Artifacting

[bumblebee13]

Just wondering if anyone could solve an artifacting issue for me, as it's the one thing holding up my new pc

I have a Connect3D X1900XT with all settings at stock yet for some reason i'm getting artifacting at times which is really irritating me.

I've read that this card is meant to run at full load anywhere from 80c-95c, yet when mine gets to around 83c i start getting artifacting... as the logs below show at these temperatures i start getting artifacting in games such AOE3 and also in 3DMark06 in the canyon test and the anarctic test.

2006-08-23 17:19:56 Temperature: GPU: 80.9°C GPU environment: 58.0°C
2006-08-23 17:20:06 Temperature: GPU: 81.9°C GPU environment: 59.0°C
2006-08-23 17:20:16 Temperature: GPU: 82.5°C GPU environment: 59.0°C
2006-08-23 17:20:26 Temperature: GPU: 83.1°C GPU environment: 59.0°C
2006-08-23 17:20:36 Temperature: GPU: 83.5°C GPU environment: 60.0°C

So does anyone know what could be causing these problems? Is it simply the heat and do you think it's a case of having to return the GFX card?

 

[prozac26]

Change the fan speed.

 

[bumblebee13]

The thing is i allready have, i raised them all a bit, generally by about 5%... and besides, shouldn't it be running fine at these temps anyway

 

[prozac26]

Try it at 100% if you already haven't.

At those temps, it shouldn't be artifacting. How many case fanss do you have?

 

[bumblebee13]

lol it sounds like a bloody aircraft at 100% but i will as for case fans i've got 3, 2 in the top half set on low (i'll increase them) - it's an antec p180

 

[prozac26]

The environment temps are too high IMO. My are about 35-40 at most, and I have only 2 case fans. Try increasing case fan speed, and get better case cooling. Should help.

 

[bumblebee13]

Ok, very bizzare stuff going on.... i put the fan speed up to 100% and ran 3DMark06 - at most it got to 63c, well below the 95c it's meant to run fine up to, yet i still got exactly the same artifacting as i did when it was running at 83c when doing this test.

Anyone got an idea of what the problem could be? As it seems not to be temp related, maybe something to do with drivers? Or is the GFX card faulty?

 

[4745454b]

What powersupply are you running? Run speedfan while useing the graph function for the 12v line. Perhaps your having issues cause your card isn't recieving enough voltage.

 

[bumblebee13]

Maybe but i doubt that, i'm using an Antec TurePowerII 550W

 

[MafiaAce]

Well that power supply should be plenty unless you have a bunch of extra hard drives, cd drives, devices, usb drives etc....

The only other things that can cause artifacting aside from heat are overclocking are improper voltage settings. I would suggest raising the voltages for your card by just a little bit and see if that helps...

I also have a x1900xt and I have noticed that the stock voltage settings aren't necessarily the best- I infact run my core voltage a bit below the defualt and run the core at 650, while I have raised my mem voltages and run the memory at 846- My fan settings put the fan speed at 45- 60% while gaming with a 100% for any temp above 85 as those are bad for the card and cause problems.

You might also try lowering the core voltage, as in my case it generated too much heat and was not needed to be so high, my current settings are extremely stable and I can game for hours.

 

[bumblebee13]

Thanks for the advice there gives me a lot to try out, this may sound stupid, but how do i alter the core voltage for my GFX card?

 

[MafiaAce]

You need to use ATiTool, which is mostly used for overclocking but it can also be used to modify many settings like fan speeds, voltages, memory timings, etc..
Heres a link:
http://www.techpowerup.com/atitool/

Note that when you use it that there are seperate voltages for 2d and 3d mode as well as clocks, so you will need to tweak the 3d voltages.

Also you may need to disable ATis built in clock configuration by disabling its services by running services.msc and unchecking the ati stuff.
You usually need to do that when overclocking or changing card configurations otherwise it will override your settings.

 

[bumblebee13]

Ok, thanks a lot, i'll try this when i get back from a brief holiday i'm going on... lets hope it works because if it doesn't i've allready voided the warranty :lol:

 

[trixst4r]

Ok, thanks a lot, i'll try this when i get back from a brief holiday i'm going on... lets hope it works because if it doesn't i've allready voided the warranty :lol:

tottally off topic:
have fun on your holiday

 

[ivoryjohn]

Artifacting can result from a damaged chip. A chip can be damaged electrostatically, or by improper cooling.

A poorly or improperly mounted cooler including too much or too little paste can lead to a partially damaged chip which can result in artifacting.

A chip can also be poorly tested, poorly binned, or just marginal at best.

I think you may need to RMA this. I hope it's not the result of installing a 3rd party vga cooler.

 

[PCKid777]

How exactly have you voided your warranty? As mentioned above, you should RMA the card. If you only installed a 3rd party cooler, then no worries. Just replace the stock cooler and ship it back.

I had to RMA an X800XT awhile ago; I replaced the stock cooler with a Zalman VF-700, and simply reinstalled the stock cooler and shipped it back without issues.

 

[bumblebee13]

Ok, thanks for the advice, i might simply do that - just thought i might have voided my warranty so far by altering fan speeds etc, so should i just contact my retailer and ask to return it?

I live in the UK so i think i have 28 days to do this which is good, guess i'll do it when i get back - just got to read the warranty carefully, check i haven't buggered anything up.

Oh and i haven't altered in it in any way so far, and thanks trikst4r i hope i do