Major issue with Radeon 4850

[Madhatter4]

I built a new system a couple months back and noticed when playing graphic intensive games I would get glitches on the screen. Recently I purchased Left4Dead and everything runs fine at first. After playing for about 20 minutes the graphic glitches get more and more common. Eventually My system just completely powers off. This only happens in Left4Dead after long periods of play. Is it possible my video card is defective OR is just overheating? Ive read that the 4850 has heat issues and I installed a third party heat sink.... maybe I didnt install the heat sink properly..... anyway I ordered a second 4850 from a different manufacturer just to test it out and determine if the original card is the issue or if its something else..

Ideas/thoughts would be greatly appreciated

 

[ragsters]

First thing is to check the idle temps in the catalyst control center under ATI Overdrive. Tell us what U get.

 

[Madhatter4]

Ok I checked the Idle temp and it stated that its currently at 70 C

 

[zodiacfml]

maybe its your 4850 overheating the whole system.
check your case cooling.

 

[IzzyCraft]

Yeah seems like a overheating element also try clocking it to stock assuming it's been oc'ed

 

[Madhatter4]

So 70 C = over 150 degrees HOWEVER the case is cool to the touch..... makes me wonder

 

[IzzyCraft]

70c isn't bad for that card if i remember but oc can cause artifacts in some cases even though it seems stable.

 

[EXT64]

Just for reference, my 4850 idles at 40C with the stock cooler (though the fan speed is set to 55%). The original cooler without fan speed mods idled around 70C. It doesn't appear your new heat sink is doing its job.

 

[ragsters]

What aftermarket sink are you using? I'm using zalman v1000 on my 4850 and it idles at no more than 45C.

 

[Madhatter4]

The third party heat sink cost $50 and was professionally installed. I dont remember the brand name. Anyway this third party heat sink comes with a fan control thats mounted to the back of the PC. Ive checked the settings and its set to max. Do I also have to go and alter the fan settings from within windows?

 

[EXT64]

Is the card OC'ed at all?

As for the temp, that is weird because just turning up the stock fan gets idle temps in the 40-50C range. Open the case and see if you can actually see the fan spin faster as you increase the setting.

Also, are you using the newest drivers?

As for it being defective, it could be. My first 4850 had a short in it so the PS would trip off almost instantaneously. If mine had such a big problem, I suppose yours could have a small problem.

 

[Madhatter4]

Well I downloaded the newest ATI drivers, set the fan speed to 100% and in less than 5 minutes the idle temp went from 70c to 38c ..... PROBLEM SOLVED

 

[M-Ajesty]

Yep, bad coolers. I'm using a Club3D one with their aftermarket cooler on it. It gives me 32 C idle, 40 at load (Triple boxing WoW). As for benchmarks highest I've seen is 50 C.

 

[Madhatter4]

I didnt overclock. The heatsink I had came with an external fan speed controller. That was cranked to the max. What I didnt realize is that I had to also bring up the fan speed from within the Catalyst control center in order to make the fan go at full blast. Prior to doing that I think the fan was going at maybe 25% of the speed it was supposed to be running at

 

[Madhatter4]

Ok now the card is running at 36 C while idle..... Is that acceptable?

 

[M-Ajesty]

Yeah that's fine .

 

[Madhatter4]

Ok Im still having some graphic glitches..... here are my system specs

Mainboard : Gigabyte X48-DS4
Chipset : Intel X48
Processor : Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2400 MHz
Physical Memory : 4096 MB (2 x 2048 DDR2-SDRAM )
Video Card : ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series
Hard Disk : WDC (640 GB)
DVD-Rom Drive : TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S223Q
Monitor Type : Samsung SyncMaster - 22 inches
Network Card : Realtek Semiconductor RTL8168/8111 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC
Network Card : Realtek Semiconductor RTL8168/8111 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC
Operating System : Microsoft Windows XP Professional 5.01.2600 Service Pack 3
DirectX : Version 9.0c (May 2007)

 

[M-Ajesty]

"Graphic glitches" could you be more clear please?

Are you using the Catalyst 8.11 Software Suite?

 

[Madhatter4]

Its hard to describe most of the glitches. Sometimes in games like Left4Dead or Oblivion the walls might flash strange colors.... or items on the screen will become distorted

and I am using the newest Catalyst software

 

[V3NOM]

hmm, 100% would probly be a bit too loud... i would say 80% or less for maximum comfort

 

[M-Ajesty]

If you're using a Samsung screen, try turning RTA off, it causes graphical glitches sometimes.

If not, I myself am experiencing those "graphical glitches" too, sometimes. In America's Army and WoW. Not annoying for me though.

 

[Madhatter4]

^^^I am using a Samsung screen..... but Ive never heard of RTA. What is it and how do I turn it off?

 

[M-Ajesty]

It's an option which should make the screen even faster, while mine is 2ms already.
What's the type of screen you're using?

 

[meodowla]

I also experienced the same problem with Obvilion(after i upgraded Catalyst driver to that available from ati website)... So i changed back the catalyst driver to manufacturers version. Then problem solved..

 

[meodowla]

I think, catalyst driver other than manufacturers doesn't help regulation of temperature(control fan speed auto). Also when HDR is enabled in games.... it doesn't work well... works good even with 16x Anti Aliasing.