[SOLVED] This is my 2nd RTX 3090 purchased with the same artifacts in Red Dead Redemption 2

[Neoflo22]

Nvidia 3090, i9-9900k, 32gb ddr4, 1 tb ssd, 2tb hdd. Z390 plus gaming wifi motherboard.

https://imgur.com/a/2nIGJUT

View: https://imgur.com/a/2nIGJUT
(Pictures of artifacts)

Prior to this I had no issues with my PC or playing Red Dead Redemption) I bought a Corsair RM1000X PSU and an Asus Tuf 3090 and started playing Red Dead Redemption II. I began having these artifacts pop up in game while playing. Thinking that I just got a bad pick of GPUs I returned my Asus 3090 to Microcenter and used that money to purchase an Nvidia RTX 3090. Now I am having the same exact issues. Those two artifacts you see are literally the same artifacts I saw on the ASUS 3090. I checked my monitor/different cables and that wasn't the issue. Does anyone have any ideas what this could be or what I should do? Is this just coincidentally another bad GPU?

 

[Darkbreeze]

You need to cover ALL of the basics, FIRST. Even if they seem unrelated or too obvious.

If there are any steps listed here that you have not already done, it would be advisable to do so if for no other reason than to be able to say you've already done it and eliminate that possibility.

First,​

Make sure your motherboard has the MOST recent BIOS version installed. If it does not, then update. This solves a high number of issues even in cases where the release that is newer than yours makes no mention of improving graphics card or other hardware compatibility. They do not list every change they have made when they post a new BIOS release.

Second,​

Go to the product page for your motherboard on the manufacturer website. Download and install the latest driver versions for the chipset, storage controllers, audio and network adapters. Do not skip installing a newer driver just because you think it is not relevant to the problem you are having. The drivers for one device can often affect ALL other devices and a questionable driver release can cause instability in the OS itself. They don't release new drivers just for fun. If there is a new driver release for a component, there is a good reason for it. The same goes for BIOS updates. When it comes to the chipset drivers, if your motherboard manufacturer lists a chipset driver that is newer than what the chipset developer (Intel or AMD, for our purposes) lists, then use that one. If Intel (Or AMD) shows a chipset driver version that is newer than what is available from the motherboard product page, then use that one. Always use the newest chipset driver that you can get and always use ONLY the chipset drivers available from either the motherboard manufacturer, AMD or Intel.


IF you have other hardware installed or attached to the system that are not a part of the systems covered by the motherboard drivers, then go to the support page for THAT component and check to see if there are newer drivers available for that as well. If there are, install them.

Third,​

Make sure your memory is running at the correct advertised speed in the BIOS. This may require that you set the memory to run at the XMP profile settings. Also, make sure you have the memory installed in the correct slots and that they are running in dual channel which you can check by installing CPU-Z and checking the Memory and SPD tabs. For all modern motherboards that are dual channel memory architectures, from the last ten years at least, if you have two sticks installed they should be in the A2 (Called DDR4_1 on some boards) or B2 (Called DDR4_2 on some boards) which are ALWAYS the SECOND and FOURTH slots over from the CPU socket, counting TOWARDS the edge of the motherboard EXCEPT on boards that only have two memory slots total. In that case, if you have two modules it's not rocket science, but if you have only one, then install it in the A1 or DDR4_1 slot.

Fourth (And often tied for most important along with an up-to-date motherboard BIOS),​

A clean install of the graphics card drivers. Regardless of whether you "already installed the newest drivers" for your graphics card or not, it is OFTEN a good idea to do a CLEAN install of the graphics card drivers. Just installing over the old drivers OR trying to use what Nvidia and AMD consider a clean install is not good enough and does not usually give the same result as using the Display Driver Uninstaller utility. This has a very high success rate and is always worth a shot.


If you have had both Nvidia and AMD cards installed at any point on that operating system then you will want to run the DDU twice. Once for the old card drivers (ie, Nvidia or AMD) and again for the currently installed graphics card drivers (ie, AMD or Nvidia). So if you had an Nvidia card at some point in the past, run it first for Nvidia and then after that is complete, run it again for AMD if you currently have an AMD card installed.

Graphics card driver CLEAN install guide using the Wagnard tools DDU



And last, but not least, if you have never done a CLEAN install of Windows, or have upgraded from an older version to Windows 10, or have been through several spring or fall major Windows updates, it might be a very good idea to consider doing a clean install of Windows if none of these other solutions has helped. IF you are using a Windows installation from a previous system and you didn't do a clean install of Windows after building the new system, then it's 99.99% likely that you NEED to do a CLEAN install before trying any other solutions.


How to do a CLEAN installation of Windows 10, the RIGHT way​

 

[Neoflo22]

Thank you for the reply! I'll definitely go through this checklist step by step here. I did already do a clean install of the graphics drivers and a new install of windows. I downloaded the monitor driver from the manufacture instead of windows. I have a new 8k cable coming just to make sure that it's not the DP cable as well. Downloaded memtest86 to check the memory as well. Thank you for the steps

 

[Darkbreeze]

👍

 

[Mk7guy]

what ended up being the solution to your issue? im starting to have the same on Red Dead 2 but only during some cinemas

 

[Neoflo22]

what ended up being the solution to your issue? im starting to have the same on Red Dead 2 but only during some cinemas

First of all try Vulkan API if you are using DX12. I switched to Vulkan and haven't had an issue with it since. However, from what I've gathered in other RDR2 forums and from 30 series users is that this is just a driver issue with multiple people having the same effect/colored squares. I wouldn't worry about it to be honest especially considering other games are doing just fine.

 

[Frank O.]

I’m still blown away I found this post. I literally ran into the same EXACT issue tonight playing RD2. I had almost the exact same looking artifact boxes in the exact same corner of the screen when I was setting up my characters wardrobe no less. I was convinced my gpu was dying, but after reading this thread, there’s no way this can be a hardware issue if your reporting this on two different branded 3090’s and I am getting this on an EVGA 3080 FTW3 Ultra. FWIW, my rig has a 9700k, with 32gbs of Patriot Viper 3200mhz ram. I definitely agree this is a driver bug of some sort with the 30 series cards, and plan to notify NVIDIA so they can look into it.

 

[Frank O.]

I also want to add that I have had no other issues with artifacts in other games or RD2 besides this one instance. I also am running the game with DX12 and plan to try Vulkan in the meantime.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Start your own thread and reference this one.

 

[Frank O.]

Start your own thread and reference this one.

I don’t really see a need to do that as my post directly lends additional support to OP’s original issue.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Ok. Reading it again it's more of just a comment than a question. My bad.

 

[Frank O.]

No worries. Just trying to help.