8800GT weird artifacting errors/freezing [PIC]

[kdkavanagh]

Hey Everyone, I am having some trouble with my 8800gt. Its a little hard to describe the problem, so heres a picture:

This happens nearly every time i do something graphically intensive, and requires a restart (computer freezes, and such). Ive had this problem for a while, and RMA'ed one 8800GT, but that did not solve the problem.

My setup is:
EVGA 680i SLI mobo
EVGA 8800GT
Intel Q6600
2gb Corsair RAM (I have replaced the ram a few times just to ensure that this wasnt causing my problem)
800w PSU
(None of these are overclocked)

Thanks for the help guys!

 

[OvrClkr]

Did you sweep your drive with driver sweeper? You might have leftover old driver files that are conflicting with your current driver.

 

[kdkavanagh]

No I have not, but that being said, this happened in vista AND win7 after a clean format/install, so I dont think it could result from that...

 

[OvrClkr]

did you revert to an an older driver just to rule that out?

 

[kdkavanagh]

No, but ive been having this problem since about july of last year and have put up with it (only, i want to fix it now that MW2 is out... lol), so I dont think i could even find a driver older than that that will work with win7

 

[OvrClkr]

do you have your boards latest Bios? Firmware? etc??

Nvidias latest driver for the 8600/Win 7 is working perfectly fine. I don't think your issue has anything to do with the GPU itself unless the RMA'ed card was used and not actually sealed by the manufacturer.

 

[kdkavanagh]

The board is running the P33 BIOS, the 8800GT has the latest BIOS (EVGA put one out a long time ago, maybe 6mths after the card came out). Not sure what you mean by firmware though...

 

[1tym]

have you installed your motherboard chipset drivers? What are the temps of your video card? Have you tried using a different monitor or different vga or dvi cables? Also what brand is your PSU?

 

[kdkavanagh]

1. Yes, up-to-date
2. active: ~50C
3. No i have not tried different monitor/cables, tho I dont think this would cause the PC to freeze... (Audio cuts out. thats how I know its frozen)
4. Its an OCZ 700w (not 800W as stated above. sorry)

 

[1tym]

active 50C? do you mean on load? and what program are you using to check temps? I usually use GPU-Z. Do you know a friend that could test your GPU in their system because then you would know for sure. The most probable causes in this case is usually GPU, drivers, or PSU.

 

[kdkavanagh]

Yes, on-load. I use EVGA's Precision software. I can try it in another system, but its not really comparable to mine. What would be the best way to vigorously test it?

 

[marcellis22]

GPU IS TOAST!

 

[kdkavanagh]

Would it be a good idea to test to see if it was the PCI-e slot/controller? (as in, could that cause this issue)