Massive Artifacts in Games

[Shdow89]

Hello there,

I have a problem that I have never encountered before, and I could use some help.
When I'm running games, I get massive graphics artifacts all over the screen (gradient dots, texture falling out of place, blinking, etc). Now, this happens in 80 % of games (WoW, Assassin's Creed 3, Dishonored), but it some remain unaffected (Dark Souls, Sleeping Dogs). When those artifacts reach a point where it can't keep up with FPS anymore, the driver resets itself, and then one of these two things happen:

1) Artifacts are completely gone, and everything runs normal (until I reset the PC again)

2) I have to reset the PC, as I get total freeze

My Specs: Intel Pentium E2200 2.20 Ghz Dual Core, ATI Radeon 4850 HD (the card is a month old) 1 GB GDDR5, PSU 550W Microstar, Intel G41 Chipset, 4 GB DDR2 800mghz RAM memory.
Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit

I downloaded FurMark, and did a couple of tests, and the same thing occurs here: graphics driver crashes after massive artifacts in the BurnIn tests (the only difference here is that after it crashes I never have to restart the PC, and everything works fine again, including any future tests in FurMark, however the problem still persists after restarting the PC). It seems I have to crash the driver in FurMark every time before gaming.

The working temperature of 4850 when gaming stays from 60C - 70C. While in Furmark it goes up to 85 C.
I am running the latest AMD graphics driver (12.6 rev, 7/24/2012 Release Date). Can anyone tell me what might be causing this problem, and could it be something other than the GPU (since it's new), the PSU or the CPU. If someone has ever encountered a problem like this one, please tell me have you managed to fix it, cause I'm going desperate. Thank you!

(If you need any further information, please ask away)

EDIT: I have tried removing all ATI drivers, and using the Sweep cleaner and then installing the again, but that didn't help. Also this problem occurs ONLY while gaming.

 

[amdfangirl]

I have the exact same issue with my HD 4890. (Catalyst 12.6)

Does disappearing textures and weird graphical glitching sound familiar? Well I get blue screens and freezing as well .

We've either got faulty drivers or a bad GPU. The ATI 4xxx series had less than stellar reliability.

I didn't get mine all that long ago and I'm running diagnostics now. We'll see.

It is normal to have a higher Furmark temperature.

If you have a 4850, unfortunately it's hardly new. Released in 2009 it was.

It is definitely most likely the GPU, though listing your PSU wouldn't hurt (brand, model number and wattage etc.), an insufficient PSU should only make the card throttle (go slower).

Guess you're not the only one with HD 48x0 issues .

 

[Sooth1]

I would suspect your PSU first. I would upgrade that first thing with a quality one. If that doesn't resolve the issue, then it sounds like a bad GPU.

 

[amdfangirl]

Have you tried different generations of drivers?

Try rolling back to an older driver. (I have yet to do this too )

It shouldn't be the PSU... it shouldn't cause artifacting.

 

[Shdow89]

The PSU is 550W MicroStar, it's 5 years old, economy PSU, it also was the first thing I suspected, but the strange thing is that my old card (GeForce 9800GT) worked fine under it.
@amdfangirl I also get Blue Screens (either total freeze or BSOD), but my card is still under warranty, which is why I said that it's kinda new.
And I was wondering if PSU could cause these problems.. I swear, this is the last time I'll buy something from AMD.

 

[Sooth1]

If your components are not getting enough power, all kinds of problems can occur, including permanent damage to your components. I would never risk using a cheap PSU (especially in a gaming machine).

http://forum-en.msi.com/faq/article/is-your-problem-caused-by-your-psu

 

[amdfangirl]

The PSU is 550W MicroStar, it's 5 years old, economy PSU, it also was the first thing I suspected, but the strange thing is that my old card (GeForce 9800GT) worked fine under it.
@amdfangirl I also get Blue Screens (either total freeze or BSOD), but my card is still under warranty, which is why I said that it's kinda new.
And I was wondering if PSU could cause these problems.. I swear, this is the last time I'll buy something from AMD.

My computer worked just fine under my 40nm HD 4770 I had. We both have the 55nm HD 48x0 series which ran definitely a lot hotter (basically the reason why I avoided this whole generation save for the 4770, until I was given a second hand HD 4890 for Christmas).

At this point I'm trying to figure out whether the problem lies in the both of us having medicorce PSUs or both of us using medicore drivers or the off chance that we both have broken GPUs or some combination of the three (our problems may just be unrelated yet).

*sigh*

I wish I knew the answer.

At this point I'm tempted to go and buy myself a GTX 660 and call it a day.

 

[amdfangirl]

It could be this:
You had a 9800GT
9800GT = relabelled 8800GT
Power draw-wise; 9800GT is less than HD 4850

In my case:
I had a HD 4770
HD 4770 = die shrink + less GPU shaders, etc.
Power draw-wise; HD 4770 is also less than HD 4890

So by some strange twist of fate, we might just both have insufficient PSUs. (I have an better Antec TruePower 650W but the HD 4890 eats a good amount more than a HD 4850).

Worst case you could just use your 9800GT. I can't use my HD 4770, my cousin stole it.

 

[Shdow89]

I cooked my old 9800 GT, got it work and gave it to a friend -.-.. Now I'll just try to put a better PSU and I'll give you the results. You said: "Does disappearing textures and weird graphical glitching sound familiar? Well I get blue screens and freezing as well ."
This is exactly what happens to me, I can't even begin the describe all the weird stuff that go on my screen when I'm gaming, and I do get a BSOD every now or then. If this doesn't work I'll just call on the card's warranty and ask them to send me a new card.

 

[amdfangirl]

You know Star Wars TOR? Well I'm on a speeder (like a flying car). The speeder disappears and you see my character zooming through the air and glowy blue boosters. In Skyrim, the water vibrates and shakes around.