Artifacts. Possible fried CPU ?

[leokepler]

Hello,

I bought this rig in march 2011:
i7 2600k + Freezer 13 PRO
Asus P8P67 Pro
2x4 GB G.Skill 1333 Mhz
1x 1 Tb Samsung 7200rpm
1x 2tb Samsung 5400 rpm
GeForce GTX 580 Black Ops
Corsair HX1000W

In the first weeks of 2012, I've had trouble with artifacts when playing games such as Skyrim, Battlefield 3, Rainbow Six Vegas 2 or anything else I've tried.
My temperatures are always fine, my graphics card never goes over 78C and my processor never goes over 48C.
Or even when I'm just browsing, I used to get a message saying '' Display driver stopped responding and has recovered.'' This began with the 285.62 and has continued ever since.
Have tried every driver ever since, and always using driversweeper.
Furmark 3D, doesn't detect a thing. Memtest says everything is fine.

I have tried my memory sticks in other computers, they work fine.
I had to take a time off from my computer because I was busy, so I was using mostly my laptop for this whole time.
I have returned my graphics card to EVGA and they said it's just fine.
But when I returned my motherboard to Asus, they told me it had bent CPU pins and considered it costumer fault, I have no idea how that might have happened, but anyway, I got a new motherboard (Asus P8Z77-VLK) yesterday, and the problem goes on, I suppose I will return my processor.
Any other insights ?
Is using a good motherboard with a faulty processor a problem ?
Thanks in advance.

 

[GhislainG]

Artifacts normally are caused by a faulty GPU. If your CPU doesn't fail Prime95 torture tests, then it's fine.

 

[leokepler]

Thank you for your reply, I'll leave it running overnight.
Meanwhile, both HWMonitor and OCCT accuse my +12V rail of providing only 6.97V. I think that's the cause, and that's why I get artifacts whenever my videocard requires more power, although software measures are not really accurate, I think that kinda suffices, considering such a large margin. Even when I'm gaming they dont change, causing the artifacts ( I think ) Any other thoughts?

 

[GhislainG]

Your +12v can't be that low because there's no way your computer would even boot. Use a DVM (best) or check the BIOS to check it out.

 

[leokepler]

thanks for the reply,
I've let Prime95 run for 9 hours and no error or warning was found.
I used a DVM and it measured 12.12v on my 12v rails, it seems fine.
I have no idea hat might cause my problems then.
I've tried to connect my monitor to my onboard video through DVI ( I unplugged my gfx first ) and it doesn't work, no video shown, for mysterious reasons.

 

[esco_sid]

Easiest way to check is just buy cheap graphics card and check if it works and you will know if its graphics then just return it to the store.

 

[leokepler]

Well, I just tried both my onboard and my gtx580 with the DVI port and either of them worked, problems with the display ? Can't explain the artifacts and all that...I have already returned my graphics card to EVGA and they told me they can't replace it because it's just fine.

 

[satyamdubey]

driver updates?

 

[satyamdubey]

^speed read the thread...ignore that last post...apologies

 

[jakjawagon]

I've had artifacts caused by a bad DVI cable before. Might be worth trying a different cable.

 

[leokepler]

I normally use the HDMI cable, but the DVI weirdly doesn't work, not with the videocard, nor with the motherboard, but problems caused by cable that manifest themselves exclusively in-games or cause drivers to crash? What do you guys think of a clean OS install ?

 

[GhislainG]

If the issue occurs only when the video card is on high load, then it has to be the defective component. A clean install may help, but could you try MSI Afterburner to test your video card. Could you increase the fan speed to see if it helps?

 

[leokepler]

In fact, the driver sometimes just crashes while I'm browsing, and a pop-up says: ''Display driver stopped responding and has recovered.''

MSI Afterburner doesn't detect a thing, nor Furmark 3D.

 

[leokepler]

The Fan is on Auto, the videocard never goes over 80C, so I don't think that's an issue.

 

[leokepler]

Finally, I've managed to fix it, some other people had the same I did,
https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/501942/pc-games/display-driver-stopped-responding-and-has-recovered/4/
Just decreased my clock by 24Mhz.
Other people knew my pain
So finally everything is great.
Thank you all for the support.

 

[GhislainG]

Which means that something was overheating or was unstable at that speed. If it was running at its rated speed, then EVGA didn't test it properly.

 

[leokepler]

It was running at it's factory speed, yeah. It's factory overclocked.
The temperature never went above 80C, but it was indeed unstable.

 

[leokepler]

Well, although it is working without errors, my frame rates are much lower than before, it has decreased by 20-30 fps, any possible causes? Dying GPU?

 

[leokepler]

One thing I've noticed is that the textures take longer to load, in games like Crysis where I used to get constantly over 40fps I get like 10fps. No Way.

 

[leokepler]

Well, I can run Crysis 2 on 60fps, but then after I alt-tab, and get back to it, it goes to 20 and stays there. I do it while the windows is loading, perhaps there is some software that is cripping it.