Enough proof to prove faulty card?

[12am]

Well lately I've been noticing slight artifacting on my 8800GTS, HDR tests in 3dmark06 show slight areas where small squares appear diffrent colors, and the ati tool's artifact checker are off the charts. The card is completely stock and I haven't even overclocked it yet, is ati tool's artifact checker proof enough for me to return my card as faulty or will they try to claim everything is normal?. Here is a screen of ati tool.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/cruze8/artifacts.jpg

[reclaimer122]

No power plugs have come loose or anything, right? If they haven't then yeah, I would say you've got a faulty card. I would specifically say in an attached note or something for the return that it was artifacting at stock clocks and voltage.

[12am]

nope, power cords are connected correctly and snugly, fan still operates etc. Oddly enough though on some games you don't see any artifacting, like counterstrike source, lord of the rings online, world of warcraft. It only seems to be artifacting on 3dmark's HDR tests and the ATI tool utility. What do you make of that?.
Also the place where I bought it tests all returns before swapping for a new one, so what if they just play something and are too stupid to notice the slight artifacting and say I'm full of b.s. Should I go back to thier testbeds and show them where to look?.

[reclaimer122]

Did this just start happening recently, or has it happened since you got it? If it is just starting, have you added anything to your comp that uses a decent amount of power?

[12am]

This has been going on for a about a month or so, I origionally forgot about it seeing as it wasn't artifacting in the games I play so I kinda brushed it aside. But now that the o/c bug has bitten me again I wanted to make sure the card was in top shape before pushing it. Also for your second question no I havn't added in any new hardware/accesory since I built the pc 4 months ago, all my voltage rails are well within spec and are not fluctuating. I've even cranked the a/c in my pc room to drop the temps as low as I could on the card and the artifacts still remain.

[reclaimer122]

That's wierd... The best I could say is that the card's got something wrong with it. I couldn't think of anything else... Sorry I couldn't help more, but it looks like your best bet is to exchange it.

[12am]

yea that's what I kinda figured, just came on here to see if anyone else had any insights.. thx for the posts.