I have been through several graphics cards (3 Radeon 5870s and a 6950) in the last six months and they all have been acting defective. The last three have been producing a lot of artifacts, both in games and outside of games, even after the manufacturer assured me that they had passed their diagnostic tests, so I've been running a GPU memory test (MemtestCL) and it frequently finds memory errors. I have a well-rated XFX power supply that should be providing more than enough power for these cards, and I'm running them all at stock clocks. I've tried testing with different motherboards, memory, and power supplies to no avail. Oddly enough my old Radeon 4850 hasn't shown any problems like this.
I am starting to suspect that there is something wrong with my environment that is causing these cards to fail. Is it possible that my PC isn't drawing enough power from the outlet? Or could there be something in my case that is frying the video RAM?
12 Answers
Visual artifacts can be caused by an overheating graphics card. Check your graphics card temperature with a tool like GPU-Z. If the GPU is overheating, make sure the GPU fan is hooked up to its power connector. You might have to remove the heatsink and re-attach it after applying a thin layer of thermal paste. Depending on airflow within your case you might need to redirect some air toward the graphics card.
Damaged GPU RAM can cause artifacts. When handling the graphics card, or any computer component, make sure you practice anti-static procedures. Ground yourself before touching any card to drain any static electricity that may have built up when you walked across the carpet or pet the kitty, and keep yourself grounded while handling the card. Try to hold the card by its edges and avoid touching any chips or metal parts of the card. Although it's possible to successfully install a card in the computer without being grounded, all it takes is one little zap and you've fried the GPU RAM or something else inside the case.
Make sure you have the power connectors hooked up correctly to the graphics card. Some cards require one or two power connections.
3Do you have sufficient cooling in the case? I was working on someones computer a month or two ago - it was a big case, but only had fans on the CPU and the bottom of the PSU. The system had a 6950 and had the same issues, we took the side off and laid the computer on it side and benchmarked. The system did not produce the issue so I installed a 120mm in the back of the case above the graphics card and the issue has not occurred since.
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