Is my graphics card dying? Or could it be something else?

[jjshouse2002]

I started seeing these yellow *snow* like blotches. When i play games like dota 2 and league on some maps I see the same *snow* but it's black to contrast the background. Same with this picture i posted. You can see the blue, red, and yellow blotches. I'm guessing and hoping it's just my graphics card. I also did test another monitor so I know it's not that.

My specs: i7 2.67GHz
Vista 64
6G DDR3
475watt psu
Graphics card: XFX R6770 1G DDR5

http://

 

[rolandzhang3]

Haha what a mess we've gotten into here :S

Log out and log back in, that should terminate the process and restart it

 

[jjshouse2002]

Log out of what? Avast?

 

[rolandzhang3]

lol Windows, logging out will terminate active processes and logging back in will restart them again so then it shouldn't be stuck anymore

 

[jjshouse2002]

Nope. When i try and download it, it just says web page not available and won't initiate the download. I think it actually *banned* that file directly in avast. I have no clue how to unblock it. Is there no other program or a way to unblock it?

 

[jjshouse2002]

Ok, I just disabled the webshield to download it and it worked. Should i make a file specifically for it when i unzip?

 

[rolandzhang3]

I also use avast, create a random download folder on your desktop

Go to Avast>Security>Antivirus>File system shield>Settings>Exclusions and exclude that download folder

 

[jjshouse2002]

oh ok cool. Lol thank you. I was getting a bit irritated because it was 7am lol. Thanks for all the help. I don't notice anything different *graphically* but cleaning my pc and optimizing it did speed it up 😛. I now will install msi and check the clock speed for final test on this card. It was really weird though. Because during one of the installation phases, the blotches went away. I think it was during the *display* portion. Then it went back to the yellow dots with the next installation phase. So i'm pretty sure it's what you said and i will require a new card.

 

[jjshouse2002]

oh ok cool. Lol thank you. I was getting a bit irritated because it was 7am lol. Thanks for all the help. I don't notice anything different *graphically* but cleaning my pc and optimizing it did speed it up 😛. I now will install msi and check the clock speed for final test on this card. It was really weird though. Because during one of the installation phases, the blotches went away. I think it was during the *display* portion. Then it went back to the yellow dots with the next installation phase. So i'm pretty sure it's what you said and i will require a new card.

 

[jjshouse2002]

Just used MSI, my memory clock speed was at 1200. When huilun recommended 1050. I will now restart and see if this helps.

 

[rolandzhang3]

Yeah, artifacts tend to go away when the display drivers are uninstalled since then it'd be using a generic Microsoft Graphics Driver, but will definitely come back after reinstalling

The 7750 would be a direct replacement, with the 7770 being a small upgrade if you have a tight budget

You're using an i7 so better cards would also work fine with your system, a 270 or 270x should also be fine as long as your PSU can handle them

Crank your speeds back down using the sliders and see how it goes

 

[jjshouse2002]

Well i have a psu with 475Watts. So i think most cards would work. I am not able to afford a high end card so i don't think i'll have to worry about a 600watt psu right now 😛. Well, hopefully anyway lol. This is the card i want to get http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121642

 

[jjshouse2002]

also my current card is 1g 6770. So the 2g 7770 should be a good upgrade.

 

[rolandzhang3]

With that price range you could get a 7790 or slightly higher depending on where you look lols, the 7770 isn't really powerful enough to take advantage of 2GB of VRAM

 

[jjshouse2002]

What would you recommend within the 150$ range? I just know of new egg lol. Don't know any other sites with good deals.

 

[rolandzhang3]

Sadly the best deals were around a month ago where a 7870 was $130 or below at one point

There's this reference cooled GTX 660 at $150 after rebates (there was a Sapphire 7870 at that price too but out of stock)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133470&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

 

[jjshouse2002]

Well i only plan on playing league of legends and dota 2. Or games with similar or worse graphics. Would you still recommend a higher end card because they might last longer?

 

[rolandzhang3]

Oh in that case a decent quality 1GB 7770 would do the job just fine, it should be fine for those games :lol:

 

[jjshouse2002]

which 7770 or 7790 would you recommend? I mean like the brand, ram, and everything else. I'd like to get the longest lasting and most efficient lol. Also I've always wondered why the bits mattered? like 192bit and 128bit

 

[rolandzhang3]

Memory bus width wouldn't be a big issue with more mainstream cards like these so yeah

I saw some nice Sapphire cards but they're out of stock as well, if you're not going to be playing BF4, Crysis 3 etc. then a 7770 would do fine

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121663&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

2GB cards are recommended for modern games at 1080p (which you don't need for DotA and LoL) so a 1GB 7790 at $10 more isn't bad either

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125455&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

 

[jjshouse2002]

Do you think ati or nvidia is better? I keep looking into the 7xxx series and some reviews seem bad lol. I hate being so ignorant when it comes to computers these days lol.

 

[rolandzhang3]

I've always used Nvidia but both are good

At that price point (sub 150) however, AMD has the better price to performance

Found a Sapphire 7770

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=AT-7770GHZ&c=CJ

 

[jjshouse2002]

Thanks for all the help lol. I think i made up my mind on the 7770. I want to get the warranty so i think i'll get one from newegg. Do you think this would be good? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=14-150-598&SortField=0&SummaryType=2&Pagesize=10&PurchaseMark=&SelectedRating=5&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Keywords=%28keywords%29#scrollFullInfo

I've always liked closed cases, it seems to get less dirty. But would you recommend a open case for cooling?

 

[rolandzhang3]

Depends on the design of the cooler, I like having little to no shroud since it's easier to blow out with compressed air

I'd personally stick with Sapphire since they are one of the best AMD card manufacturers

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202023

 

[jjshouse2002]

Ok thank you. I will go with that one lol. one more thing 😛. I was wondering about resolution. I read that it's recommended to keep your *desktop* or regular resolution close to what your monitor is. My monitor is a 24 inch lcd and it's recommended at 1920 1100 or something. I always liked it better on lower resolution. Does that crap on my performance? or is it ok to lower my resolution? Thanks again for all your help.

 

[rolandzhang3]

So you're running at 1920x1080 which is full HD 1080p haha

Why do you like playing in a lower resolution? playing at a lower game resolution will increase your performance :lol: