SOLVED ATI 4870 HD - Artifacts

Hello all.
I've just recently installed an ATI 4870 HD card into my rig a couple days ago, in which I also had to buy an Antec 520W PSU (heard from other forums that you need at least 500W PSU to run it).

My current motherboard - MSI P45 Neo, and I've also got myself another 500GB Samsung HDD.

That aside, I've also just installed Windows 7 (64 bit) so I could jump into using the latest Direct X. Im positive I've installed the relevant ATI GFX drivers as well.

Now I've been getting (randomly) artifacts on my screen whereby random lines/dots/squares and what not appear on my screen. However it doesn't matter if I am gaming or just on windows desktop. In the past 3 days its happened about 4 times. The OS doesn't crash nor does it BSOD, but if I restart - it will return back to a normal clean display.

Using GPU-z, I measured the GFX card temps reading:
- GFX Temp: 35c
- GFX (MEMIO): 45c

So I'm pretty sure its not overheating or anything like that. Its also at a very low temperature because I've also installed a Turbobooster Pro cooler (heatsinks + 2 fans) on the graphics card - hence the low temps.

So the question is - what could it possibly be?

Thanks in advance.

It's not overheating (check to make sure the fan is spinning however), so if you bought it new, you may want to RMA the card.

If you bought it new, get a refund from the seller.

Thanks for the quick response - it's definitely not the fans - fans are working perfectly and the temperature is always never higher then 40c (well not that I've seen).

Funny thing is, this graphics card was actually RMA'd last week - and I got it back pretty quickly as well (considering they said it'd be like 8 weeks) and I don't think its a new card either (if they even do give you new ones).

So could this possible be a software/driver issue as opposed to hardware?

eeJars said:

Thanks for the quick response - it's definitely not the fans - fans are working perfectly and the temperature is always never higher then 40c (well not that I've seen).

Funny thing is, this graphics card was actually RMA'd last week - and I got it back pretty quickly as well (considering they said it'd be like 8 weeks) and I don't think its a new card either (if they even do give you new ones).

So could this possible be a software/driver issue as opposed to hardware?

Click to expand...

It's possible. Uninstall the ATI drivers completely, run Driver Sweeper set to the ATI checkbox, reboot, then reinstall the newest ATI catalyst drivers for your card.

Thanks for that grumperfish - so far, so good. Everything seems to be working in order. I had a feeling it might of been the drivers. I'll change this thread to solved.