GTX 295 Artifacts!

[Gracchus]

Can anyone suggest what may cause this, It also occured continued after a pause when I exited Empire Total War and covered my desktop. only a restart got rid of it. here is the link to my screenshot:

Screenshot



Sytem:

Windows: Vista Ulimate x64
Memory (RAM): 8191 MB
CPU Info: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q9450 @ 2.66GHz
CPU Speed: 2690.9 MHz
Sound card: Speakers (Auzen X-Fi Prelude 7.
Display Adapters: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 | RDPDD Chained DD | RDP Encoder Mirror Driver
Monitor: Dell WFP2707
Network Adapters: Marvell Yukon 88E8056 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller #2 | Marvell Yukon 88E8056 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller
CD / DVD Drives: E: HL-DT-STBD-RE GGW-H20L | F: PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-215
Mouse: 16 Button Wheel Mouse Present
Hard Disks: C: 931.5GB | D: 298.1GB | G: 149.0GB
Hard Disks - Free: C: 810.0GB | D: 260.7GB | G: 82.3GB
USB Controllers: 8 host controllers.
Motherboard: ASUSTeK Computer INC. Rampage Formula
TV card: Hauppauge HVR1700
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 860 Watt

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: Gracchus
Can anyone suggest what may cause this, It also occured continued after a pause when I exited Empire Total War and covered my desktop. only a restart got rid of it. here is the link to my screenshot:

Screenshot



Sytem:

Windows: Vista Ulimate x64
Memory (RAM): 8191 MB
CPU Info: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q9450 @ 2.66GHz
CPU Speed: 2690.9 MHz
Sound card: Speakers (Auzen X-Fi Prelude 7.
Display Adapters: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 | RDPDD Chained DD | RDP Encoder Mirror Driver
Monitor: Dell WFP2707
Network Adapters: Marvell Yukon 88E8056 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller #2 | Marvell Yukon 88E8056 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller
CD / DVD Drives: E: HL-DT-STBD-RE GGW-H20L | F: PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-215
Mouse: 16 Button Wheel Mouse Present
Hard Disks: C: 931.5GB | D: 298.1GB | G: 149.0GB
Hard Disks - Free: C: 810.0GB | D: 260.7GB | G: 82.3GB
USB Controllers: 8 host controllers.
Motherboard: ASUSTeK Computer INC. Rampage Formula
TV card: Hauppauge HVR1700
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 860 Watt

Try reinstalling the drivers. Might want to run DriverCleaner Pro first in Safe Mode just to be sure it takes care of everything.

 

[Gracchus]

I should have mentioned I've done that, and eventually resorted to a full format and reinstall of vista in my trouble shooting.

Also have done the following:

Ran memtest for 9hrs no errors found.

Before reinstall of windows set acpi to enabled & acpi 2.0 to enabled.

Put all standard BIOS settings from auto to manual as this board kind of favours a hands off auto overclock. ie DRAM 667hz, FSB 333hz, command rate 2T, loose timings 6-6-6-20, plug n play enabled.

Changed power settings to performance, changed Visual Effects to adjust to best performance, changed to Vista Basic & disabled the windows sidebar.

Tried a different GPU an ATI 4870 which worked without problems.

I suspect that it is something to do with either the card or its drivers, however I already RMA a previous GTX 295 for a similar problem, coincidentally the replacements serial number is just a few digits away from the replacement so they may be part of a bad run.

I want to rule out all other possibilities before considering an RMA

 

[Hauk]

Not sure I'm reading your sig right.. do you have two 295's? If so, that's a lot of gpu for a 2.6 quad. Loaded system too.. that psu would be straining if you have 2 295's.

Regarding the screen issue, wow, hope it's just drivers. I've seen checkerboard patterns with shader clocked too high. Clocks on core/shader/memory? Case ventillation?

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: Hauk
Not sure I'm reading your sig right.. do you have two 295's? If so, that's a lot of gpu for a 2.6 quad. Loaded system too.. that psu would be straining if you have 2 295's.

Regarding the screen issue, wow, hope it's just drivers. I've seen checkerboard patterns with shader clocked too high. Clocks on core/shader/memory? Case ventillation?

that psu should handle all that just fine with room to spare. if he really is running 2 gtx295 cards with that cpu then that indeed is pretty stupid. he likely isnt even coming close to utilizing that second gtx295 in many games. hell that cpu would even keep 1 gtx295 from reaching its full potential.

 

[Gracchus]

I am using only a single GTX295 the system spec program I used detects it as two cards, just as windows does, an unusual feature of double chip cards.

Also no overclocking of anykind has been done, evga precision gave load temperature of about 75 degrees celsius.

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: Gracchus
I am using only a single GTX295 the system spec program I used detects it as two cards, just as windows does, an unusual feature of double chip cards.

okay good hear that you were not crazy enough to put 2 of them with that cpu. in any case when you get this all sorted out you most certainly need to oc that cpu even with the single gtx295. you are really keeping that card from performing at its best with your core 2 at just 2.66.

 

[Hauk]

So stock clocks and heat isn't an issue. Hmm.. video corruption that looks like that. Time for some expert opinions. Help the OP out gurus..

 

[imported_Shaq]

I just got a 295 but I am returning it because it locks up in several games, took forever to alt-tab and exit games sometimes. Do you have crysis? That is a good way to test the card to see if it is good. My 295 locked up within a couple minutes. I tried different drivers etc. and it did it in Windows XP and 7. The screen looked similar to yours..everything was messed up. The screen was still frozen with my finger on the reset button! I'll stick with my GX2. I think I need a CPU upgrade more anyway.

