ATI 5850 has display issues in-game

[Asmodeus892]

Hi everyone, this is my first post on toms hardware, so here goes.
I recently put together a new system, it includes:
-Core i7 920 Bloomfield quad core
-EVGA X58 Motherboard
-GSkill 6GB DDR3
-XFX ATI Radeon 5850
The problem with the video card is that when I play games, after some time the screen will get very patchy and pixelated. I did some experiments to learn more about this and found that this image only shows up while in an actual game. It does not appear if I am in a game menu, or any other screen on my computer. If I close out the game entirely and restart the program, the issue remains. Also, if I switch to a different game, the problem is still there. The only way I have found to eliminate this is to reboot my computer, which stops the screen glitch. These pixels also show up when I do 3D benchmark tests. I have my gpu overclocked slightly, and tried to lower it to stock levels, but the problem still happens. I thought it might be over heating, so I upped the fan speed, but even at lower temperatures of 50 degrees the video card has this reaction. Any ideas? Thanks!

Oh The Screens Turn into this:

 

[EXT64]

What is your Power Supply (judging by the rest of your specs, you probably bought a good one, but still good to check). Also, have you tried underclocking (below stock) the card (specifically the ram) to see if that helps?

 

[Asmodeus892]

my power supply is an APEVIA ATX-AS600W-GN 600W, its the oldest part of my system (a year and a half), as I did not upgrade it along with the rest of the parts. Ill try underclocking the gpu also, if that works then should I RMA the card? Because it's supposed to be able to overclock quite well

 

[EXT64]

Yes, if that actually turned out to be the reason, that would be reasonable.

Also, stress test you CPU and RAM as well with programs like Prime95 and memtest just to ensure they are fine.

 

[Asmodeus892]

Yea both ram and cpu are working quite well, cpu is overclocking nicely, although im not pushing it very hard until I get a better heat-sink. I'll try underclocking and testing for artifacts to isolate the problem

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Sounds like a driver and / or heat issue.

 

[mindless728]

well, even if the PSU isn't the problem, it should still be changed, APEVIA is known for very bad PSU's

 

[maxiim]

I run the same exact card on an AMD Phenom II X4 940 and it runs crysis on MAX settings perfectly. Max monitor res is 1280x1024.

 

[EXT64]

I assumed from his description it was a new build, but if not, that could very well be the case.

 

[Asmodeus892]

naw its an entirely new build, minus the power supply, I wouldn't expect existing nvidia drivers to not conflict with ati drivers lol. The ati drivers are completely up to date also. i have been testing it more, and it has this issue at stock speeds as well, at acceptable temperatures. so I think i will RMA it to XFX

 

[brockh]

It's regular artifacting. Usually this happens when you overclock the card and its under its voltage requirement for the clock/memory speed. If it's really doing it at stock (or below stock) speeds you should RMA it because the memory is probably faulty.

 

[nforce4max]

my power supply is an APEVIA ATX-AS600W-GN 600W, its the oldest part of my system (a year and a half), as I did not upgrade it along with the rest of the parts. Ill try underclocking the gpu also, if that works then should I RMA the card? Because it's supposed to be able to overclock quite well

Eeeeewwwww apevia sucks liquid crap. Get a better psu.

 

[swifty_morgan]

looked it up. It said something like 38amps divided by 2 rails........ I run a 5850 on a 520watt 52 amp supply with no problems. The PSU would be my first guess. Get a power supply with 60-75 amps and forget about the "watts" BS. Very misleading to a lot of people.
Also without a bump in v-core the memory wouldn't over clock very well on mine. 725/1000 to 953/1023......... not very good without v-bump.

 

[Guest]

i have met the same visual problem on my old 8800GT, and I believed it is the problem for the onboard ram on the display card, you better ask for a replace asap.

My old card function without problem for 1 yrs. One day, the display card fan don't turn anymore but i don't recognized it, i used 3 more days and the display halt every 15mins, and the screen become a bit "blur".

I then replace the fan, and the halt problem is solved. But the in-game screen oftens (not all the time) got the same pixels box problem. After 3 more months, it because always got pixels box.

The pixels box always appear in the nvidia control panel test screen, and the pixels box show exist at the same place in the image everytime..... it make me believe one of the ram chip's circuit got melt down in the no-fan days, and it is finally died completely after 3 months declining.

Hope my experience can help.

 

[Whitebuffulo]

I have had the same issues with my sapphire 5850, crashing on boots flickering screens with all the colours of the rainbow, saying it has recovered from a serious driver error!!! I tried system restore different slotts in the mobo, driver cleaner different drivers including the latest from ATI, This all started after I installed Dirt 2 which came with the card and instals alot of fixes when you download it and it was the first game it failed on so I uninstalled it from my steam account and it still happens so i'm at a loss. I have run my memory and gpu and loaded it up no problems so it has to be a GC issue wouldn't you think? brand new build too. I spoke to a techie and they said it's probaby the memory in the actual card failing and needs to be sent back to place of purchase so thats what I am doing after a month of trialing different scenarios?? have checked temps and gone over history of fan speeds and gpu temps nothing that abnormal so my guess as well is probably the memory in the card?? I have a Corsair HX 750w so I think the power should be fine, i'm running an asus zonar stx card and my heat sink is a cooler master v8, i7 920, and a gigabyte x58 mobo. will let you know if a new card does the trick unless anyone has any suggestions??

