Videocard issues - system incompatibility?

[rincewind]

I'm having several issues with my main rig under both XP and Vista, which I'll try and sum up :

Main rig:
Corsair TX650
Asus P5Q-Pro (tried several BIOS, currently using Ket's latest modified version)
Q6600 G0
2x2GB Corsair DDR2-800

Let me state from the start that everything is running stock (actually seem to be getting more problems than I did when overclocked). The system passes Memtest86, Prime95(4 threads, all tests), Furmark, 3D'06 and Vantage, including when overclocked to 8x437.
All testing carried out with a single 22" display hooked up, though I usually use 2 monitors.


Screen corruption in 2D - in Vista I sometimes get what appear to be OC artifacts such as empty black triangles. Opening nV control panel often triggers this, although it's pretty random otherwise.

Unigine Tropics (all renderers) and nV demos (Froggy, Adrienne, plus cascades on Vista) either refuse to run or crash within a short timespan. Curiously, I have no artifacts or crashing within the games I have tested (GRID, Crysis, Oblivion, Quake4, UT3, Bioshock)

No 2D throttling - have to use RivaTuner profiles although it won't downclock as far as I would like.

Random BSOD's, not often though
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I have tested with 177.92, 178.13, 178.24 and 180.43 drivers. The 177.92's seem the least problematic with regard to crashing, but as it's pretty random I can't really claim they are any better.

Both a GTS320 and GTX260 were tested and the problems are identical. I briefly had a 4870 which was flawless under XP but the driver kept hanging when attempting to play Crysis/Bioshock/GRID in Vista (ran Furmark, Vantage and RTHDRIBL just fine though). I had no random crashes in the 2-3 weeks of using the 4870. XP and Vista partitions were cleanly re-installed when I put in the 260, and Vista was re-installed several more times after that (once because I foolishly used DriverCleaner and it hosed the system, the rest following suggestions found on google).

Having tried both cards in my second rig (OCZ SleathXStream 600, IP35-Pro, 2x1Gb OCZ + 2x1Gb GeIL DDR2-800, E6400 @ 400x7) the XP problems just don't exist*. Well, aside from the 180.43's breaking Furmark and the GTS320 crashing during Unigine Tropics DX9 @ 1680x1050 (driver 175.19 actually ran it okay, but this set doesn't support the 260).

* 2D throttling still doesn't work with either card, tried BIOS flashes and ithe cards still just run in 3D mode ('Extra' on the 260) at all times. Power saving my arse - the 4870 did this fine and downclocked to 160/400 no problem.


I'm now installing Vista on the 2nd rig to see how it fares, but wondering if anyone has had a similar experience or can shed any light on the subject. I will also re-attach the stock 4870 cooler and see if it will game under Vista on the other comp. Since my main rig is watercooled and all the cables are tidied, tinkering around inside it is the very last thing I want to do!

I have heard people recommending using just a single stick of memory, but imo if that is necessary then the motherboard is a turd - the P35 board is running 4 sticks no problem! I tried it anyway...no dice

The PSU rails are solid according to software monitoring, and TBH it would be a real PITA to swap it out.

 

[evilsofa]

Both a GTS320 and GTX260 were tested and the problems are identical.

Then the problem isn't the video cards. You can't convince me that two vastly different cards can be bad in exactly the same odd way.

Have you tried using a different monitor? Have you tried using a different cable between the monitor and the computer?

Otherwise, I would chalk this one up to a bad motherboard.

 

[rincewind]

I know it isn't the cards, hence the title of the thead!!!
Turns out the Corsair sticks are the problem despite the fact they can pass memtest/orthos fine for hours at 874MHz. Put them into my second computer and it started acting up exactly the same. Tried upping voltages but no joy followed by no POST! As soon as either stick is present, the problems will occur. Why this only affects certain games and why the 4870 was seemingly unaffected by this in XP I don't know.

What I do know is that I'll never again assume that my memory is stable just because it passes Memtest/Orthos.

EDIT: The 2D throttling is a separate issue really, I just listed it because it pisses me off that this simply doesn't work on either card with every driver set I've tried.