ATI Radeon 9800P / Artifacts- bad memory? See pics..

[killer8]

Over the past few weeks I've been getting more and more artifacts in 3d games. After a system wipe/reinstall they still happen. So after more investigation I found that if I lower the memory rate from the 337mhz down to 313mhz they go away. Heat per se doesn't matter because if I blow a floor fan right on the motherboard I still get the effects until I lower the memory rate.

Here are examples (PlanetSide):

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/1535/mess1a.png
http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/7973/mess1b1.png
http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/4980/mess1c1.png

While I've created an warranty return ticket with ATI (the card is about 9 months old), I'm still frustrated that ATI support won't answer my specific queries- I just get autoreplies.

Anyway, I'm just looking for input from other users with similar experiences. Also, has anyone ever sent a card that was failing-but-marginally working to ATI and gotten a replacement card?

Overall, how is dealing with ATI on warranty items?

 

[GeneralGrievous]

In my experience, artifacts due to overclocked memory are usually big black triangles blocking a good portion of the screen. It's when I overclock the core that I get white spots like that. Is your core at stock speeds?

 

[killer8]

Yes, I am running at 378mhz gpu core rate, the default. When I lower core rate it doesn't change what you see in the pictures. I must lower the memory rate. I've never overclocked anything in my system.

 

[Matthias99]

The second and third pics look like what I get when I OC my 9800Pro's memory too far. I'd RMA the card if it does that at stock speeds and you haven't been overclocking it...

 

[killer8]

Any other ideas guys? Thanks for the input so far.

 

[PliotronX]

Those arti's look fairly similar to the ones my 8500 had with fast writes enabled under D3D. Tried disabling FW?

 

[filmore crashcart]

The triangular bars in the second and third picture look exactly like what I was getting with a stock speed 9700 pro with bad memory.

 

[killer8]

Fast writes are disabled.

 

[Chebago]

I get lines with my 9800pro, not all the time, usually after gaming for awhile, if I turn on my other 2 fans they go away. I'm beginning to think my card might not be as good as it should because it is really struggling with far cry, I got the lines almost instantly.