NEW AMD Radeon HD 6850 -- Problem? Issue? How can this be fixed?

[T3RR0RH4WK]

Yesterday I bought a Gigabyte AMD Radeon HD 6850 because it was a good price, and I find Gigabyte to be a reputable company. My motherboard is also a Gigabyte, if that is something worth saying.

Anyway, I got it home and I put it in my PC and all that, but today it began doing something odd in my games. In Two Worlds II, Trine, and even Crysis 2, the GPU is showing me these random, stretched out, really long looking pixel kind of things. I forgot the correct name for this, but I'm worried now because this hasn't ever happened with any other GPU I've owned.

Has anyone had or seen this issue, especially in this card, that could possibly recommend me a fix? I have a 500w PSU that should take care of it (and has never had problems), 8GB of RAM, a Phenom II X4 955 CPU that's a bit OC'd, and adequate cooling inside my Antec Three Hundred case.

If someone could help I'd really appreciate it. I'm worried the GPU might just be bad and I could get a refund or replacement, but if there's a more simple way to combat this out there, I'd like to know how.

Thanks in advance, people.

 

[HostileDonut]

Sounds like a GPU issue, but my hd6850 sometimes gets weird for a sec, but nothing bad. You situation sounds different. I would test it with furmark for artifacts, and heat issues. If you are really worried, RMA it.

 

[T3RR0RH4WK]

Sounds like a GPU issue, but my hd6850 sometimes gets weird for a sec, but nothing bad. You situation sounds different. I would test it with furmark for artifacts, and heat issues. If you are really worried, RMA it.

Thank you for the input. I'll download and run Furmark right now. Should I post results or something? I know I'm looking out for artifacts and all that, but would posting results (if any -- I've never used Furmark before) help you help me figure out what might be wrong with the card?

 

[mariosarmy]

Check for the latest drivers.Personally i prefer nvidia cards because they release better drivers than amd

 

[T3RR0RH4WK]

Check for the latest drivers.Personally i prefer nvidia cards because they release better drivers than amd

This doesn't really help me at all. And if I wanted to get an nVidia card, I would have bought one. Personally, all the nVidia cards I owned weren't that great, and this is the first time I've had any issue with any ATI/AMD card I've owned.

 

[mariosarmy]

The last time that i bought amd card it was faulty so from now i buy only nvidia.Check your psu if it meets the recommended power of the card most probably it's faulty if you have the guarantee go back to the seller and change it with a new one.I had the same issue with you when i bought an amd card and it was faulty.if you have another card that is working replace it just to be sure that it's the card's problem.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

It sounds like a gfx card issue to me. re-seat the card and RAM, make sure the psu is of good quality, then if that doesnt fix it, RMA it.

 

[HostileDonut]

Thank you for the input. I'll download and run Furmark right now. Should I post results or something? I know I'm looking out for artifacts and all that, but would posting results (if any -- I've never used Furmark before) help you help me figure out what might be wrong with the card?

Sure, post the results and download the latest drivers.

 

[T3RR0RH4WK]

Sure, post the results and download the latest drivers.

Well I ran it in 1920x1080 and it was getting like around and a little more than 30 FPS, and I didn't see any artifacts, broken edges, stretchy pixels or anything like that during the time I ran it.

I also do have the latest drives. I'm currently using CCC 11.9 and I have not OC'd this card at all yet, either.

Do you think this could point to maybe shaders being messed up, or my 500w PSU being slightly under-powered when it comes to running this card? On Newegg, every 6850 says it "needs at least 500w PSU." I just meet that standard. Would having a more powerful one possibly be the reason it's causing this kind of thing to happen?

I'd try to get screenshots as well but when I ran Crysis 2 a second time, it DIDN'T do the stretchy pixel thing. :/

Damn I'm confused. I hope it's not a bad card. It's a pain in the ass driving an hour away to the store I got it from just to get a refund or replacement. :/

 

[HostileDonut]

From what you are telling me, the card sounds fine. Sometimes GPUs do make errors, and you may be having a few. C2 is also an Nvidia game, don't know if that has anything to do with it though. Also, your machine would just shut off if your PSU didn't work. I guarenty you that your system doesn't pull over 400w max. So if you have a quality PSU, you are fine there. If you are worried, RMA it. It sounds like it is okay though.

 

[T3RR0RH4WK]

From what you are telling me, the card sounds fine. Sometimes GPUs do make errors, and you may be having a few. C2 is also an Nvidia game, don't know if that has anything to do with it though. Also, your machine would just shut off if your PSU didn't work. I guarenty you that your system doesn't pull over 400w max. So if you have a quality PSU, you are fine there. If you are worried, RMA it. It sounds like it is okay though.

Okay so... I switched that Gigabyte 6850 for an MSI 6850, after seeing some good recommendations about it. I even bought a nice, 700w PSU by CoolerMaster (who I've also never had an issue with...)

I got home last night, installed the card into my PC after hooking up the new PSU, and I ran some games. Seems they're alright now.

Then, as of a whole 20 minutes ago (I'm writing this at 6:04 PM, Eastern time) I was playing Bad Company 2 and my game kinda froze a bit... then began again. Then it froze... and then the graphics failed I guess. All I could see were pale blue squares literally blanketing the screen. I couldn't CTRL+ALT+DEL or anything and I had to manually shut down the PC and reboot.

I'm seriously about to give the hell up. My 5770 hasn't given me a single issue, but it won't last much longer, especially with the advent of newer and more graphically-intensive games. It's a great card, and I'm not some frames-per-second junkie, but I want to minimize lag at any cost and getting a nice new 256-bit GPU was my next course of action.

Now, though, it seems it's bitten me in the ass. Is this literally just a problem with all 6850s or something? That's TWO in a row now that're acting up.

Damn I'm confused. :/

 

[HostileDonut]

Okay so... I switched that Gigabyte 6850 for an MSI 6850, after seeing some good recommendations about it. I even bought a nice, 700w PSU by CoolerMaster (who I've also never had an issue with...)

I got home last night, installed the card into my PC after hooking up the new PSU, and I ran some games. Seems they're alright now.

Then, as of a whole 20 minutes ago (I'm writing this at 6:04 PM, Eastern time) I was playing Bad Company 2 and my game kinda froze a bit... then began again. Then it froze... and then the graphics failed I guess. All I could see were pale blue squares literally blanketing the screen. I couldn't CTRL+ALT+DEL or anything and I had to manually shut down the PC and reboot.

I'm seriously about to give the hell up. My 5770 hasn't given me a single issue, but it won't last much longer, especially with the advent of newer and more graphically-intensive games. It's a great card, and I'm not some frames-per-second junkie, but I want to minimize lag at any cost and getting a nice new 256-bit GPU was my next course of action.

Now, though, it seems it's bitten me in the ass. Is this literally just a problem with all 6850s or something? That's TWO in a row now that're acting up.

Damn I'm confused. :/

That is really weird, if I were you I would contact MSI and ask them about it a little bit about it. My hd6850 flickers on the screen sometimes, but still works. I think it is just a quirk. If I were you, I would RMA the hd6850 for a refund and grab a GTX 460 hawk by MSI and see if it changes. Also, if you can CF your hd5770, do that. Test your RAM. It could very well be that too. Run memtest86. If you get errors, it is your memory.

 

[T3RR0RH4WK]

Best answer selected by T3RR0RH4WK.