Strange artifacts with Radeon9800Pro - screenshots/details inside

Fae

Hi,
I've used the search function, read every f*cking manual and now I'm
just going to post a thread with my lil' problems, 'cause I bet you have
much more experience in this field than I have. :-)

First a few details on my computer

CPU:
Pentium 4 2,4Ghz@2,65Ghz on ASUS P4S8X
cooled by: Arctic Cooling Freezer 4 (bought 2 days ago)
max. temp: ~41-43°C

RAM:
1GB OEM Ram (i know - should buy something better, but tell that my bank account) @ 2-2-3-5

GPU: MSI RX9800Pro-TD128 @ stock values | AGP/PCI fixed!


Now, here's the problem: A few days ago I had some problems with artifacts in HL2,
after some testing regarding the oc'ed CPU etc.

Here's a screenshot, what the prob looked like:




Somehow this ONLY happened in HL2 and whatever I did (return the cpu / FSB settings
back to default values) it did not change. Ok, did a fresh install of WinXP.

Now, after some quiet time the prob returned, this time in 3dmark05 - yesterday evening
everything worked JUST fine. Today, after setting up the system, i wanted to check
it with a quick benchmark and I've got those strange artifacts again, in demo1.
Every other demo seems to be fine.

Here's a collection of screenshot pieces:



Those artifacts stay, even if I set everything back to default values (no-oc) or change
my display drives (checked different omega driver versions - but keep in mind that yesterday
everything worked fine...).

I'm at a loss here... any ideas?


PS: Reinstalled 3DMark05 - thought of corrupted textures of a source, but nope...

Update:
Just did a check with Aquamark - no artifacts whatsoever...

Robert McClelland

Whats your currect PSU? might need new one. Or you might have RMA video card or get new one Do you have XP SP2 installed? You should if not. Anyway welcome to DH.

micron

To the original poster, I take it you've uninstalled/reinstalled the programs where you are seeing these artifacts?

What drivers are you using?....did you try different ones? Did you reinstall DirectX? Did you reinstall your chipset drivers?

I'm not familiar with that particular Asus board....when you overclocked it, did it also push up the Mhz of your agp slot? Did you increase the voltage of your agp slot by any chance?

micron

Every time someone has a problem with their card, you tell them they need to install SP2, as if it has something to do with the problem they are having.

Judas

SP2 includes some nessities for some drivers to work properly not to mention the DirectX9.0c which taps into some of the features...

SP2 IS a nessity, without it everyone is asking for problems reguardless of what they may be.

PowerSupply is another that can cause these, not to mention major slowdowns or overall poor preformance.

I sure it isn't the 9800 core that's causing it, but most likely the memory on it. Memory that's faulty or gets to hot starts to show those kind of artifacts. I'd suggest either lowering the clockspeed on the memory first by say 50-100mhz, if that doesn't change anything, then trying it in another machine may be in order. If it works fine there, then there may be something conflicting or problematic being your physical memory (can do that also).... or a fault in the motherboard possbly.

>GSXR<mrbusa

where them screenies at???

Lowfat

um in the original post

>GSXR<mrbusa

sry,
i am useing firefox and links were not loading images.i must have ticked the option accidently.

i have never seen that before.

peace out

Fae

Bought a new PSU just two weeks ago, because I had voltage probs with
the old one - now I've got an "Enermax Noisetaker 485W" and everything
seems to be fine.

RMA video card? What do you mean? Faulty memory or are you suggesting
I toasted my card :P Can't have done that because of the locked AGP/PCI speeds.

And yep, I've XP SP2 installed.


So yes, reinstalled 3DMark Artifacts are still there...
I tried different versions of the ATI Omega drivers (tend to give me a better
performance than the original catalyst ones), but no changes could be seen...

The P4S8X can set a fix on the AGP/PCI clockspeeds, so nope: did not oc the GPU,
but I've to confess that I set the AGP voltage to 1,6V for a test... but it was just
a test, maybe 30mins - can't have damaged the GPU just then, running on
default values?

Which program do you suggest using to down-clock the GPU? Ati-Tool?
If so I'm going to check that out in a couple of mins.

Judas

ati tool will work.. imo i like radlinker or radclocker (both the same program, radlinker however has a ton more features)

Fae

Using radlinker I set the memory freq. to ~280 and ~230:
Besides droping framerates it did nothing good - artifacts in 3DMark
are still there. And I realized that they kinda look the same everytime
I run the test. Maybe it is some kind of corruption of textures
after all?
Can't test the GPU in another pc right now - haven't got a spare one
here.

Installed Rome:Total War a few moments ago - I'm going to play it
for 30mins and check if I can find any artifacts there. Wish me luck.

Any other ideas regarding things /settings that I could check are still welcome!


Update:

Played the starting campaign and could not find a SINGLE artifact.
Game runs smoother than ever... maybe 3DMark is screwed...
strange - has anybody ever expirienced something like this?

redsolar

Souns like you may have some issues with high level shader applications, like HL2 and 3DMark. I did not notice you mentioning a driver version you are using. Have you tried any other drivers compared to the ones giving you artefacts?

jasonbourne

i think that the problem is the ps or ur graphics card is overheating ,i had the same problem before and it turned out to be the ps.

Fae

I tried the ATI Catalyst drivers (4.12, 5.2, 5.4), Omega Driver (4.12,5.4) and
DNA-ATI (4.12,5.4) - for now I'm sticking with Omega 5.4, those give me
the best performance boost.
Regarding the artifacts: like I said: I only have those in 3DMark05 and
HL2 - maybe I'll install Doom3, just for the sake of it. But I dont' think that
I'll find any artifacts there.

The ones in HL2 behave really strange: They seem the appear over distance,
like e.g. trees/landscape in older games, much like a clipping distance.

Here's a sequence of screenshots, maybe this'll make it more understandable.

Vikingod

looks like heat to me. I had the exact same thing happen to my lappy a while ago. It would not happen all the time, but after a while or play, it would happen. Try running a 3d screen saver for a while to see if the problem is happening there as well. That will give you an idea if its a shader problem only with newer games or if it effects everything. Good luck.

Sandok

Try in HL2 to turn everything down to minimum and see if you still get the prob... Seems like a shader prob to me and maybe heat too...

Fae

Going to try that after finishing the install of Doom3, but I'm wondering:
wouldn't those errors appear on the normal windows desktop / other
programs too? I mean I played Rome:Total War, nearly maxed out, and
drove the Gauls back into Germania and HELL - there were many of them!
And the last time I tested Doom3 I could not find artifacts either.

The artifacts in 3DMark only appear at the beginning of demo1 and there
not even on some extremely shiny surface or somewhere, were you would
expect them to be (maybe I'll see them on the rising heat special-uber-FX in D3?)...

Sorry, I'm really angry because I'm trying to get rid of those problems since
the day before yesterday and still there's no light at the end of the tunnel...

Fae

Just to end all this searching, waiting and testing:

I've played Doom3 @ 1280x1024 with all settings maxed for ~30mins
and it NEVER ran better. Honestly: never.
And no artifacts - not one.

Sooo... I'll just call it a day and blame the probs on 3dmark05 and HL2.

Thanks for all the hints / tips / help from you guys, you were really,
really patient with me. Thanks

Kadani

i get the same kind of artifacts when watching videos sometimes

I have the same card with all default values