Video Card artifacts

Zelig · Oct 14, 2007, 02:12 PM

So, I seem to be getting artifacting in games with my 7900 gt... however, they don't show up in screenshots, which I've never seen before.

Artifacts don't show up right after rebooting, but temps are fine... and in some games, enabling AA seems to get rid of the artifacts.

Decreasing clocks well below stock doesn't have any effect.

What would cause artifacts like this, that can't be screencaptured?

swimtech · Oct 21, 2007, 05:29 PM

A defective monitor (or cable to it...). Tried swapping it out?

Judas · Oct 21, 2007, 06:22 PM

could be after the GPU and right on it's way to the display ports themselves.... along the way anyways...

Dyre Straits · Oct 21, 2007, 08:13 PM

I would tend to think it's something with the monitor and/or connections, as well. I've got one monitor that I had to change out the cable to it due to issues like this. It's working fine now.

Zelig · Oct 22, 2007, 09:50 AM

Swapped primary monitors, worked fine on my secondary at the same resolution, swapped back, and it was still bugged. Put the monitors into clone mode, and it was fine on both, set everything back to the original settings, and it's still working fine on both...

Maybe I should go back to some older drivers, this set of drivers (163.69) also insists on clocking my card higher than stock (which is already clocked higher than reference)...

swimtech · Oct 23, 2007, 11:44 PM

Attention problems!

When broken, you must remain in such state so as to be obvious and in order to afford proper and timely restoration!

That is all.

Zelig · Oct 26, 2007, 10:39 AM

Well, not being able to really figure this out, setting 2x AA as a global setting in the nvidia control panel seems to fix it, even for games that don't support AA...

geraldmango · Oct 26, 2007, 06:52 PM

i had a problem like this, it looked like little coloured dots all over the screen. but it wouldn't capture either if I took a screendump which made me think something weird was going on. I found if I changed the input on the monitor then changed "back" to the right input it had cleared. Im not smart enough to explain why, but im guessing the card needs to resync or something with the panel.

try underclocking the card with rivatuner? temps too high. ?

Zelig · Oct 26, 2007, 11:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by geraldmango

i had a problem like this, it looked like little coloured dots all over the screen. but it wouldn't capture either if I took a screendump which made me think something weird was going on. I found if I changed the input on the monitor then changed "back" to the right input it had cleared. Im not smart enough to explain why, but im guessing the card needs to resync or something with the panel.

try underclocking the card with rivatuner? temps too high. ?

Mine looks the same, colored dots everywhere.

Did you ever fix yours?

Stock is 475/680, underclocking to 400/600 didn't help. Running at 500/680 at the moment, because the card/drivers seem convinced that 500 is stock for some reason, and rivatuner doesn't work with the drivers I'm currently using.

Temps seem reasonable, ~55 idle, and the dots are apparent as soon as I open anything, although only after the computer has been on for a while. Even rebooting without shutting anything off appears to fix it temporarily.

Tril · Oct 30, 2007, 08:24 PM

Look here if your card is from EVGA : EVGA | EVGA announces new SKUs to its 7900 Series of products
EVGA is offering to replace the faulty models.

Some of the first models of the 7900GT had problems. I have a 7900GT too and I'm starting to get artifacts in games. My card also has a problem with VSYNC. If it's activated, I get glitches on the screen every few seconds. I'm going to RMA my card in the following weeks.

Strangely, the artifacts problem is worse for me in Vista x86 than XP. I can get the Crysis benchmark included in the SP demo running almost without artifacts in XP but when I run it in Vista, it starts artifacting like crazy after one or two loops of the demo (geometry disappearing/reappearing or stretching, textures changing color, the game totally stopping sending the picture for a few seconds).

Dots on the picture is usually from memory overclocked too high but it should not be the problem in your case.

Zelig · Oct 30, 2007, 09:33 PM

My card's BFG, I'm assuming I could get an RMA through them too, I've been reluctant to go through with it because I don't really know what's causing my problems.

Maybe I'll go ahead and call to see if they cross-ship so I don't lose any uptime...

Actually, I just realized I have access to another 7900 gt, I'm going to swap that one in and see what I get.

Zelig · Jan 12, 2008, 10:15 AM

Well, mostly due to laziness, and barely any gaming, I held off replacing the card, and am now getting fun looking stuff like this:

Guess I'll call BFG on Monday and find out how their warranty/RMA support is.

Mousey · Jan 12, 2008, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zelig

Well, mostly due to laziness, and barely any gaming, I held off replacing the card, and am now getting fun looking stuff like this:

Guess I'll call BFG on Monday and find out how their warranty/RMA support is.

Hah cool, I thought it was a glitch at first

Dyre Straits · Jan 12, 2008, 12:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zelig

Well, mostly due to laziness, and barely any gaming, I held off replacing the card, and am now getting fun looking stuff like this:

Guess I'll call BFG on Monday and find out how their warranty/RMA support is.

I wouldn't wait too long. Looks like something's getting pretty hot.

Zelig · Jan 12, 2008, 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dyre Straits

I wouldn't wait too long. Looks like something's getting pretty hot.

Not even, I keep a temp monitor on my second monitor, and it was only hitting about 65 degrees when I took that screenshot. Something just seems to be getting progressively worse with the card.

Dyre Straits · Jan 12, 2008, 03:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zelig

Not even, I keep a temp monitor on my second monitor, and it was only hitting about 65 degrees when I took that screenshot. Something just seems to be getting progressively worse with the card.

Hmmmm....have you tried underclocking the card? Just out of curiosity, to see if the artifacts disappear?

Zelig · Jan 12, 2008, 05:14 PM

Yup, even with clocks reduced from 475/680 to 240/340, artifacting still happens.

I'm curious as to what BFG will send me as a replacement.

Zelig · Jan 14, 2008, 07:30 PM

Well, just ordered a 512MB G92 8800GTS for $270 after rebate. I've got an RMA for this card, which I'll ship out as soon as my new card comes in.

Anyone want to buy a 7900 GT, fresh from BFG?

apollo92 · Feb 22, 2008, 07:18 PM

I was having this same problem with almost every game i played as soon as i switched over to vista x64...previously everything worked fine but i started getting artifacts on the screen for some weird reason

i tried multiple drivers, vid settings and made sure the card itself wasnt running too hot and the only thing that seemed to fix it was to turn AA on (i used 2x).. the problem with this is that it works fine on newer games but didn't work on the older games (i still play bloodlines)

so i tried what someone earlier said about going into the nvidia control panel and setting global 2x AA and it seems to have fixed my problem

using a 7800gtx btw