x1950pro Artifacting

[pederacer]

Don't you hate it when you get a new toy and can't even enjoy it?

Well,I just completed my new C2D build, and have been enjoying it for a few weeks when my girlfriend got me Elder Scrolls Oblivion for my birthday. I installed it, and all was going well until I started to notice some artifacting.

This began to concern me because I hadn't OCd anything yet as I wanted to see how stable everything was before trying, but that's another story for another day. Back to the issue at hand, after that day all games I've tried have had similar artifacts.The card idles around 44 degrees and while gaming, jumps up to the lower 70s.

Here's a reference screenshot from Oblivion:

And one from HL2:

After browsing the board I've concluded that its most likely from the GPU, and would just like to have some confirmation before I try and RMA it.

Hardware wise, I'm running a Sapphire x1950pro being powered by a 550W Seasonic S12. I mention this because after looking around I notice that the x19** series cards seem to need 30A on the 12V rail, and the S12 only has 18A on each of the 2 12V rails.

The question is, do I need a better PSU, and is my x1950pro toast?

Thanks in advance guys, I hope you bring good news.

 

[nicepun]

Do you have Overdrive enabled? I've noticed that the fan is not as efficient as we would like it to be. Do you mind posting complete rig specs. Two things can cuase this, 1-Heat the Obviouse Choice or 2-Not enough power. Download the latest AtiTool 25b16pre8 just install it then go the fan and make sure it's @ 100%, it will get a bit noisy. Don't mess around with anything else. Then try things again to see if it's heat related. Try to find a friend or someone with a better PSU (more juice on 12+ Rail) or rule that out as well. I think you have plent with your current one but you'll never know unless you find out.

I have notice that unless you have the fan blowing @ 100% you will artifct with your use Overdrive. Try thoese things and report back.

 

[sabregen]

Heat would be my #1 suspicion. The idle temp isn't what bugs me, it's the load temp that I'm worried about. My x1950pro CF setup runs 40C idle, 46C under load (Antec 900 maxed out). 70's seems a bit high, especially if not OC'd. PSU should be fine, unless you're fueling something out of the norm. More airflow, via cable tidying, or more fans, would be my suggestion. System specs would also help. Check my sig for mine.

 

[pederacer]

Thanks for the quick responses!

Well, I originally had Overdrive enabled but disabled after a while since I didn't notice much improvement. I installed AtiTool and upped the fan to 100% and it brought the idle temps to a steady 40C.

I started up Oblivion, all was fine for a good 30 seconds, but the artifacting came back. I ran in windowed mode so I was able to see that once the temps hit 58C, the artifacting was back. I should have stayed in the game a bit longer to see where temps topped out at, but I figured its already showing probs. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow.

And here are my specs, I need to put them into my sig to save from typing it up again:

Antec P180B (Stock Tricool), Seasonic S12 550W (120mm fan), Zalman CNPS7700-AlCu (120mm fan), Asus P5B Deluxe, Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 @ stock speeds, 2GB DDR2 PC5300 Crucial 10th Anniversary @ 3-3-3-12, Sapphire x1950pro, WD Raptor 10k 74Gb SATA, Lite-On DVD-RW, and finally a generic Dell Monitor, keyboard, mouse and speakers until I can afford something better.

Thanks guys.

 

[nicepun]

Hmmm, then your next option to see if it's the PSU. Then you can send it back. I hope you didn't get if from Newegg cuz they ran out and they don't even have them in their inventory right now. Good Luck.