Green artifacting- bad GPU?

[Stag1928]

As the title says, I've been getting some green artifacting lately. I noticed it while playing trine because it gets really bad, but also I seem to notice little green pixels every which way if I full-screen a youtube video. I've got a 4.5 y/o XPS 15 with a GT 540m running windows 10 w/ latest nVidia drivers; it's not the monitor because it happens on the laptop screen as well as my external monitor. I presume it's the GPU walking towards the light. The link below is not from my machine but it's exactly what I'm experiencing when I fire up trine

http://i.stack.imgur.com/Fpc0j.jpg

 

[miggtt699]

That might be it. If you can find a method of doing so, try and underclocking (lowering the graphics card processor speed via software) and see if it still happens.

 

[atomicWAR]

^ +1

excatly where i would start off. also if you have an older/other graphics card you can install briefly you can rule out the everything else real quick as well.

 

[seeingeyegod]

Might be able to save it by cleaning dust out of the cooling fins.

 

[atomicWAR]

also try reinserting the graphics card into the PCIe slot in case heat fluctuations have caused the graphics card to slowly slip out of the slot.

 

[imrazor]

To expand a little bit on the cleaning out the dust angle, you can see if the problem is overheating by downloading a GPU temp monitor like Speedfan. If it is overheating, you can blow out some dust externally, but you may have to partially disassemble the laptop to get all the dust bunnies out.

 

[Stag1928]

That might be it. If you can find a method of doing so, try and underclocking (lowering the graphics card processor speed via software) and see if it still happens.

I can try that I suppose. If I were to take it easy on this laptop, do you think it might last? I know the iGPU does the leg work when it's running normally.. I need this to last until may when I'm done with school ha

 

[Stag1928]

To expand a little bit on the cleaning out the dust angle, you can see if the problem is overheating by downloading a GPU temp monitor like Speedfan. If it is overheating, you can blow out some dust externally, but you may have to partially disassemble the laptop to get all the dust bunnies out.

The thing runs quite warm,
MSI afterburner has the GPU running around 47c and the CPU at like 58c. All im doing is using an external monitor doing school work, and I just hit it with some compressed air

 

[Stag1928]

also try reinserting the graphics card into the PCIe slot in case heat fluctuations have caused the graphics card to slowly slip out of the slot.

It's a laptop so unfortunately I can't remove the card QQ

 

[imrazor]

The thing runs quite warm,
MSI afterburner has the GPU running around 47c and the CPU at like 58c. All im doing is using an external monitor doing school work, and I just hit it with some compressed air

While I'm not too familiar with the 540M, 47C sounds like a reasonable temp for a mobile GPU. I do suspect that the GPU or VRAM is going bad. I don't think the GPU in an XPS 15 is replaceable, so it might be time for a new laptop.

 

[atomicWAR]

also try reinserting the graphics card into the PCIe slot in case heat fluctuations have caused the graphics card to slowly slip out of the slot.

It's a laptop so unfortunately I can't remove the card QQ

sorry not sure how i missed that in your post my mistake.

 

[Stag1928]

The thing runs quite warm,
MSI afterburner has the GPU running around 47c and the CPU at like 58c. All im doing is using an external monitor doing school work, and I just hit it with some compressed air

While I'm not too familiar with the 540M, 47C sounds like a reasonable temp for a mobile GPU. I do suspect that the GPU or VRAM is going bad. I don't think the GPU in an XPS 15 is replaceable, so it might be time for a new laptop.

I'm trying to hold off as I'm completely done with school in May and probably wont need a personal one after that. Plus I've got a desktop half built (damn you skylake!) and the iGPU still works in this thing. Do you think reapplying some arctic silver would do anything? A couple years back i took this apart and put that in since dell went trigger happy at the factory

 

[imrazor]

I've experienced overzealous thermal paste application too, but since 47C isn't really redlining your GPU, I don't think reapplying the thermal paste is going to help. I think underclocking (as someone else suggested) would have a better chance of containing the damage

 

[Stag1928]

I've experienced overzealous thermal paste application too, but since 47C isn't really redlining your GPU, I don't think reapplying the thermal paste is going to help. I think underclocking (as someone else suggested) would have a better chance of containing the damage

Alright well I bumped the GPU clock down 170mhz to an even 500 so lets see what that does

 

[miggtt699]

I've experienced overzealous thermal paste application too, but since 47C isn't really redlining your GPU, I don't think reapplying the thermal paste is going to help. I think underclocking (as someone else suggested) would have a better chance of containing the damage

Alright well I bumped the GPU clock down 170mhz to an even 500 so lets see what that does

Keep us posted!

 

[Stag1928]

I've experienced overzealous thermal paste application too, but since 47C isn't really redlining your GPU, I don't think reapplying the thermal paste is going to help. I think underclocking (as someone else suggested) would have a better chance of containing the damage

Alright well I bumped the GPU clock down 170mhz to an even 500 so lets see what that does

Keep us posted!

Youtube videos are fine, however the nVidia display driver crashed today lol

 

[miggtt699]

I've experienced overzealous thermal paste application too, but since 47C isn't really redlining your GPU, I don't think reapplying the thermal paste is going to help. I think underclocking (as someone else suggested) would have a better chance of containing the damage

Alright well I bumped the GPU clock down 170mhz to an even 500 so lets see what that does

Keep us posted!

