HIS 5770 Artifacts

[DrZoidberg]

I bought a brand new 5770 about 3 months ago. Occassionally the card artifacts in games like Wow. Triangle, coloured lines appear around the screen and I have to alt tab and wait a while then switch back to game for the artifacts to go away.

This is on stock clocks as well (no overclocking). My case is an Antec Sonata 3 with 500W Earthwatts PS.

I noticed when I took the video card out of the box there was a bit of space between the heatsink and the GPU. Are other 5770 owners experiencing this issue, or people with HIS graphics cards. I tried returning the card to the shop i bought it from but they tested it in front of me and due to air conditioning it wasn't artifacting for one 3dmark run. What are my options?

 

[DrZoidberg]

Picture of the card with stock egg cooler

The 2nd picture is a bit blurry but hope you can see the gap between the heatsink and chip.

 

[badb0y]

Try to reseat the heatsink on the GPU and see if the problem persists. If the problem doesn't go away than RMA the card.

Also when you take the cooler off, clean the other grease off and apply a new layer. Make sure there is contact between the GPU and the thermal compound and the heatsink.

 

[Phynaz]

Underclock the ram a little. If that doesn't work then RMA.

 

[blanketyblank]

Play your games windowed and monitor the temps so you know what point it starts artifacting. Since alt tabbing helps it's likely a heat issue.
Then tell your local store the temps where the problem starts so they can run furmark or something to get it there.