Artifacting AMD 6950 (Updated)

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littlezipp

Golden Member
Nov 7, 2001
1,860
0
76
Same issue here with my Crossfire XFX 6950's. Can play Crysis for 2+ hours and temps not exceed the mid 40's, all components cool to the touch. Fuzzy dots on game boot but none during play. Random dots sometimes during web browsing too.
How do we fix?

My update

Looks like water cooling setup error on my end...

Suspected possible PSU issue so I disconnected my WC setup, put the stock cooling back on and tested each card 1 by 1. Both performed flawlessly. Put them both in and enabled Crossfire, working great. Turned WC pump back on, all fans to full and PSU still running strong (Seasonic Gold).

Only thing it could be with my setup was lack of cooling on the other components even though I thought I did a pretty good job putting heatsinks on all other parts!
I will wait for Swiftech to make a 6950 unisink before I run water again.

Cards running strong with 0 artifacts of any kind under any level of load.
 

dulemk

Junior Member
Jan 29, 2011
14
0
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Glad to, so "maybe" there is hope after all.

But sadly i don't have spare components to try.

And it is very strange that i have not find other cases like ours here.
 

badb0y

Diamond Member
Feb 22, 2010
4,015
30
91
Maybe you got a chip that is bad at OCing. Try upping the voltage a tad bit and keep your eyes on the temperatures.
 

thilanliyan

Lifer
Jun 21, 2005
11,864
2,066
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I just record it now my artifact problem with MSIA.

Run vantage at 900/1300 with 1.2v on my unlocked 6950.

Here is the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiLl68BNHCA

And why at that voltage vantage stuck??
A tough all chips can at least work at 1.175 on 900 core without a problem.

Not all 6950s run fine when unlocked. Have you tried OCing without unlocking? You don't get much performance improvement with unlocking anyway...the clocks matter much more.
 

dulemk

Junior Member
Jan 29, 2011
14
0
0
Temperatures don't go above 64 in vantage at 900 clock 1.175v.(I can pass the test like this, earlier the fan was set only to 25% fixed and gpu reach 95 degrees:D.)

I'v tried to go back to my original bios, but the artifact appear accordingly to amount voltage I apply, just like with modded bios.

So even if the clock stays the same or the bios is not unlocked,they did not make any difference.

Only the voltage and/or the duration in 3d(depend of how much i increase the voltage).

The duration in 3d reduces and/or remove the artifacts for short time, and after changing the voltage or restarting the computer they are back.

@thilanliyan

Do you have any artifact to or do you solve your problem?
 

thilanliyan

Lifer
Jun 21, 2005
11,864
2,066
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^Nope the artifacts are gone now. I can up the voltage and I don't get any...I really don't know how the problem was fixed. I didn't do much different...I just let it run a bit longer and the artifacts went away.
 

dulemk

Junior Member
Jan 29, 2011
14
0
0
^Nope the artifacts are gone now. I can up the voltage and I don't get any...I really don't know how the problem was fixed. I didn't do much different...I just let it run a bit longer and the artifacts went away.


So what and how long did you left until the artifact were gone?

And what clock and voltage you use with what program you manage?
Do you still have modded bios?
What driver, os ect... anything will help.

Thanks in advance.:thumbsup:
 

thilanliyan

Lifer
Jun 21, 2005
11,864
2,066
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I left it for maybe 1-2min. I am at max 1GHz core at 1.25v using MSI Afterburner. And no I never used a modded BIOS, I am on the stock BIOS. OS is Win7 64-bit with 11.1 WHQL driver.
 

dulemk

Junior Member
Jan 29, 2011
14
0
0
I left it for maybe 1-2min. I am at max 1GHz core at 1.25v using MSI Afterburner. And no I never used a modded BIOS, I am on the stock BIOS. OS is Win7 64-bit with 11.1 WHQL driver.

Except I use modded bios, and use 11.1 hotfix, everything else is the same.

So I will try once again with my stock bios and wait long enough to clear, maybe they will be gone permanently that way.
 

MangoX

Senior member
Feb 13, 2001
559
52
91
If you are overclocking your CPU make sure it is stable. I noticed some minor artifacting while I was playing with my 2500K overclocks. Once I had settled on a stable overclock all the artifacts went away.
 

thilanliyan

Lifer
Jun 21, 2005
11,864
2,066
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^Yeah it sorta looked like that but the splotches were not that large and there were more of them. Is it doing that if you only up the voltage and leave the clocks alone?
 

dulemk

Junior Member
Jan 29, 2011
14
0
0
^Yeah it sorta looked like that but the splotches were not that large and there were more of them.

Ok I have like them too but on other benchmarks with more voltage.
So it must depend from the textures what artifact will show.
For examle on Heaven 2.5 they have purple color.

Is it doing that if you only up the voltage and leave the clocks alone?

Yes only voltage change the state of artifacts.

And after some time in 3D the artifact disappear.
But unlike you they come back after a while in 2D or after restart the pc.

So do you did something other than just live it to 3d for i while until they were gone?

Can my psu be the problem?
 

thilanliyan

Lifer
Jun 21, 2005
11,864
2,066
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No I didn't do anything else. Honestly I really have no idea why it went away.

How long do you leave it running for it to disappear? Did you try leaving it for a really long time?

It's hard to say if it's the PSU. Have you been able to try a different one?
 

dulemk

Junior Member
Jan 29, 2011
14
0
0
I had active playing time for ~3 hours(more than once) so that must count.
But furmark or other benchmark i did not left it for more than 10 minutes.

No I don't have other good psu on my disposal.
 

thilanliyan

Lifer
Jun 21, 2005
11,864
2,066
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And this of course doesn't happen at stock voltage right?

I don't know how to troubleshoot this for you to be honest. If the card runs fine at stock then "technically" there is nothing wrong with it so you probably can't return it and that sucks I know. Try just overclocking without touching the voltage. That may be the best you can do. You could try a different PSU but I don't think there's a way to be absolutely sure it is that.
 

dulemk

Junior Member
Jan 29, 2011
14
0
0
The problem is that in 3dmark 2011 and Drakensang i noticed at stock voltage artifacts, that is why i really want to find what is the problem.

At 1.15v at all 3d have artifacts.
 

thilanliyan

Lifer
Jun 21, 2005
11,864
2,066
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The problem is that in 3dmark 2011 and Drakensang i noticed at stock voltage artifacts, that is why i really want to find what is the problem.

At 1.15v at all 3d have artifacts.

There you go if it artifacts at stock voltage in ANYTHING, return the card. I myself didn't have artifacts at stock voltage so I couldn't return/exchange the card. Do it now before it is too late.
 

dulemk

Junior Member
Jan 29, 2011
14
0
0
There you go if it artifacts at stock voltage in ANYTHING, return the card. I myself didn't have artifacts at stock voltage so I couldn't return/exchange the card. Do it now before it is too late.

Yes I know, but in my country is F up the rma system.

If i go by that road who knows what will happen, at least I wont have a gpu for couple of months.

So first i must find out if it is really the card.
 

thilanliyan

Lifer
Jun 21, 2005
11,864
2,066
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Well if it is continually happening you may have no choice but to RMA it. Unless you buy another PSU to test out, I don't know what else to suggest.

Have you tried different sets of drivers? Done a clean installation of Windows?