RMA this 7970?

[grandpatzer]

I played Saints Row 3 fine but I had a session 1h20min and once I get to the trojan wores episode once I get up to roof to kill snipers I get artifacts.

I had small OC 999/1375 so I put back to 925/1375 so stock and still same episode on roof sniper I get artifacts?!

Should I RMA or is it the game, seems like the artifacts comes only in Sniper roof moment.

Here you see agressive artifacs

 

[belmicah]

Try other games with default settings. If artifacts, then RMA

 

[wadec22]

Try other games with default settings. If artifacts, then RMA

yup. could try a couple demos too, maybe leo and heaven.

 

[Drangueos]

If you overclock and get artifacts and after that you lower the clock... sometimes you still get the artifacts...
You need to restart the computer to "fix" that

 

[Falkentyne]

Restarting isnt necessary. Just go into S3 sleep and wake up.
Basically, something on the card crashes, and when that happens, lowering the clocks won't fix it. The card's power has to be reset (S3 is enough for that).

 

[XFXSupport]

If it only happens in that one game, in that one spot I wouldn't guess its a bad card sounds more like software.

Definitely try some other games and stress tests on the unit to get a better idea of whats going on, if there is a hardware fault you should be able to get artifacts in more than 1 game/application.

 

[grandpatzer]

If it is the card that is faulty this is difficult to RMA because not always artifacts?

 

[Falkentyne]

If it only happens in that one game, in that one spot I wouldn't guess its a bad card sounds more like software.

Definitely try some other games and stress tests on the unit to get a better idea of whats going on, if there is a hardware fault you should be able to get artifacts in more than 1 game/application.

If it does it at only 900~ mhz, then the card is defective and needs to be RMA'd. This is NOT a driver bug.

I've seen this EXACT pattern of triangles in 3dmark vantage, but this ONLY occurs if I overclock too high and start getting artifacts in other games, especially Battlefield 3. Usually starts at around 1175 @ 1.21v, if the temps aren't kept down enough in BF3, and will NEVER happen at my max stable clocks of 1150/1700@1.175v. BF3 never shows this type of massive triangle artifact pattern (the most you may see are long black lines extending from the edges of plane wings or from the tip of your gun if you've exceeded the limits of the card), although one thing which will always cause this, is if the video driver restarts as soon as you try to join a BF3 server.

3dmark Vantage (3dmark 11 shows this too) is the best way to determine if something crashed on the card. Entering S3 sleep and exiting will reset the card and fix it.

I'm not sure exactly WHAT is crashing on the card...gpu, shaders, or whatever, but when it does happen, changing clocks won't fix it. That's how I know this is not driver related in the least.

What I've found out about these cards is this:
If the GPU voltage is too low, the card will just black screen and VPU recover, without even showing artifacts, even at low temps (60C).
If the GPU voltage is high, but the card is running past its limits, you risk getting artifacts, although not a VPU recovery. The best way to determine your cards' effective limits is to run GPUTOOL's artifact tester. If your card is at its limits, you will start seeing artifacts once you pass a certain temperature, and higher voltage will NOT prevent this anymore--only lowering the temps will prevent it.

Please allow him to RMA the card.

@OP: Can you run GPUtool and see if you get artifacts?

 

[eclypse]

Cant believe no one asked but do you know how hot your card is when that happends? Like did you adjust the fan to keep quiet and its cooking at like 80-90C with the fan at 30-40RPM?

 

[grandpatzer]

I did the same test exact same Computer but now with a Sapphire 7950 3GB.

I was worried as played the sniper sequence without artifact, then once I put AF and AA to maximum at eyefinity resolution I finally got those same artifacts.
I used GPU-z so dont know the VRM temp on 7950 but core is MAX 71c.

It is exact same artifacts as on youtube video I posted, but ALOT LESS also it took alot longer for them to start, also I had to put the game all to maximum setting eyefinity

 

[Falkentyne]

Then I guess I stand corrected.
Can you run 3dmark vantage after you see those artifacts, and see if you also get them there? (if you get the screen literally blocked with flickering gray triangles, then you know the card needs to be reset through S3 sleep).