Anti Aliasing Problem

[kingbongo]

ok so up until a few weeks ago I had no problems but all of a sudden every game I play and on any graphic setting all the grass/trees/shadows flicker and shimmer like crazy.


Games in question:
Every game i have tried has problems with grass, trees and sometimes shadows

Things i have tried:
Factory reset pc (wiped everything and reinstalled windows 10)
Reinstalled all Drivers
Tried both Gpu's on there own (removed from my rig)
Spent hours messing with settings in game and in Nvidia Control panel
Checked Temperatures
Read/Watched loads of guides (my games seem to be a lot worse then what i have seen others complain about)

If i turn AA in games/Nvidia Control, panel it makes the game look like someone rubbed Vaseline all over my monitor...
If I Turn off AA in game/Nvidia Control panel, the shimmer/flicker is really really bad.
i can almost eliminate the flicker in 1-2 games by turning AA on but then looks really blurry and also hinders fps.

Any help would be greatly appreciated i have spent hours trying to resolve this issue




Pc Specs:
Gigabyte x79-UD3
16GB DDR3 Ram
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4930K CPU @ 3.40GHz 3.70GHz
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti - Tried sli on and disabled
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti
Corsair Force LS SSD 220GB
Toshiba DT01ACA100 HDD 1TB
RM1000 PSU
Microsoft Windows 10 64-bit
HP Pavilion 27xw IPS Backlit Monitor
HP Pavilion 27xw IPS Backlit Monitor
Razer Naga Epic
Razer BlackWidow Chroma

 

[jossrik]

Might be a memory problem, try it with different sticks in your computer, also if you've got a third video card to rule out corrupt video memory.

 

[kingbongo]

Might be a memory problem, try it with different sticks in your computer, also if you've got a third video card to rule out corrupt video memory.

I have recently noticed in task manger that my memory never drops below 15% when idling, is this anything?

 

[photonboy]

Might be a memory problem, try it with different sticks in your computer, also if you've got a third video card to rule out corrupt video memory.

Memory?
The graphics are processed on the video card. And if VRAM was problematic the artifacting would be more obvious.

He also tried BOTH cards on their own. Why would he then try a THIRD one?

 

[kingbongo]

Might be a memory problem, try it with different sticks in your computer, also if you've got a third video card to rule out corrupt video memory.

Memory?
The graphics are processed on the video card. And if VRAM was problematic the artifacting would be more obvious.

He also tried BOTH cards on their own. Why would he then try a THIRD one?

when you say ''And if VRAM was problematic the artifacting would be more obvious''
what do you mean by artifacting would be more obvious?

 

[photonboy]

I feel like EVERYTHING is ruled out with the possible exception of their being an issue with the LATEST NVidia drivers?

Any chance it happened after upgrading those drivers?

Because:
1) Not really a CPU, motherboard, or system memory issue
2) not power
3) generally a graphics card, video driver, or game issue
4) multiple games rules out games
5) multiple graphics card rules out graphics
6) By my powers of deduction that doesn't leave much

So... maybe try an OLDER NVidia driver? (may need to use DDU first)
http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html

(I can't find any recent NVidia driver issues so far though... what a strange problem!)

 

[kingbongo]

I feel like EVERYTHING is ruled out with the possible exception of their being an issue with the LATEST NVidia drivers?

Any chance it happened after upgrading those drivers?

Because:
1) Not really a CPU, motherboard, or system memory issue
2) not power
3) generally a graphics card, video driver, or game issue
4) multiple games rules out games
5) multiple graphics card rules out graphics
6) By my powers of deduction that doesn't leave much

So... maybe try an OLDER NVidia driver? (may need to use DDU first)
http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html

(I can't find any recent NVidia driver issues so far though... what a strange problem!)

okay now going to do a fresh install with older drivers, fingers crossed

 

[photonboy]

Might be a memory problem, try it with different sticks in your computer, also if you've got a third video card to rule out corrupt video memory.

Memory?
The graphics are processed on the video card. And if VRAM was problematic the artifacting would be more obvious.

He also tried BOTH cards on their own. Why would he then try a THIRD one?

when you say ''And if VRAM was problematic the artifacting would be more obvious''
what do you mean by artifacting would be more obvious?

It's generally RANDOM like purple squares or whatever depending on what part of memory is failing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfrWBKltCI0

update: I'm no coder, so I wouldn't have ruled out a VRAM issue if you'd had a single GPU but both cards, separately have the same problem so that rules out the graphics cards

 

[photonboy]

Questions:
1) WHICH GAMES have the problems?

2) WHICH games do NOT have problems?

3) Please run Unigine Valley, other benchmarks, and some of the NVidia Demos http://www.geforce.com/games-applications/category/tech-demos

4) If CPU OC'd, put back to default (Memory to "XMP" if Intel CPU)
- doubt this would cause an issue, but running out of ideas

5) test memory (full pass) www.memtest86.com
- also doubt this is the issue

(I've been reading, but frankly I'm stumped.)

 

[jossrik]

Might be a memory problem, try it with different sticks in your computer, also if you've got a third video card to rule out corrupt video memory.

Memory?
The graphics are processed on the video card. And if VRAM was problematic the artifacting would be more obvious.

He also tried BOTH cards on their own. Why would he then try a THIRD one?

when you say ''And if VRAM was problematic the artifacting would be more obvious''
what do you mean by artifacting would be more obvious?

