Relentless Artifacts on Radeon X1900XT

[Ladyhawk_LH]

My video card is displaying artifacts in most of my games. The worst offender is Call of Duty 2, especially during the beach landing at Pointe du Hoc. Other games also suffer from artifacts. I've noticed that DirectX 9 games are the worst offenders. Sometimes if I switch to DirectX 7 or optimize for SLI (I don't have SLI), the artifacts diminish, but don't vanish entirely. (They used to if I switched to DX7, so I think the problem is getting worse. Of course, I've tried multiple drivers, so perhaps the problem is worse with the drivers I'm using.

What I've tried to solve the issue:

1. I've tried various drivers, thoroughly uninstalling in between with Driver Cleaner Pro.

2. Various other graphical settings

-disabled hardware acceleration
-disabled write combining
-tried different desktop settings
-tried lower graphical settings in-game
-tested Direct3D in dxdiag.exe
-ran fan at full speed during games

3. Last night I tried cleaning the video card, blowing the dust out in case that was causing overheating (no overclocking is involved).

I'm stumped. At this point, I'm inclined to think the problem is hardware-related. Maybe DirectX or some other Windows nonsense is the problem. I don't know. All I know is that I've tried various drivers and settings and I'm still having issues.

I can attach dxdiag info or screenshots of the artifacts.

System Specs:

ASUS P5W DH DELUXE
Sapphire Radeon X1900 XT 512MB PCI-E Crossfire Ready
2 GB DDR2-666
Catalyst 7.5 (Currently)
Windows XP SP2
(Lots of other stuff)

Any help? I contacted ATi, but I'm not sure about their customer service. *shrug*

 

[r0x0r]

Check your vsync settings; some games will display artifacts with it turned off.

 

[chungdokwan]

often overheating will cause artifacts what program are you using to monitor your temps and what temps are you getting ?
Also I once had a similar problem with a Nividia 7600GT because I was using a cheap and underpowered PSU what PSU are you using ?

 

[Ladyhawk_LH]

often overheating will cause artifacts what program are you using to monitor your temps and what temps are you getting ?
Also I once had a similar problem with a Nividia 7600GT because I was using a cheap and underpowered PSU what PSU are you using ?

I haven't really been monitoring my temps, but I suppose I could do that. I just checked the ambient temp of the GPU and it was 51 degrees Celsius. I jacked up the fan and it's dropping...now to 43. Of course, that means nothing until I can monitor it in-game. Is there a program that will record temps or display GPU temp on the screen in-game?

I have a large Antec case and four case fans, so I really didn't think that would be the problem, although the Radeon does run hot. :?

As for the power supply, it should be fine. It's an Antec True Power Trio TP3-650 ATX12V 650W Power Supply with Three 12V Rails.

 

[r0x0r]

I haven't really been monitoring my temps, but I suppose I could do that. I just checked the ambient temp of the GPU and it was 51 degrees Celsius. I jacked up the fan and it's dropping...now to 43. Of course, that means nothing until I can monitor it in-game. Is there a program that will record temps or display GPU temp on the screen in-game?

Run 3DMark or something else that will thrash your card so that you get the temps up, then quit out and check the temps. It should have only dropped a few degrees.

 

[r0x0r]

I haven't really been monitoring my temps, but I suppose I could do that. I just checked the ambient temp of the GPU and it was 51 degrees Celsius. I jacked up the fan and it's dropping...now to 43. Of course, that means nothing until I can monitor it in-game. Is there a program that will record temps or display GPU temp on the screen in-game?

Run 3DMark or something else that will thrash your card so that you get the temps up, then quit out and check the temps. It should have only dropped a few degrees.

 

[Vokofpolisiekar]

I'd reckon a buggered Gcard. Doing multiple driver changes (which default to stock settings - taking away driver inconsistency or settings problems) with the same result just points to GPU or Memory chip overheating. I'd say check your temps, but if they are okay (idle 50C approx to burn 85C+ approx) and the artifacts still present, you mite consider upgrading unless you have some sort of guarantee.