Strange flickering pixels on screen, Sapphire 6870

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Imado

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Feb 23, 2012
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For about a week I have been having a strange graphical issue. Occasionally, I will have a random pattern of flickering pixel like artifacts on the screen and their individual sizes vary. More or less they have a green color, but I believe that varies on the background color. Sometimes it happens briefly when the PC is just starting up and the desktop is loading, other times it can be triggered by certain programs (Windows Media Center and the Minecraft launcher for example). Even more strange, it usually goes away after a short time and it will eventually stop doing it entirely after the computer has been running for a bit (heat related, needs a 'warm up' time??).

I have checked different monitors and even tried using HDMI instead of DVI, nothing helped. I do have the latest Catalyst 12.3 64 bit drivers as well. I have even did a reg clean in case fragments of my Nvidia drivers were leftover from when I installed my new card.

And yes they do show up in a screenshot, some of the artifacts are circled (poorly) in blue:
7FxPq.jpg

I do realize that that wallpaper is probably the worst to look for pixel artifacts, but you can see what I mean on the Minecraft launcher window.


My system specs:
Motherboard: ASUS P67 Sabertooth
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 6870
CPU: Intel Core i5 2500k 3.30GHz
RAM: 8Gb VisionTek DDR3 1600MHz (2x4Gb)
PSU: Ultra 450W LSP
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
 

Imado

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Feb 23, 2012
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With the Nvidia, no this never happened. And everything On the 6870 is stock, no OC whatsoever.

And it's not overheating either, I have speedfan running and the GPU is at 37C. I don't believe the temps have even gotten close to going over 70C on several hour long Battlefield 3 sessions
 


I would rule out overheating as an issue, those temps are far within reason. It's strange how your problem goes away after your pc has 'warmed up', though.
 

Imado

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Feb 23, 2012
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No I have not tried them yet. I did just download a fresh 12.3 and installed it, it may be better now actually. I have my wallpaper set to just black to catch it better in a screen when it happens again. But with the fresh install, I only get a couple pixels when I start the Minecraft launcher even after the PC was shut down for over 7 hours.

Are there any known issues with those older drivers and Battlefield 3? If I do need to revert to one of those, I'd like to still be able to play that reliably.

Could there be a program or process doing this? I only ask since the "warm up" phase could be something running/not running when it should/shouldn't be. I keep trying to think if there was something I downloaded or installed around the time this started, because this card has only been recently doing this funky thing.
 

Soarixay

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Apr 6, 2012
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I'm having the same thing but to a much more extreme extent. There are more on my vid card and artifacts flicker when I open up games right off the bat. I believe this is going to be a PSU issue for me but won't be able to find out until sometime during the week when I pick one up. Is there anyway you can mount up another PSU and try it out? It's always worth a shot if you have one in reach somehow.
 

Imado

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Unfortuantly, I do not have another PSU to test. The current PSU is the highest wattage one I own, it would be a little light on power if I used any of the others I got lying around.

And my issue acts a lot different. It never actually acts up "in game". Not in BF3, Minecraft, or Skyrim (all the PC games I got so far). For minecraft, it's the launcher that it occasionally happens on, once I load a world there's never a problem.

What I gather from that is the issue is directed towards non-3D rendering. I never get artifacts when a 3D environment is being rendered, only 2D like the launcher and Windows Media Center.

My monitor had similar problems, my problem was caused my the VGA/DVI cable not being correctly inserted in the monitor and GFX card. Check to see if it helps.

In regards to that, I normally use DVI. I did try using an HDMI cable from the GPU output and into a DVI adapter, but it didn't change a thing. So either it not the hookup, or I seem to keep installing the connector into the monitor poorly.
 

Imado

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Feb 23, 2012
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I got a better screenshot of it now. Had the PC off since last night and just turned it on a few minutes ago, here is a pic with a black wallpaper this time:

n0Fia.jpg
 

Imado

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Feb 23, 2012
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Update:

I uninstalled the 12.3 drivers and anything AMD and I could still get the pixel artifacts, so its not bad AMD drivers. I also booted into safe mode after that and I would not get the pixels to appear, which leads me to believe it's not a physical problem with the card.

Where do I go from here?
Something must be conflicting, but I have no idea what. What processes or services affect video?
 

Imado

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Feb 23, 2012
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Wow, I had completely forgotten about this thread.

I actually no longer have any issues. It turns out it was a hardware issue, not software or a process running. I ended up sending my graphics card in and getting a replacement, but the problem got worse. I couldn't get any video with the replacement.

What fixed the problems for me was to get a new PSU. It's seems like the card wasn't getting enough power even though my Ultra had more than required. I don't know if it is common for that to happen, but I haven't had any issues since I got my Corsair HX750W.
 
G

Guest

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After updating my AMD drivers my projector has been acting funny. It was fine up until yesterday, so I can't imagine the length of my cable being the problem (10 meters). I have all these flickering or solid black or white pixels appearing everywhere over random colors. the only color that seems to be safe from this is white. I have plenty of life left on the lamp so that isn't the problem. I don't know what to do about this, when I change the settings from 1080p to 1080i the projector works fine! but the problem is my pc monitor runs blurry on 1080i.

Here are 2 pictures of the same image, the first of my PC screen, the second of the projector.

IMG_07111.jpg


IMG_07121.jpg



Any fixes or suggestions??
 
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