 

[Asmodeus892]

Yea I actually bought that same power supply, which kicks ass, thinking I may be underpowered, but the problem still persists. Can you let me know after you get your RMA'd card back if they were able to fix the problem? I'll probably end up sending it back to XFX for a fix, the only reason I'm waiting is because I want the card to be in more ready supply so that if they need to send a new one, I'll get the card I ordered instead of some scrappy thing put together with spare parts.

 

[EXT64]

I have seen a lot of 5800 cards that have "sort of" worked, which is really weird. So, after trying a reasonable number of tests, either get a known good GPU (from other PCs, a shop, or a friend) and test that way or just RMA the GPU.

 

[ghosty87]

I know this thread is old, but I had the same problem with a Diamond Radeon 5850 I purchased at a local microcenter, the card exhibited the exact same wierd square pixel boxes as in the image above before and after being over clocked. I actually returned the Diamond to Microcenter for a full refund, thank god for 30 days money back on all products. I then bought the XFX 5850 on newegg since microcenter only had Diamond brand at the time which I did not trust until now. I think its just we were unlucky and somehow we got cards that shouldnt of passed inspection at the manufacturer. My new XFX 5850 runs perfectly stable and overclocked over 200mhz on the ram and GPU. Also the life time warranty is the best thing ever. So the problem is definetly the GPU or ram on the card, and there is no way of fixing it other than returning the card as far as im aware. I am moderately experienced in overclocking, and its definitely not a driver issue.

 

[EXT64]

200MHz on the Core, I assume a little overvolting, correct?

 

[Guest]

I've found the solution that works for my system perfectly!!!! CHECK IT OUT!!!! So glad it is fixed now!!!!!!


I've posted a thread through here about how my card crashes in some games...vertical gray lines with beee sound....now i know how to fix it and want to share with you. Here is the full article, but i just changed the DRAM voltage to 1.6V in BIOS and it works perfectly for me
"Hello, If you are overclocking your CPU or system memory then revert back to the default frequencies for those devices through these tests. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT NOT TO OVERCLOCK ANY COMPONENTS DURING THIS TEST. If you are using 1066MHz or 1333 MHz 1.5V memory than try increasing the memory voltage to 1.6V and leaving the memory at stock speeds. AMD CPUs and Intel Core i3, i5, i7, and i9 CPUs are all rated for a maximum of 1333MHz memory. If you are using memory rated for higher than this then return the memory frequency to 1333MHz at 1.6V. You could be overtaxing the memory controller in the CPU, not actually running at a frequency where the memory is unstable. Some DDR2 memory will require 2.1V or higher to run stable but may auto-configure to 1.8-1.9V by default. Make sure that your memory is configured properly. This is a common cause of instability that can cause this problem. Make sure that you have updated your motherboard BIOS to the latest version from your motherboard manufacturer. BIOS updates can resolve small issues like slight memory instability that may cause this type of an issue. Check your motherboard manufacturer’s website for the latest BIOS update and instructions on updating your motherboard. Make sure that you are up to date on your motherboard chipset drivers. AMD chipset drivers are available from http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/downloads.aspx . Intel chipset drivers are available from http://downloadmirror.intel.com/18494/a08/infinst911autol.exe. NVIDIA chipset drivers are available from http://www.nvidia.com/Download/Find.aspx. Download the latest driver from http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx. Remove your previous display driver from Programs and Features in the ATI Catalyst Install Manager. Restart your computer. Install these drivers and restart again. Right click your desktop and select Catalyst Control Center. Select Graphics and go to ATI Overdrive. If this screen is grayed out than leave it. If you have already accepted the EULA and have enabled Overdrive than disable it. Remove any utilities capable of controlling clock frequencies like Rivatuner or Afterburner. Completely remove them from the system, not just disable. You want to run the card at our rated frequencies through these tests. Test again with the new driver if you are still seeing the same issue. Open your Windows Control Panel. Go to Programs and Features. Uninstall NVIDIA PhysX if you have it installed. Retest again. If you must have PhysX on your system for a game that you are playing than make sure that it is the latest from http://www.nvidia.com/object/physx_system_software.html but first try without PhysX installed.. Download memtest86 from http://memtest.org/#downiso. Download the Prebuilt ISO (.zip) Burn the image to a CD. Windows does not know how to burn an ISO file. You will need a third party program like Nero Burning ROM or PowerISO. Restart the system with the disc in. Run memtest through 2 or more passes, overnight if you can. Any errors will show up in red with the faulting memory address. Thank you."

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey