Tom's Hardware > Forum > Graphic & Displays > Graphics Cards > Video card - Serious issues
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noxnoctum   09-08-2008 at 01:27:31 AM

Alright for the past 2 months (or 3?) my video card has been acting very strangely. Various graphical glitches/messed up textures/etc. especially in recent, demanding shooters and such.

Older games not so much (if at all).

Recently it's gotten significantly worse where I can't even load most games. It even crashed while watching a movie which hasn't happened before.

I got this error and the BSD

PAGE_FAULT_IN_UNPAGED_AREA

Now is the video card just dead beyond repair or can I find a quick fix till I buy a new one in a month (don't have the money atm)? Could it possibly be just because of dust/dirt or not?

I've tried using RivaTuner and even using a an actual fan to blow into the opened case without result.

Or is it not even the video card but something else?

I have a Geforce 7900 GS.

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halister_one   09-08-2008 at 02:46:46 AM
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Graphical glitches AKA artifacts are usually due to the videocard having some sort of issue, whether that be overheating, high OC, or defective card.

One thing you can do to absolutely make sure it's the videocard dying is use Rivatuner and reduce the clock speeds all the way down to the minimum. If artifacts goes away, it's the video card dying. Also monitor your temps at default speeds.

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noxnoctum   09-08-2008 at 05:09:30 AM
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Hmmm sounds interesting how do I reduce the clock speed? Only thing I've used RivaTuner for is messing with fan speed.

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halister_one   09-08-2008 at 09:05:14 AM
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Read around, there's plenty of guides.

Basically you go to the second arrow and click on the first box labeled "System settings". Then enable driver-level overclock. Then change 2D to Performance 3D in the box to the right. Then underclock! Remember to hit apply when done.

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noxnoctum   09-09-2008 at 05:17:50 AM
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Don't you mean change from Performance 3d to 2d? Cause it was already on performance 3d (the default)?

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noxnoctum   09-09-2008 at 05:29:41 AM
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NVM figured it out. It is now at MINMUM and though there are still artifacts they have reduced fairly drastically and now games will actually RUN. Thoughts? Like I said, they ARE still actually present, just reduced in number and seriousness.

Is the only downside of this reduced performance (FPS for one in games). If so this is great, I can actually use this till I buy a new one in a month.

Also, perhaps a stupid question but what does this effectively make the power of my card? 2 or 3 years older than it is?

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halister_one   09-09-2008 at 07:10:58 PM
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noxnoctum wrote :

NVM figured it out. It is now at MINMUM and though there are still artifacts they have reduced fairly drastically and now games will actually RUN. Thoughts? Like I said, they ARE still actually present, just reduced in number and seriousness.

Is the only downside of this reduced performance (FPS for one in games). If so this is great, I can actually use this till I buy a new one in a month.

Also, perhaps a stupid question but what does this effectively make the power of my card? 2 or 3 years older than it is?


If artifacts are reduced, I'd say that the card is going out, about 99% sure.

The downside to this is less performance, but more than enough to do basic tasks. It's still much better than an integrated graphics though. The upside is a cooler video card which means lower fan speeds which further means less noise.

As to your question, I'd say the 7900GS down clocked all the way would perform like a 6600GT. BTW, a 7600GT is twice the performance of the 6600GT and the 7900GS is like 1.5times faster than the 7600GT. :)

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halister_one   09-09-2008 at 07:17:14 PM
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If you're not running vista, I believe ATI tool can lower clock speeds even further: http://www.techpowerup.com/atitool/

Adjust the settings and stuff so the clock speeds will instantly adjust when selecting your desired speed. It also has a handy "Scan for Artifacts" feature which is used to tell you if your video card is stable or not. Using the "View 3D window" will heat up your vidcard like never before, accurately stimulating the worst possible heat situation in a game.

Just don't set the clock speed to 0, if that's even possible.

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