Question Visual Artifacts even when game is paused ?

[Simo606]

I have been getting artifacting in most games I play recently, with occasional crashing. They range from flashing coloured lights, small pixelated vertical rectangles scattered over the screen, to spazzing models/geomery. I'm trying to narrow down on the specific part that is having issues so I can get it replaced as warranty is still active.

All hardware is set at out of box settings and was professionally built new less than 2 years ago. I have a 13th gen Intel cpu and was unware of the degradation/oxidation issues so only just updated the BIOS last week. I have had crackling distorted audio issues with my old Focusrite solo DAC which is the first major issue I have had with this computer.

I've tried:
Reinstalling windows
Removing display drivers in safe mode with DDU
Tried game ready and studio versions of display drivers
Tried each ram stick individually with XMP off
Reseated GPU
Tried HDMI and Display Port
OCCT and memtest_vulkan show thousands of errors when running VRAM tests

I've noticed the spazzing geometry in about 3 games so far, the latest being Stalker 2. I have noticed that it persists even when the game is paused which is rather unusual because all the NPCs etc pause yet the artifacting continues (see top video)

Bottom video was recorded in slow motion in Black Ops 6

Intel Core i7 13700K
Gigabyte AORUS GeForce RTX 4070 Ti MASTER 12G
Gigabyte Z790 AORUS ELITE AX MB
Kingston FURY Beast 32GB (2x16GB) PC5-48000 (6000MHz) DDR5
Samsung 1TB SSD, 980 PRO
Corsair RM850x 850W Power Supply

Any ideas?
Thanks!

https://imgur.com/a/sVOga85

 

[drivinfast247]

GPU VRAM failing. Try lowering vram clocks and/or GPU clocks and see what happens.

Anyways, get ready to purchase a new GPU or see if yours is still under warranty.

 

[Simo606]

GPU VRAM failing. Try lowering vram clocks and/or GPU clocks and see what happens.

Anyways, get ready to purchase a new GPU or see if yours is still under warranty.

VRAM errors persist even after lowering memory/boost clocks

Funny thing is I have been getting consistent VRAM errors without fail at 30 second intervals when running OCCT's VRAM test but last night for the first time since I've started testing got no errors at all even after 5 minutes. I restarted PC and reran tests and errors were back. Seems rather inconsistent, either there should be errors or not

 

[Anguxilion]

VRAM is dying, could be fixed but is not worth it because is not very reliable and it could start to fail again soon. If you could RMA would be great, if not, consider getting a different one (or integrated) at least to be 100% its the gpu

 

[Simo606]

VRAM is dying, could be fixed but is not worth it because is not very reliable and it could start to fail again soon. If you could RMA would be great, if not, consider getting a different one (or integrated) at least to be 100% its the gpu

Most of the parts in my PC have warranty until 2026, the GPU has until 2027 so plenty of time. I agree it does look like VRAM issues. I do wonder though, can it be indirectly caused by anything else such as the CPU as I have heard a couple of people suggest this elsewhere

 

[Simo606]

Just tested a different CPU to be extra sure and rule it out and sure enough the issue persists, guess it is the GPU after all, will look at getting it replaced