 

[Hauk]

Crysis definitely stresses a card. Temps shoot up quicker and higher that with any other game. With all games except Crysis, my 285's load to around 59c with 50% fan. With Cysis they load to 73 and fans spin up more.

 

[masteryoda34]

To me, the screenshot looks like the graphics card memory is getting errors. i.e. it is overheating or overclocked too far.

 

[Rubycon]

I hope these cards are not POS'. I was planning on replacing my 280 with one because 2560x1600 slows down just a bit too much on the 280. Otherwise the 280 is a fantastic card.

 

[Hauk]

Originally posted by: masteryoda34
To me, the screenshot looks like the graphics card memory is getting errors. i.e. it is overheating or overclocked too far.

Yea now that I think about it I do recall some posts with similar corruptions, memory errors. I'd test with case open and fan at 60% or better, rule out overheating. Perhaps mfr got a bad batch of memory..

 

[MrK6]

Originally posted by: Hauk

Originally posted by: masteryoda34
To me, the screenshot looks like the graphics card memory is getting errors. i.e. it is overheating or overclocked too far.

Yea now that I think about it I do recall some posts with similar corruptions, memory errors. I'd test with case open and fan at 60% or better, rule out overheating. Perhaps mfr got a bad batch of memory..

Pretty much it. If it isn't overheating the memory is just bad. Try it at 100% fan and see what you get.

 

[FalseChristian]

These are all good reasons to stay away from nVidia's sandwich GPUs. ATI's method of putting two GPUs on one PCB is far better.

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: FalseChristian
These are all good reasons to stay away from nVidia's sandwich GPUs. ATI's method of putting two GPUs on one PCB is far better.

yes because those run cooler and quieter... wait no they dont. :roll:

 

[Hauk]

Originally posted by: toyota

Originally posted by: FalseChristian
These are all good reasons to stay away from nVidia's sandwich GPUs. ATI's method of putting two GPUs on one PCB is far better.

yes because those run cooler and quieter... wait no they dont. :roll:

ATI cooling typically provides a separate heatsink for the gpu(s) however. nV's big block touching everything solution takes gpu heat and spreads it around to other card components.

 

[Gracchus]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys, I agree it probably is bad memory in the same batch of cards, I've decided to RMA, just wanted to check if I'd missed anything before doing it.

I think I'll get a 4890 its a single card and probably better for the cpu I have.

 

[Alternate]

I have the same issue on xp pro and thought it was just xp at this point until I saw his vista post.

So far I've called corsair and rma'd my psu, rma'd my 295 and gone though the first 2 tiers of troubleshooting at Evga. I tested the card in my gigabyte GA-Ep45-UD3R with 4 gigs of Gskill 8500 Ram and got the same issue. I'll post picks. I've reinstalled xp 2 times on both systems.

I'll post those screens of my issue tonight.

 

[Alternate]

This issue started out happening after about 2 hours on the new motherboard on World at War. Then it was happening after 18-25 mins. The game is now doing it after about 2 mins. The artifacting didnt start on Sid Meiers Rail Roads for at least 3 hrs. Now its happening regularly.


Artifacting:
http://s564.photobucket.com/al...X%20295%20Artifacting/


My artifacting looks WAY worse than Gracchus'. I have seen his type before though.

I also have a PC Power PSU 750 on the way for my other system and I'll be using it for TSing purposes.

Let me know what you guys think.

 

[evolucion8]

Originally posted by: toyota

Originally posted by: FalseChristian
These are all good reasons to stay away from nVidia's sandwich GPUs. ATI's method of putting two GPUs on one PCB is far better.

yes because those run cooler and quieter... wait no they dont. :roll:

It's a high end solution, if you want an ultra quiet card, buy an passive midrange videocard, high end solutions are bound to system with lots of case fans due to a high clocked quad core, multiple videocards, RAID hard drives etc.[/quote]

Originally posted by: Alternate
This issue started out happening after about 2 hours on the new motherboard on World at War. Then it was happening after 18-25 mins. The game is now doing it after about 2 mins. The artifacting didnt start on Sid Meiers Rail Roads for at least 3 hrs. Now its happening regularly.


Artifacting:
http://s564.photobucket.com/al...X%20295%20Artifacting/


My artifacting looks WAY worse than Gracchus'. I have seen his type before though.

I also have a PC Power PSU 750 on the way for my other system and I'll be using it for TSing purposes.

Let me know what you guys think.

Those kind of artifacts looks like is VRAM related, the same issue which is causing trouble to Gracchus and other GTX 295 owners acrross many forums.

 

[Grooveriding]

Originally posted by: masteryoda34
To me, the screenshot looks like the graphics card memory is getting errors. i.e. it is overheating or overclocked too far.

Really ? I thought the memory artifacts were of the sort that look like long moving triangles, they kind of come off the tips and edges of objects on your screen and will move about as you move in the game ?

I thought that the core related artifacts are like the ones in the screenshot, dots and overall screen corruption.

Or I guess I might have it backwards ?

 

[Alternate]

Yah VRAM because the textures are screwed up right? Well I reinstalled the game and now it's going longer than 5 min and I'll update with testing results later. Ty for input btw.

 

[TheDoc9]

probably the card memory/clock as already suggested. I would also re-install directX along with the video drivers. Also don't know if you mentioned it, but try the games in different resolutions.

One other thing to try. If you have different components of your computer plugged into different electrical outlets this could be an issue and cause noise. I've had issues with noise in my speakers and have read about people having video related issues because of this.

Example of what might cause this: Plugging the computer, speakers and accessories into a power bar from one outlet, while plugging the monitor into the outlet on an adjacent wall.

 

[Alternate]

I forgot to mention Everythings bone stock and never been modified or overclocked. Bios is at failsafe settings preset