Graphical Corruption/Artifacting in MANY Games
Back to the short-media forums for some help...
First, here's some history:
I had a Radeon 9700 Pro which crapped out while under warranty. I RMA'd it to receive, surprise, a Radeon 9800 Pro. The 9700 worked flawlessly until it's death, but this 9800 has been giving me some problems.
Since installing the 9800 Pro, I've had graphical corruption and artifacting in some of the games I play while others work perfectly. The corruption appears differently in all the games, but usually shows up as some kind of random black flash on textures. I was convinced that these were a result of bad drivers/registry entries left from the 9700, but I recently reformatted to find that I still have the problem.
Here is a list of games that I'm having trouble with:
-Battlefield 2 - Black flashes on textures and some crazy things going on with static models like buildings, the weapon, etc.
-GTA San Andreas - CJ and all of the characters randomly emit little polygons and look like they're breaking apart, yet textures, buildings, and everything else are perfect
-Doom III - Black flashes all over textures
From this, I would assume that I was experiencing some overheating issues, however the following games work like a charm:
-Battlefield Vietnam
-GTA 3/GTA Vice City
-Quake 3
-Half-Life 2/Counterstrike Source
-UT2004
I have plenty more games that I could try, but I think you get the picture.
Here's a list of things I've tried-
-Reformatting
-A vast array of drivers from 2.x and on
-Updated nForce drivers
-Using tweak tools like rage3D to change settings, primarily z-buffer settings because I'd read that they have something to do with graphical corruption
-Changing hardware acceleration to low
-Countless other things that I can't remember, but don't really matter because they were before the reformat.
I'd like to get some help now that I have a clean slate after the reformat. Thanks ahead for your suggestions.
Finally, here's my specs
-Athlon XP 2600
-Asus A7N8X Deluxe Motherboard
-Radeon 9800 Pro
-1024 GB PC3200 Geil Ram
-20GB 7200 + 160GB 7200 HD's
-SB Audigy 1
-Winfast TV Capture Card
-Modem
I can post some pics if needed. Thanks again.
First, here's some history:
I had a Radeon 9700 Pro which crapped out while under warranty. I RMA'd it to receive, surprise, a Radeon 9800 Pro. The 9700 worked flawlessly until it's death, but this 9800 has been giving me some problems.
Since installing the 9800 Pro, I've had graphical corruption and artifacting in some of the games I play while others work perfectly. The corruption appears differently in all the games, but usually shows up as some kind of random black flash on textures. I was convinced that these were a result of bad drivers/registry entries left from the 9700, but I recently reformatted to find that I still have the problem.
Here is a list of games that I'm having trouble with:
-Battlefield 2 - Black flashes on textures and some crazy things going on with static models like buildings, the weapon, etc.
-GTA San Andreas - CJ and all of the characters randomly emit little polygons and look like they're breaking apart, yet textures, buildings, and everything else are perfect
-Doom III - Black flashes all over textures
From this, I would assume that I was experiencing some overheating issues, however the following games work like a charm:
-Battlefield Vietnam
-GTA 3/GTA Vice City
-Quake 3
-Half-Life 2/Counterstrike Source
-UT2004
I have plenty more games that I could try, but I think you get the picture.
Here's a list of things I've tried-
-Reformatting
-A vast array of drivers from 2.x and on
-Updated nForce drivers
-Using tweak tools like rage3D to change settings, primarily z-buffer settings because I'd read that they have something to do with graphical corruption
-Changing hardware acceleration to low
-Countless other things that I can't remember, but don't really matter because they were before the reformat.
I'd like to get some help now that I have a clean slate after the reformat. Thanks ahead for your suggestions.
Finally, here's my specs
-Athlon XP 2600
-Asus A7N8X Deluxe Motherboard
-Radeon 9800 Pro
-1024 GB PC3200 Geil Ram
-20GB 7200 + 160GB 7200 HD's
-SB Audigy 1
-Winfast TV Capture Card
-Modem
I can post some pics if needed. Thanks again.
