Video Card Problem - Artifacts?

[Insider]

I've been having a problem with a line of artifacts when I play games coming across my screen, and my friend suggested I post here to see if I could find out whats wrong.

I am using a Radeon X800xt and have always played at 1024x768 resolution before I got my new LCD monitor. After getting my new monitor I decided to bump my games up to my monitors native resolution which was 1280x1024 (standard LCD res). I did this to my desktop first and had no problems. I then applied it to CS:S and started to see a line of what I guess are artifacts coming across my screen.

I plugged my old monitor back in to see if it still had artifacts at higher resolutions and it did as well. I also cleaned out all the dust and stuff out of my computer and made sure it wasn't over heating. According to ATI's Catalyst Control center it said it was running at around 70C while playing CS:S. So now I'm completely stumped as to why I have these artifacts in all of my games at higher resolutions but not at lower ones.

Some pics to show...

http://www.postfarm.net/premium/insider/de_dust20001.jpg
In this one you can see the square artifacts showing up on the walls. They almost always show up somewhere along this straight line randomly during play. Sometimes I only see one, sometimes I see dozens. I have occasionaly seen them show up slightly below/above that line but never by much.

http://www.postfarm.net/premium/insider/de_dust20005.jpg
After I took this one I started notice that the artifacts weren't just random colors, but they were actually showing the map PAST the wall. Basically I could see through the wall looking at those little squares. I also noticed that when my hands or gun or knife go over where the squares are, I can no longer see them. Basically the artifacts only appear on walls/objects but not my hands or gun.

http://www.postfarm.net/premium/insider/de_dust20004.jpg
Last one and you can clearly see the red Bomb marker through the barrels. I could also see it through walls/doors but I think you get the idea.

Any help as to what is causing this, and how to fix it would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Scougs]

It is possible that your card doesn't like running that hot. It is summer time and the ambient temperature is probably higher than it has been for a while.

Make sure that there isn't a bunch of dust in the card's heatsink. You could try opening the side of your case to see if it makes a difference. You might also set a fan blowing into the open case.

It could also be that you have a defective card. I don't really know for sure.

 

[Insider]

I just cleaned out my whole comp earlier today and it didn't help. I've had this card for prolly 2 years now. If it was defective wouldn't it also have artifacts at lower resolutions as well?

 

[Scougs]

I just noticed that one of my suggestions might not have been clear from how I typed it. You might try running the computer with the case open and maybe a fan sitting in front of the opening to see if lowr opperating temperature makes the problem go away.

I haven't ever run into anything like this so I am just trying to give you suggestions of things that I think could help. You could also try using different drivers. I use Omega drivers with my X800GTO.

 

[deweycd]

Artifacts occur when your frequencies are too high and the card can't keep up. If the only thing you changed is the resolution, then it could be possible that your card is working harder and now overheating, try monitoring the temperature if you can.

 

[Insider]

Tried changing to Omega drivers. Had the same problem.

Monitored the temp change between 1024x768 and 1280x1024. Temp change was minimal, no more than a couple degrees difference either way. At 1024 I have 0 problems, at 1280 I have that line of artifacts showing up. Doesn't seem to be related to heat.

 

[cleeve]

Does it show artifacts in other games?

 

[Insider]

Yes. Only at higher resolutions though. Shows it in Oblivion and my other FPS games too.

 

[cleeve]

Specific resolutions? Odd. I'd guess a driver or hardware problem, doesn't sound like heat from what you've said... what happens if you run even higher resolutions?

 

[kornyman]

I used to have a 9800se that I soft modded to a 9800pro. It had some artifacts that were really bad at small resolution settings, but then if I turned the resolution higer, there were very few artifacts. Im not an expert and I dont know exactly how that works, but it seems like one of your pipelines (or something else) cant work at that resolution for whatever the reason. Again, this is pure speculation on my part. Anyone that would be able to elaborate on that a bit more?

 

[waylander]

Can you try running at the higher resolutions with everything turned to minimum or off? Does it still occur? Like others have said, artifacts usually occur with either over heating or over clocking.