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What do discolored pixels indicate?

P

Prozac1964

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 1, 2010
Messages
309
Hi everyone I've just developed an issue with my video card, I think. I'm seeing green and pink pixelation in most of my games as well as my web browser.

What does that indicate.

This my card: ATI Radeon HD 4870

Thanks for any help.
 
Card is going to poop. Air dust the heat sink. If it is still happening see if you can put new thermal paste on it. Warranty is gone I'm guessing? Can you bake the card?
 
Is the graphics card overclocked ? Also, have you checked your temps recently ?
 
card is not overclocked. Come to think of it, everything has been going so well lately that I haven't checked my temps......
 
Check gpu temps and see if it needs a dust or if the heatsink is coming loose or the fan isnt working.
 
As suggested, firstly ensure the temperature is fine. Load up some games and monitor it.

If everything looks fine and you're still getting that artifact, it probably means something in the card is broken (ie. cracked solder or something that we can't see)

Just last week I fixed my uncle's PC with similar artifact, temps all look fine, turns out the card was developing some kind of problem and so had to be replaced.
 
Yep. Thanks everyone, I will check my temps ingame and get back to you. The software app I'm using is pretty cheesy, is there a good piece of freeware that is recommended for gpu temp checking/monitoring? Since I'm going to give the temps a good look I thought it might be a good idea to ask. :)
 
Try msi afterburner, if it'll work on your gpu. It has an osd, so you can see the information while you game.
 
It'll 90% be hardware issue, but just to be on the safe side do a clean driver sweep, uninstall everything, and then reinstall the drivers. If it persists, it may be time to retire the old card.
 
Well...here are the temp readings:

Just for kicks: my CPU - AMD 4100 - 60°F - 80°F at full gaming load

My GPU: Radeon HD 4870:

167°F - 170°F before gaming
167°F - 186°F with Skyrim loaded, and playing ---- Steam running ----- and this Temp app running (very thin program).

There you have it. Thx for your help.
 
Ack Farenheit. So you're looking at 76*C idle and 85*C loaded?

That's not terrible, but I forget what the normal operating temps for a 4870 are. You might try blowing it out and re-apply the thermal paste if you can.

I always recommend replacing the paste even on new cards. The first thing I do with a new card is test to make sure it works, the I rip it apart and re-do the paste. Warranty be damned!
 
Those temps look about right (tad bit high) for the 4870's. They were hot cards to begin with anyway.
 
Is it all the time, like even on desktop. Or only in games. And if only in games, is it constant, or its fine for awhile and then it starts to happen. You can try turning fan speed up and see if that helps, if it does then its a temp problem and try to clean out any dust and stuff. Otherwise its likely bad memory on GPU or some capacitor or some VRM is bad and memory is not getting good power. Basically its either hear or it's bad hardware.
 
In my games now, it is on all the time. For some reason a little worse in Unreal Tournament 2004, not as bad in Skyrim....I would have thought Skyrim. Also, I noticed it last night when I was watching a movie/divx file. Small white specs were sprinkling through the video, almost like rain falling...wierd I know.

I also saw it in Google Chrome here and there....but definitely shows up worse in games.

I think I'm going to buy a new card.........hmmm
 
Did you apply new paste? My bro's 9800 gtx was doing the same so I baked it in the oven. Plugged it in afterwards and artifacts came back. Put it back in the oven for a longer period and upped the temp a few degrees, plugged it in and worked. Stress tested with fur and after 45 minutes, it was still running strong.

It seems to me like you need justification for a new card....... Just buy one and scratch that itch!
 
Prozac1964 said:
Hi everyone I've just developed an issue with my video card, I think. I'm seeing green and pink pixelation in most of my games as well as my web browser.

What does that indicate.

This my card: ATI Radeon HD 4870

Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...

It's going to die. the pink little pixels will increase overtime then eventually, the card will die.
 
My old 4850 just started doing this recently. Happened just after the HDMI out stopped working correctly (Garbled Sound). It's had a good life, but XFX gave me a double lifetime warranty, so why not use it? I wonder what XFX will replace it with...
 
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