It's generally RANDOM like purple squares or whatever depending on what part of memory is failing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfrWBKltCI0

update: I'm no coder, so I wouldn't have ruled out a VRAM issue if you'd had a single GPU but both cards, separately have the same problem so that rules out the graphics cards

Questions:
1) WHICH GAMES have the problems?

2) WHICH games do NOT have problems?

3) Please run Unigine Valley, other benchmarks, and some of the NVidia Demos http://www.geforce.com/games-applications/category/tech-demos

4) If CPU OC'd, put back to default (Memory to "XMP" if Intel CPU)
- doubt this would cause an issue, but running out of ideas

5) test memory (full pass) www.memtest86.com
- also doubt this is the issue

(I've been reading, but frankly I'm stumped.)

Normally I would have ruled out everything too, the reason I didn't rule out VRAM is because in SLI the memory is mirrored and thus both cards would experience the same wear and if there were a power spike or some such it is possible that both are corrupt the same way. Then I thought if he's maxing VRAM it would be theoretical for it to swap with system RAM, I'm not a coder either so this is just random thoughts. Maybe when he built the computer he didn't sacrifice the right color chicken. It only takes a very small error in the physical hardware for there to be real problems with the output. I agree though, usually VRAM artifacting is hella noticeable and repeatable on everything.

 

[kingbongo]

Questions:
1) WHICH GAMES have the problems?

2) WHICH games do NOT have problems?

3) Please run Unigine Valley, other benchmarks, and some of the NVidia Demos http://www.geforce.com/games-applications/category/tech-demos

4) If CPU OC'd, put back to default (Memory to "XMP" if Intel CPU)
- doubt this would cause an issue, but running out of ideas

5) test memory (full pass) www.memtest86.com
- also doubt this is the issue

(I've been reading, but frankly I'm stumped.)

old drivers changed nothing
I ran Unigine Valley on the latest drivers, 1st test high settings 30-100+fps with no AA trees/bushes/grass/shadows flickering/shimmering but not as bad as certain games, 2nd test high settings 25-100+fps with 4x AA trees/bushes/grass/shadows looked amazing best I have seen yet but I did get a slight stutter every so often

just a few games I've tried recently tried:
scale on 1 to 10 how bad they look 10 being really bad:
american truck simulator (4)
arma 3 (10)
astroneer (2)
conan exiles (10)
counter strike (2)
ganga beasts (7)
total war rome 2 (10)
squad (10)

 

[kingbongo]

Might be a memory problem, try it with different sticks in your computer, also if you've got a third video card to rule out corrupt video memory.

Memory?
The graphics are processed on the video card. And if VRAM was problematic the artifacting would be more obvious.

He also tried BOTH cards on their own. Why would he then try a THIRD one?

when you say ''And if VRAM was problematic the artifacting would be more obvious''
what do you mean by artifacting would be more obvious?

It's generally RANDOM like purple squares or whatever depending on what part of memory is failing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfrWBKltCI0

update: I'm no coder, so I wouldn't have ruled out a VRAM issue if you'd had a single GPU but both cards, separately have the same problem so that rules out the graphics cards

Questions:
1) WHICH GAMES have the problems?

2) WHICH games do NOT have problems?

3) Please run Unigine Valley, other benchmarks, and some of the NVidia Demos http://www.geforce.com/games-applications/category/tech-demos

4) If CPU OC'd, put back to default (Memory to "XMP" if Intel CPU)
- doubt this would cause an issue, but running out of ideas

5) test memory (full pass) www.memtest86.com
- also doubt this is the issue

(I've been reading, but frankly I'm stumped.)

Normally I would have ruled out everything too, the reason I didn't rule out VRAM is because in SLI the memory is mirrored and thus both cards would experience the same wear and if there were a power spike or some such it is possible that both are corrupt the same way. Then I thought if he's maxing VRAM it would be theoretical for it to swap with system RAM, I'm not a coder either so this is just random thoughts. Maybe when he built the computer he didn't sacrifice the right color chicken. It only takes a very small error in the physical hardware for there to be real problems with the output. I agree though, usually VRAM artifacting is hella noticeable and repeatable on everything.

it happens on all games to a certain degree but just really bad on some games, I had the pc built by vibox.com around 2 years ago but planning on building my very 1st pc in the coming months..

 

[photonboy]

1) Just to comment on VRAM:
As per the above comment.. yes, SLI is mirrored but the memory is volatile. It does not keep any data in it after the computer is shut down. Having the VRAM physically damaged on both cards in such a way to replicate the same exact problem is virtually impossible.

2) *At this point I'd personally be swapping stuff even if it didn't feel like it should make sense.

Like the POWER SUPPLY.

I feel like I'm missing something obvious, but I've been dealing with computer problems like this for a long time and usually don't get something like this that I can't solve.

3) Other WEIRD things to try:
a) Try the 2nd x16 slot only (if you haven't done so... so the top card should be physically outside the case)

b) Linux or SteamOS (spare drive...no other drive physically connected...install SteamOS or just Steam and see if any games exhibit the same problem... if not we at least know it's a SOFTWARE PROBLEM)

c) MONITOR?
- try one monitor only
- reset default settings
- Aspect scaling
- enable/disable other settings

(I can't imagine how a monitor would relate to an AA setting though.. )

 

[photonboy]

when you turn on AA and it looks like "Vaseline" are you forcing on FXAA?

If so, try other AA settings instead.

You can try messing around with NVInspector as well. Bit of a learning curve.
http://www.techspot.com/downloads/5077-nvidia-inspector.html

1. install
2. click right-side halfway down to start
3. select game
4. change setting (only some work)