blue spots in graphis

[50bmg]

I am having some weird graphics issues. I keep getting some faint blue and black spots in my graphics, usually after bright explosions. Check the pic out. Look lower left of my crosshairs. Any ideas what it is? it seems to be getting worse.

My specs:
Asus mobo P5LP-LE
Pentium D 920
4G(2x2G) Patriot PC2-6400 DDR2 800Mhz
250G SATA150
ATI Sapphire HD3870 512M DDR4
windows XP sp2
Samsung Syncmaster 220wm monitor

all stock clocks and fans.

http://www.freewebs.com/dermking/spots.JPG

 

[teh_boxzor]

artifacts....download ati tool and scan for artifacts...some guy on here had the same problem. he downloaded rivatuner and cranked up his fan speed.

 

[50bmg]

fan speed and temp doesn't seem to help. I tried 60% and 70% fan speeds.

 

[Evilonigiri]

Then try 100%

If that doesn't work, decrease the clock speeds to see if the gpu or vram isn't suitable for the stock speeds.

 

[kellytm3]

Then try 100%

If that doesn't work, decrease the clock speeds to see if the gpu or vram isn't suitable for the stock speeds.

I agree...or clean your card out,it may be full of dust bunnies???

 

[teh_boxzor]

or aftermarket cooler?

 

[50bmg]

ATI overdrive, rivatuner and Everest show my GPU running at 78c at full load. It doesn't seem to be a temp problem. The last time i saw the blue squares, i had rivaturner graph monitoring on. It showed 78c over a 10 minute period. That was at stock fan speed. When it was at 70%, it showed 58c. I had the artifacts then as well.

I couldnt get ati tool to work.

The card is only 3 weeks old, it isnt very dusty.

ATI overdrive, everest, speedfan, etc, all say it is running under 80c at load. I don't think it is a heat prob.

 

[50bmg]

Here is a better screenshot of the spots. The blue spots and lines should not be there.

http://www.freewebs.com/dermking/bluespots.JPG

any ideas?

here are my specs again:
Asus mobo P5LP-LE
Pentium D 920
4G(2x2G) Patriot PC2-6400 DDR2 800Mhz
250G SATA150
ATI Sapphire HD3870 512M DDR4
windows XP sp2
Samsung Syncmaster 220wm monitor

all stock clocks and fans.

 

[Evilonigiri]

Another possibility is driver issue. Have you installed the latest drivers and patches?

 

[50bmg]

Yes. I have the latest game patch. I recently upgraded my CPU, so i updated my bios, most drivers about 3 weeks ago and I am on ATI/CCC 7.12. What other drivers should i be concerned with?

I don't remember exactly when this started, but it might have been around the time i installed my new CPU(pentium D 920), but how would that effect it? I also, tweaked a bunch of game setting. I will roll that back and check it. I also forced my refresh to 70hz and vert sync. Could that have something to do with it?

 

[rammedstein]

RMA the card, it should not be doign that at stock speeds ever, the card is faulty so send it back. drivers won't help and as he has said by changing the temps it hasn't helped either so the chip just isn't capable, yet again, send it back.

 

[50bmg]

ok, i did some testing, no other games have the blue lines. I tried BF2142, quake 4, FEAR. But i switched the 3870 for a nvidia 7600gt and the spots weren't there. It only shows up in 2 screens of 1 game and only with the 3870. So i am confused.

About the time it showed up i installed the Pentium D, the new RAM and CCC 7.12. Would that have anything to do with it?

 

[50bmg]

here is a weird example of the blue problem. Blue translucent rectangles floating in 3d in the smoke at differents depths, differnt directions, almost like bricks in a corner of a wall.

http://www.freewebs.com/dermking/floatingbluespots.JPG

 

[teh_boxzor]

yeah looks like a faulty card to me....RMA.

 

[50bmg]

Why does it not show up in any other game or app? It only shows up in smoke and blurs in COD4. If it happens and i go to the game options and reset the graphics settings to optimal, the spots go away for a while. This did all start after installing new cpu and ram with new drivers. Could my cpu be overheating causing this? well, if that were the case i guess, it would show up in all games.

I have contacted Sapphire. I have started the RMA process.

 

[emp]

Before doing an RMA, I suggest you format your computer and install all the newest drivers to be 100% sure it's not a software issue.

 

[50bmg]

ok, i have been tossin that idea around. I have a good image back up of just the original install of XP sp2 and all its updates. I was thinking of reformatting and restoring my back up. Restoring the backup save me some time waiting on the install of sp2 and all the xp updates. That should clean it up. I will install just the basics and COD4. If the spots are still there, i will RMA the card.