

Hmm.

Not familiar with this setting.

It's already checked on both of my side monitors.

Maybe I should uncheck it and see if that does the trick next time I reboot.

Well, I can confirm that it doesn't make a difference if alternate DVI mode is on or off.

 

[Melon]

Interesting.

I have noticed that my artifacting happens on the HDMI and DVI ports only, regardless of what monitor I use.

It starts on EVERY cold boot, and gets progressively worse. If I leave it long enough, the DVI signal goes "out of range" and the image disappears all together. But if I turn the artifacting monitor off and on again, it goes away, and stays away until the computer is rebooted.

It's really quite strange. Since it affected both my Gigabyte board and now my Sapphire board, I'm hoping it is a driver issue (though I have never seen a driver issue do this before) and not a hardware problem with the design...

So are you going to change your whiny Newegg review to reflect this?

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

So are you going to change your whiny Newegg review to reflect this?

Whiny?

If something doesn't work and doesn't work perfectly it deserves to be bashed, especially when you are spending this kind of money.

 

[TehQuick]

Could be a simple matter of a loose connector - I saw green artifacts on the screen and retightening dvi plug fixed it (I've been moving my monitor a bit)

 

[Melon]

Whiny?

If something doesn't work and doesn't work perfectly it deserves to be bashed, especially when you are spending this kind of money.

Considering you whined incessantly about Gigabyte when it's clearly not a specific manufacturer's problem, then yes, your review is considered as being "whiny".

People like you are the reason I take Newegg reviews with a grain of salt.

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

Could be a simple matter of a loose connector - I saw green artifacts on the screen and retightening dvi plug fixed it (I've been moving my monitor a bit)

I can't speak for the OP, but that's not the case for me. I swapped out entire DVI cables while troubleshooting without success

 

[TehQuick]

I can't speak for the OP, but that's not the case for me. I swapped out entire DVI cables while troubleshooting without success

Like I said - "could be". Sorry didn't work for you

 

[NotJay]

Considering you whined incessantly about Gigabyte when it's clearly not a specific manufacturer's problem, then yes, your review is considered as being "whiny".

People like you are the reason I take Newegg reviews with a grain of salt.

you should take all of those user reviews without proper test done and result to back it up with a grain of salt
why did you have to point that out in first place anyways
have you had bad experience in the past because you read into user review?

 

[Melon]

you should take all of those user reviews without proper test done and result to back it up with a grain of salt
why did you have to point that out in first place anyways
have you had bad experience in the past because you read into user review?

No, I was just bringing his flawed review to light.

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

Considering you whined incessantly about Gigabyte when it's clearly not a specific manufacturer's problem, then yes, your review is considered as being "whiny".

People like you are the reason I take Newegg reviews with a grain of salt.

Meh,

I'll check if I can edit it (not sure how that works)

Clearly in this case its not a Gigabyte only flaw (though that doesn't necessarily mean I'm trusting Gigabyte going forward either, as I have had more than a few issues with their products)

Every now and then I decide to give them another try, and I just wind up being disappointed again. I guess this time it wasn't their fault.

 

[Eluder79]

So, I tried the card on my old (1920x1200) monitor with a different DVI cable and didn't see the issue.
So I swapped the cable for my U2711 and it seems as though the issue is gone.
I'll give it a couple of days, but could just be a bum cable for the artifacting desktop issue.

 

[MajorMullet]

I have an issue where I get a random horizontal flash across the screen while scrolling in websites. It's happened here a few times - seems to be random, but I can't figure out what's causing it.

I have a new 7950 and a new Samsung 27" 120hz display, so it's hard to tell if it's the display or the card. I never had this issue with my old monitor and GTX 570.

 

[Paragon]

Take a screenshot. If it show in the screenshot, that should tell you it is the videocard. If not, then it is past the card (cable or monitor)