Graphics problems

[shurley1]

First off, i have been lurking here for years, this is my first post though, love all the help i get from here without even posting anything, also my teacher uses this website for our A+ class, so here is my problem, now that i am done with my rant.

I got this system over the weekend: basic components V
AMD Athlon II X3 3.6GHz 435
Asus M4A77TD PRO
4GB DDR3
500GB Sata II Hard Drive
HIS Radeon HD 4670 IceQ / HDMI out

I used the Asus unleash feature to unlock the fourth core to a AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 B35 Processor [codename propus] (no l3 cache unfortunately, but that's not the problem)

It boots up perfectly but it seems to have killed the graphics card in the process. well not killed but i get fuzzy images and yellow pink and blue lines across pages, i would post a screen but im on a different PC.
SO i set the BIOS to the default settings, re locking the 4th core. I rebooted and the problem went away.
So i figured it was my PSU re-enabled the 4th core and lowered the multiplier down to x4 making it around 2.9GHZ, the problem persisted after that still. I still think it might be a problem with insufficient power, either that or my fourth core is actually faulty, i can live with that, but for the sake of knowledge i would like to deduce what the problem is.

Right now it is back to the default 3 cores @ 3.6GHz and running perfectly

Edit: my PSU is 450W so i am going to throw in a 700W when i get home tonight to see if that might be the problem.
Edit 2: my graphics card was also overclocked using AMD Overdrive. (do no remember exact settings at the moment)

 

[larkspur]

Edit 2: my graphics card was also overclocked using AMD Overdrive. (do no remember exact settings at the moment)

Try it again without the OC on the GPU. Usually fuzziness and artifacts are GPU-related. Do things one at a time. Start with unlocking the CPU, then check its stability using prime95 or whatever you like. Once you've confirmed that your CPU is stable when unlocked then proceed to your next stage. Always experiment with your components separately so you know what is causing the instability. Treat the GPU overclocking separately and don't do it until you are sure you have a fully stable CPU.

 

[shurley1]

yeah i didn't remember that i had OC'ed the GPU until after i posted this. But as i said tonight, when i have time i am going to go through and test individually like you suggested.

 

[Rockdpm]

You 4th core is most likely busted. lark is correct tho, most artifacts happen when you do something with the Video card, the 4000 series were not the greatest in the world but they did ok. My diagnosis would be you sir have a bust 4th core

 

[Quaddro]

you've got an "almost working" 4th core. try to increase your voltage in order to stabilize it.
or you can try to downclock your processor to half and see if the artifact still happen..

but like mr. larkspur said..
Try it again without the OC on the GPU