Sapphire Radeon 6950 2gb red dots, abstract shapes

[shampoo911]

Hello,

I recently bought a Sapphire Radeon 6950 2gb and im getting a little worried about this problem that i have... Where i live, the warranty is not covered by NO ONE at all and I would like to have some kind of feedback over here.

Straight to the point... If my card's fan profile is not set on "Automatic" (instead being set in "Custom" or "Fixed") through the Sapphire TriXXX Utility, strange red dots and figures just come out of nowhere on screen... Im a heavy gamer, but not an OC fan, so i have all my rig in a standard mode so to speak.

My rig:

ASUS AM3 AMD 880G M4A88T-V EVO/USB3

AMD Phenom II X6 Six-Core Processor 1090T (3.2GHz)

Kingston Technology Hyper X 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 Non-ECC CL9 DIMM (kit of 2)

Thermaltake Frio Overclocking Universal CPU Cooler

Thermaltake Toughpower XT 775W Continuous-Delivery Power Supply

Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 2 GB (Standard model, blower fan)

Thermaltake Mid-Tower Armor A60

Any help would be appreciated

 

[mdd1963]

Depending on your particular 6950's core/VRAM default clocks, it might be on the verge of overheating if you do not let the Auto setting control fan speeds, short of settting the fan manually to run at 90-100% all the time....

 

[someguynamedmatt]

Hmm... artifacting when the fan is adjusted. I'd say your card is running hot.

Can you download CPUID HWMonitor for us? It should give the temperature of the GPU which can show whether or not it's an overheating problem...

 

[shampoo911]

Depending on your particular 6950's core/VRAM default clocks, it might be on the verge of overheating if you do not let the Auto setting control fan speeds, short of settting the fan manually to run at 90-100% all the time....

Core and VRAM are default ones (800/1200mhz)...

Temps: ~45ºC idle
Gaming: ~60ºC up to 70ºC

and by gaming temp, i used Crysis 2 MAXED OUT (including High-Def graphics with DX11 for 2 hours)

that's the info that CPUID HWMonitor showed

im not OC'ing ANYTHING at all...

 

[someguynamedmatt]

Huh. Honestly, those temps sound about normal, maybe just a little high.. it doesn't sound like anything that would cause this problem though.

By "recently bought", and I hate to tell people this, but would it be possible to just RMA the card for a replacement? It would probably save you a lot of trouble to have them ship a new card instead of trying to troubleshoot this and get it working.... Be sure to do a complete driver reinstall and the likes first to rule out and software related problems that can be fixed, if you decide to go that route.

 

[shampoo911]

Huh. Honestly, those temps sound about normal, maybe just a little high.. it doesn't sound like anything that would cause this problem though.

By "recently bought", and I hate to tell people this, but would it be possible to just RMA the card for a replacement? It would probably save you a lot of trouble to have them ship a new card instead of trying to troubleshoot this and get it working.... Be sure to do a complete driver reinstall and the likes first to rule out and software related problems that can be fixed, if you decide to go that route.

i cant RMA from Venezuela... kinda tough...

something funny though, as the card gains temperature, the artifacts and red dots, dissappear... but that only happens with the "Automatic" fan profile that is in Sapphire TriXX... when i change it to "Custom" or "Fixed", a lot of artifacts appear... kinda weird...

 

[shampoo911]

BTW... i also own an MSI Nvidia GeForce 9800gt with 512mb DDR3... i read that there is a way to use that GPU as a Physx dedicated card... check my rig to see if i can do that...

Main GPU: Sapphire Radeon 6950 2gb
Physx GPU (still not even trying): MSI Nvidia GeForce 9800gt 512mb

MoBo: Asus AM3 AMD 880G M4A88T-V EVO/USB3
PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower XT 775W Continuous-Delivery Power Supply

 

[someguynamedmatt]

I honestly don't really know anything about running a Physx card, because I've never seen need for one. It will never really be used in reality, unless you're specifically playing a Physx-supported game. There aren't very many of them... not really enough to justify the problems you'll run into IMO. But to answer your question, it appears that you should be able to, if you can do it with a Radeon as your main card. I keep thinking that you need another Geforce card as your main card, though... I could be wrong. Not very helpful; sorry about that. You'll have to have someone else help you out when it comes to stuff like that.

 

[shampoo911]

well it is just like a childish wish.. to have more... but it doesnt worry the fact that i dont have a physx card... as you mentioned, not to many games run with it... nevertheless... the real issue here, is the artifacting while the fan profile is not in automatic... it is really a nuisance... i will try lowering the temps by putting a nice 120mm cooler on the side of the case, with cold air hitting hard the northbridge and vga..

any other solutions/opinions are welcome =D

 

[bystander]

It definitely sounds like overheating, even though the temps don't seem very high. It's possible only the ram or vrm's are overheating, which wouldn't be shown with most cards temp readings.

If you were feeling adventurous, given your lack of customer support, you could take the card a part and make sure that the thermal pads are properly installed on the ram and vrm's.

As far as PhysX goes, I've done so using the GenL hacks. Here is the latest version: http://physxinfo.com/news/3334/new-hybrid-physx-mod-1-04ff-is-out/

 

[shampoo911]

It definitely sounds like overheating, even though the temps don't seem very high. It's possible only the ram or vrm's are overheating, which wouldn't be shown with most cards temp readings.

If you were feeling adventurous, given your lack of customer support, you could take the card a part and make sure that the thermal pads are properly installed on the ram and vrm's.

As far as PhysX goes, I've done so using the GenL hacks. Here is the latest version: http://physxinfo.com/news/3334/new-hybrid-physx-mod-1-04ff-is-out/

do you have a schematic of my gpu?? it is the Sapphire HD6950 2gb... not the flex one, but the first one that was released... the one with the blower fan and a "hard shell"...

i managed to lower the temps using a custom profile... the funny thing is that the card artifacts when temps are NOT above 55°C... when they reach that or surpass that temp, it stops artifacting and start running smooth... it is a tricky little SOB thing...