Artifacts with card at stock

[Deadphishy]

I Just recieved a few days ago a replacement for my radeon 9800 pro that broke in one of my other computers. The card started running perfect. But after a few days now it won't play battlefield 2 without crazy texture problems. Flashes of black flickering, The isn't overclocked, and i have the latest Drivers. I've tried uninstalling them and reinstalling them but nothing helps. Do you think it's possible i got a broken card that slipped past ATI's testing personal? Anyone have any ideas how to fix it?

 

[Deadphishy]

Update, I now get verylittle artifacts with i'm not even playing games. And my card doesn't last more then 2 seconds in ATItool's artifact scanner.

 

[Deadphishy]

Wow everyone must be on vaction, or this forum is losing some steam.~bump

 

[Twim]

this sounds like permenant damage caused by overheating. maybe the heatsink/fan on the card you got isn't working too well. it could be that the fan isn't spinning at all (check that) or the contact between the gpu and heatsink is really bad.

 

[The Coolest]

Yeah, try to touch (carefully tho, might burn your finger) the back of the GPU and the ram, if any is extremely hot that could be it. Usually artifacts are caused by bad ram.
Try underclocking it to like 100MHz core and 200MHz (DDR400) RAM, see if that helps

 

[Deadphishy]

Well, the heatsink is hot. the back of the GPU is burning to the touch. The memory is burning hot. I let ATItool run on find max core. and it went all the way down to 4.0mhz! before it froze. I ran max memory as some times it errors no matter how far down it's clocked. but sometimes it stops and holds steady when underclocked slightly.

 

[The Coolest]

if memory is burning hot that could cause artifacts, if core is also very hot that is not an ideal situation. I would recommend you get some RAM sinks and a good aftermarket cooler, or make your own cooler from a stock Athlon or P4 heatsink, would be cheaper.

 

[Experimental]

I would try to send the card back. It's obvious that there's something else going on here that isn't your fault, and must be a problem with the hardware.

 

[Deadphishy]

This is a "band new" to me card. It shouldn't need anything but stock. I wish to keep the warranty. I just got this card from an RMA a week ago. I understand it's most likely not a new card but a refurb. which brings me to believe it's been mistreated.


to clear up an confusion, this is not the card listed in my Sig.

 

[Deadphishy]

I'm now currently lead to believe it is not a heating issue since the card does it right at the start of ATItool. No warm up is needed. THe HSF is seating good, and it's only 55 degs in my basement, and i my case has 6 fans.

 

[The Coolest]

RMA it then.

 

[Mathersalan]

I have a Radeon 9600XT in my other pc and it would overheat and artifact like crazy by just oc'ing the memory only 10..


One day i open the hs up and the plaster was really hard and crusty when i kept it on stock (normally played Joint operations, MOH, bf1942, bhd & UT2004 with it lol) and it seemed to get really hot in a not-so-normal way..

 

[Deadphishy]

Well i'll redo the thermal grease and see if it helps. I've just been real lazy since about taking it apart lately. because i've been building computer after computer and i need a break. so i thought I tap into the forums before i went ahead and tried anything.

 

[soundx98]

The 9800s are usually very good overclockers.
Overheating memory at stock causing artifacts is definately bogus.
RMA that puppy. It's not going to get better.

 

[AZNBoiOnFIYA]

they are good overclockers but only if you have sufficient cooling. otherwise youre going to burn it up pretty fast.

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

It's likely because of the stock GPU heatsink being a POS.

 

[soundx98]

IMO red hot memory sounds more like a defect than poor stock cooling to me.

 

[zPacKRat]

I am waiting on my Second replacement 9800 Pro from ATI, the first one died with a black screen with some colored lines in it, the second one is like you stated, would overheat and crash. the bad part about it is that I called ATI support to try and get the replacement rushed and they dropped the ball on that, kept getting the "I'll have the RMA manager call you" with no call untill my 4th call back and stating I would submit a complaint to the BBB.

 

[Deadphishy]

So i changed my refresh rate from 75 to 60. and all of a sudden no more problems. I've tried setting it back to 75 and nothing. it's strang. I've never had a computer problem that just went away on it own. So i'm running it hard right now, see if i can get any thing adnormal.

 

[harryinny3]

I personally wouldnt use any driver above the 5.7 on ANY 9800Pro. Anything above 5.7 on The 3 9800Pros ive tried to run COD2 on Get 10fps or under On LOW settings In DX9 Mode. AND In BF2, Use the 5.7 It will stop the Black Shadows and stuff from happening. If not, try turning down the In game settings a bit, Turn shadows and Dynamic lighting OFF. This will help ALOT.

If that dont help, you should get better cooling for the card, or atleast make sure the HS is seated correctly, And get more air into your case. Seeing its the winter months, theres gonna be alot of Overheating problems with the heat being on Now.

If the problem is something you dont want to really deal with, RMA it back and get another before thay cant be had. I havent seen a 9800Pro on a shelf in a LONG time.

Harry