Windows 7 screen artifacts.- what's the problem

[barry13]

situation:

fresh install of windows 7 ultimate 64 bit
new hardware: (cpu, motherboard, ram, gpu and psu)

so i'm getting these squares (5mm x 5mm) scratchy looking artifacts on the desktop, sometimes they blink sometimes they dont. they vanish when i click around.

weird, i can only get a screenshot when it happens to the desktop screen, when other apps are open and they come out and then "print screen", they dont show up on paint.

i then disabled the video card and use the mobo's integrated gpu instead. after obseving, the artifacts dont show up anymore.

so i was certain i got a defective video card, and yes i managed to get it replaced by the vendor.

after another session of formatting and reinstalling of win 7 and the NEW video card, they showed up again. so it wasnt video card after all.

my new theory is that the video card (PCIe) slot in the mobo is defective. is this possible. help me diagnose this. thanks


and this is not a driver issue either


i first noticed the artifacts on the fresh install of win7, no graphics driver installed yet

i then installed the driver that is included in the package of the gpu, artifacts show up

i then installed latest driver, still artifacts show-up

last test, i downloaded a trial version of win 7, still they show up.

i'm at my wits end.

 

[bystander]

What's the graphics card that's having issues?

It definitely sounds like the graphics card is overheating or the card is damaged. Is the fan spinning? Is there something against it preventing the fan from working? Is air flow to the fan on the card blocked? Is the card overclocks or modified from it's original state? Those could be causing the issue.

 

[Tamz_msc]

You could try changing the monitor cable or use a different port of the card.

 

[mdd1963]

Is it possible your GPU is a tad 'power starved'?

Knowing the brand of GPU and PSU, and MB and CPU for that matter, all might help....

 

[Guest]

Sounds like bad video memory on the gpu to me. It is possible you got a bad replacement. I've seen it before.

 

[barry13]

Is it possible your GPU is a tad 'power starved'?

Knowing the brand of GPU and PSU, and MB and CPU for that matter, all might help....

here's my specs:
intel core i5 2400 3.1ghz
palit gts 450 sonic 1gb
550W psu Cougar 80plus full range
2x4gb g.skill ripjaws ddr3 1333
asus lga1155 p8h67-m le

 

[Sekel]

Hello guys.

I face exactly the same problem at the moment. The "fun" part is, that artifacts shows up only during the "low performance" state, ie when comp is doing nothing or web browsing or something line this. During games, 3DMark06 or 3DMark11, when GPU is in full load and one would really expect some problems, everything is perfectly fine and there are no artifacts at all.

When I removed GPU and let i5 core GPU to work, artifacts disappeared. So it seems like GPU problem. But still, in the first post there is information that GPU change doesnt helped AND if GPU is the case, why it doesnt freeze or show artifacts during the tests/games?

Every good idea will be appreciated.

My PC:
CPU: intel core i5 2400 3.1ghz
MB: GA-Z68A-D3H
GPU: ATI Radeon HD 6800 1GB
RAM: Kingston Hyperx 1600 2x4 GB
PS: Fortron 550W
SYS: Win7 x64 Home Premium

 

[seanlh]

I'm having this same problem. No artifacts in games, no errors in stress tests, however, when browsing the web or on the desktop, I get these small square pixels. Usually red or green, has scratches in them, the exact same symptoms.

CPU: Phenom II X4 3.2 GHz
GPU: Radeon HD 5970 2GB
PSU: 850W Corsair TX
MOBO: M4A78-Pro
RAM: 8GB DDR2
SYS: Windows 7 x64 Ultimate

Drivers are up to date.
The problem started happening right after I updated to... Catalyst version 12.3 I believe? This leads me to think it's a driver problem, hopefully. My cards out of a warranty, and the problem only happens when I'm not doing anything.