# GPU Artifacts



## Nayega (Apr 5, 2007)

Hello.

Got a bit of a unique problem.
My Sapphire x1550 artifacts when playing games. 
Thing is, I don't think it's the cooling, or maybe the card is damaged or something.
I installed a PCI fan, nothing. Pointed a 120 CFM housefan into it.. nothing.
Replaced the thermal paste with AS5, still nothing.
I did notice a strange thing though, the memory chips are covered with some sort of rubbery material from the heatsink.

This is what's really worrying me though: When I leave the computer running for a specific time (say 8-9 hours), the GFX card works fine for about 3 hours.
If I artifact, turn off the computer, turn in back on 9 hours later, it will still artifact after less than 15 minutes.
Could this be RAM related or PSU related, or even motherboard related?
Check My System on the side to see the system specs, except the GFX card is an x1550. I'm really worried because I am buying a 8800GTX in less than 2 weeks, I don't want to have it do the same thing.

Could it be that the chips have become damaged previously before I took the extra cooling measures? 

Temperatures in the computer are excellent, except the GPU card doesn't have thermal monitors so I have no idea how hot it runs. 

SpeedFan PSU readings:
Vcore1: 1.36v
Vcore2: 3.36v
+3.3V: 0.00v
+5V: 4.89v (uh oh?)
+12V: 11.97v
-12V: -16.80v
-5V: -8.53v
+5V: 4.92v
Vbat: 3.12v

BIOS version is 0202.

Should also point out that it worked fine for about 1 month before I installed WoW - only thing I can think of between WoW and other games I played is that WoW is shader heavier in comparison.
One last step I'm willing to try is replacing the heatsink/fan on the GFX card. Even though I'm buying a GTX soon, this is really bugging me and I'd like to work it out before the purchase.

Edit: The artifacts appear in small squares all over textures.


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## swarner (Aug 2, 2005)

Hi,

When you say:
"The artifacts appear in small squares all over textures."

Do you mean that certain textures in your games show "corruption" i.e there may be "pink" or other coloured squares on the actual textures themselves?

or are you seeing black and white or multicoloured squares "moving" rapidly on your screen regardless if they are on a texture or not?

Artifacts and texture corruption are very different things!

Also could you post what version Radeon drivers you are using?


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## Nayega (Apr 5, 2007)

Black/white-ish "moving" or "flashing" would be a good way to describe it.
I don't think it's drivers because it does so during POST too (on the ASUS logo) - as long as the conditions above have been met for the artifacts to start.

Catalyst drivers: 8.383.0.0


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## 1 g0t 0wn3d (Jan 31, 2007)

What psu do you have?


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## Nayega (Apr 5, 2007)

A little bit more info, I just got the squares again and they only happen on textures. They can be various colors, depending on the texture. It also "bleeds" onto other textures sometimes.

As for the PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817171014
When I bought it, it was 109.99 - looking at it now, after rebate it's $40. Kinda makes you think.
However neighbor has the same PSU powering 2 7900GTX without a problem.

Screenshots:









If I was to look up to blue textures it would appear as if the blue texture artifacts were leaking.










A little less noticeable in COD2 - they're there but harder to capture because there's less of them and they're more spaced out.









I should note that I can play COD2 for ages without seeing a single artifact, whereas WOW only goes 3 hours at best - after which all games artifact.
Fable also causes the artifacts by itself.
The artifacts don't happen when not looking at textures, such as the sky, or distant fog.


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## swarner (Aug 2, 2005)

This still appears to be an overheating problem(either that or your card is indeed damaged), from the looks of those artifacts your VRAM is overheating, You should also note that a Graphics card temp. monitor is located on the GPU core and not on the VRAM and the VRAM can often run hotter than the core!!

Could you please post *all* your system temps(idle temps and temps when seeing artifacts in games)?(you can use speedfan to write a log of system temps while your playing a game)

Also it is possible that a previous high level of heat may have permanently damaged your card especially if your VRAM overheated!


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

it usually indicates bad ram on the card


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## swarner (Aug 2, 2005)

Yes as Dai said, bad ram.

Almost all cases of noticeable graphical glitches (also called 'Artifacts'), and many crashes and lockups, are due to overheating or damaged\malfunctioning VRAM. 

As i said it is quite possible that when a graphics card overheats it can *Permanently* damage your VRAM.

If you could borrow a graphics card and try it in your machine and the 'Artifacts' went away, you colud be 99% certain that your x1550's VRAM is damaged!


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## Nayega (Apr 5, 2007)

Thanks a lot guys, Swarner I will post temp readings, but the GPU does not have a temp monitor (har har Sapphire) so I have no idea how hot it runs. I'm not home ATM so will post whenever possible.
When I took off the heatsink to replace thermal compound (after the artifacts) there was some white rubbery stuff touching the heatsink and the RAM. No copper or aluminum between RAM and heatsink/fan.
That seems kind of strange to me.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

see if this gives you the gpu
http://www.cpuid.com/pcwizard.php


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## Nayega (Apr 5, 2007)

dai said:


> see if this gives you the gpu
> http://www.cpuid.com/pcwizard.php


Wow thanks for the nice program.
The GPU does not have a temperature monitor - according to some of the review sites, too.

Dumb question, but where's the log stored? I see some logs in the SpeedFan directory but it's a bunch of numbers:
ex:
Seconds
1
4
7
10
13
16
19
...
...

659
662
665


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