0
Comments
Have you run Memtest yet?
Just for kicks, have you checked the temp of the video card while gaming?
What's an effective and economical way I can check the temp while gaming?
This is really starting to annoy me. I can't see how it would be overheating in only some games...
I apologize if its threadjacking, but its a somewhat similar situation. The BF2 demo runs fine for me, but that's the demo, and D3 cooperated nicely as well.
Is there anyway that I can force these games to load with just DX8 extensions or something?
Click Start>>Run then type in dxdiag and click OK.
See if the tests spot any problems.
I used Radlinker, a program that came with these dhZer0point drivers I downloaded, to disable something called TCL in both opengl and direct3d. San Andreas ran perfectly and so did Doom 3. Battlefield 2 refused to start without it, though. Also, the performance on the aforementioned games and other games that I tried took such a huge hit that it really wasn't even worth disabling it.
Also, I tried forcing the vertex shader to 1.0. Once again Battlefield 2 didn't open up, but San Andreas ran smoothly.
Oh yeah prof, where is Westlake? I'm near Youngstown...
I guess it might not technically be artifacting if it's not really overheating, but I don't know what else to call it. Also, an ATI support ticket from tuesday has thus far been fruitless.
it looks like there isn't good contact betwen the gpu and hsf.
problem may not be directly related the gpu overheating, but rather something else heating up the card so it won't perfrom. what is your case setup like? case fans, etc... is the first pci slot left open so your 9800pro has some room to breath? what about the vga silencer from your old 9700pro? can you try that on the 9800pro?
If you are sure it's not heat related, then i suggest it has something to do with the wierd radlinker drivers you used. I have used radlinker before, but never downloaded any seperate drivers beside the app itself. also radlinker and rivatuner might not be getting along happilly. try removing both of them, running a registry cleanup app, then un-install and re-install the newest catalyst drivers. if this doesn't work, there is always the good ol' reformat and re-install...
I just want to say this first - the artifacting occurs as soon as I start playing a game. That, and the fact that I can play without restarts for hours with this type of corruption dissuades me from thinking that it's a heat issue. But if you think it could still be a heat issue, I'll follow your instructions. I want to wait until I get a response from ATI first. If they can't figure it out and won't replace it, my next step will be your suggestion.
I'm now back to using the latest cat 5.6's without any tweaking programs. As for reformatting, that is why I posted in the first place, I've been down that route. Thanks again.
i'm almost 100% convinced that it's hardware :bawling: :bawling: :bawling:
Oh yeah. My configuration is one 180mm fan in front for intake and one in back for exhaust. It's right above the card and rarely blows out warm air. Also I have a space between my video card and the next PCI card. Thanks.
I will tell you that the stock hsf on 9800pros run really hot in the first place , so you might want too think about after-market cooling anyway. what revision artic cooling silencer do you have? it might fit your 9800pro..... gotta say that i love mine!
http://www.ati.com/home/online/CatalystCCCdriver.html
What about the fact that half life 2 runs just fine, as well as other directx 8 games? This is the reason I've always discounted the possibility of overheating. Also, if I underclock the card with a tweaker, shouldn't that also fix the problem? I've tried it and it's only gotten worse.
Regardless, I don't think I'm going to take any radical action until I get a reply from ATI. 3 days and counting without one...
So, back to the RMA for me. Thanks to you all for your help. Maybe I'll get an x800 this time!
btw, what psu are you using in your rig? might want to double-check it...
i mean you lost a 9700pro, now a 9800pro, and i know you don't want to have the same thing happen again on your new replacement! just a little too much of a coincidence for my comfort if you know what i mean.
Is it worth voiding the warranty to put a arctic cooling silencer on it? Keep in mind that I don't really need to overclock.
I wish you wouldn't have burst my bubble about the x800.
(I've still got my fingers crossed)
What do your case temps look like? Cooling the area around the card will do almost as much good as cooling the card itself, especially if the vid card area is a hot spot in your case.
Is this a decent temp? I can always take the side off my case if it's too high.