Youtube videos are fine, however the nVidia display driver crashed today lol

Do you have the latest update? It might be another sign that your graphics card is digging it's grave.

Also, the worst thing about it is that, you might need to buy a new motherboard altogether, because it most likely is a BGA GPU that is attached to your motherboard.

 

[Stag1928]

I've experienced overzealous thermal paste application too, but since 47C isn't really redlining your GPU, I don't think reapplying the thermal paste is going to help. I think underclocking (as someone else suggested) would have a better chance of containing the damage

Alright well I bumped the GPU clock down 170mhz to an even 500 so lets see what that does

Keep us posted!

Youtube videos are fine, however the nVidia display driver crashed today lol

Do you have the latest update? It might be another sign that your graphics card is digging it's grave.

Also, the worst thing about it is that, you might need to buy a new motherboard altogether, because it most likely is a BGA GPU that is attached to your motherboard.

It's the latest drivers. The up-side is the intel HD 3000 runs when I'm not hooked up to anything so really the nvidia GPU just needs to last until I finish my desktop since I use external monitors. Then in 8 months I'll put her to rest for good haha

 

[Jesus_In_Adidas]

DUDE!

try 345.20 drivers. It made wonders with my gtx 560 after all these new bunch of crap drivers.

Otherwise - KAPUT i would say. Try reinstalling to windows 8.1 isntead of 10 ?

 

[Stag1928]

DUDE!

try 345.20 drivers. It made wonders with my gtx 560 after all these new bunch of crap drivers.

Otherwise - KAPUT i would say. Try reinstalling to windows 8.1 isntead of 10 ?

Thats odd cause the 8.1 drivers gave me issues- an example is Bitdefender would crap out when I hooked up an external monitor, and this hasnt happened at all with windows 10 & the current drivers. I'm thinking it's just getting long in the tooth

 

[Jesus_In_Adidas]

Stag, ask yourself again, which is more likely to be crap - bitdefender or windows? Windows for sure - but do you really need bitdefender? I would personally use COMODO internet security as well as comodo dragon as my browser. few different browsers maybe. I think that there might be issues with windows/drivers.

Anyway i think it's most likely hardware related, not software, but i thought downgrading drivers on a stable windows version could solve your issue.

Also, since you're running a laptop, go ahead and do some cleaning - take out the battery - there might be vents you might have missed.

 

[miggtt699]

I've experienced overzealous thermal paste application too, but since 47C isn't really redlining your GPU, I don't think reapplying the thermal paste is going to help. I think underclocking (as someone else suggested) would have a better chance of containing the damage

Alright well I bumped the GPU clock down 170mhz to an even 500 so lets see what that does

Keep us posted!

Youtube videos are fine, however the nVidia display driver crashed today lol

Do you have the latest update? It might be another sign that your graphics card is digging it's grave.

Also, the worst thing about it is that, you might need to buy a new motherboard altogether, because it most likely is a BGA GPU that is attached to your motherboard.

It's the latest drivers. The up-side is the intel HD 3000 runs when I'm not hooked up to anything so really the nvidia GPU just needs to last until I finish my desktop since I use external monitors. Then in 8 months I'll put her to rest for good haha

You can always disable the Nvidia one then so it keeps your system more stable.

 

[Stag1928]

I've experienced overzealous thermal paste application too, but since 47C isn't really redlining your GPU, I don't think reapplying the thermal paste is going to help. I think underclocking (as someone else suggested) would have a better chance of containing the damage

Alright well I bumped the GPU clock down 170mhz to an even 500 so lets see what that does

Keep us posted!

Youtube videos are fine, however the nVidia display driver crashed today lol

Do you have the latest update? It might be another sign that your graphics card is digging it's grave.

Also, the worst thing about it is that, you might need to buy a new motherboard altogether, because it most likely is a BGA GPU that is attached to your motherboard.

It's the latest drivers. The up-side is the intel HD 3000 runs when I'm not hooked up to anything so really the nvidia GPU just needs to last until I finish my desktop since I use external monitors. Then in 8 months I'll put her to rest for good haha

You can always disable the Nvidia one then so it keeps your system more stable.

It's actually been working alright with the underclock- I even got another monitor which is running off the HD 3000 and no issues so far

 

[miggtt699]

I've experienced overzealous thermal paste application too, but since 47C isn't really redlining your GPU, I don't think reapplying the thermal paste is going to help. I think underclocking (as someone else suggested) would have a better chance of containing the damage

Alright well I bumped the GPU clock down 170mhz to an even 500 so lets see what that does

Keep us posted!

Youtube videos are fine, however the nVidia display driver crashed today lol

Do you have the latest update? It might be another sign that your graphics card is digging it's grave.

Also, the worst thing about it is that, you might need to buy a new motherboard altogether, because it most likely is a BGA GPU that is attached to your motherboard.

It's the latest drivers. The up-side is the intel HD 3000 runs when I'm not hooked up to anything so really the nvidia GPU just needs to last until I finish my desktop since I use external monitors. Then in 8 months I'll put her to rest for good haha

You can always disable the Nvidia one then so it keeps your system more stable.

It's actually been working alright with the underclock- I even got another monitor which is running off the HD 3000 and no issues so far

Well, I'm glad I could help you.