How to test a possible faulty video card?

[Kinesis]

Wondered if anyone could tell me what kind of testing a 'store" or manufacturer would do on a video card that is brought in because of artifacts being produced in games?

Reason I am asking is my XFX 7970 has been producing artifacts in State of Decay,usually the temperature hits 70 + Celsius but last night it was 64 degrees and the zomies turned to pick rectangles. Up till last night it was only State of Decay, but I saw artifacts in Elder Scrolls as well. Unfortunately this doesn't consistently happen, and sometimes a reboot clears it right up.

I purchased the card back in June and got a 2 year warranty (IPR) with it, but before I take it in I wondered if there was as certain test I could perform to try and produce the artifacts more consistently?

I ran 3D Mark and Heaven Benchmark as maxed out as possible for a few runs with no artifacts appearing. Even when the artifacts appeared in the above stated games none were seen in those graphics tests.

Appreciate any thoughts or recommendations

 

[nwo]

If it seems to be happening at a certain temp, then try manually decreasing fan % to slowly and gradually force it to exceed the temp threshold during a benchmark or gaming situation.

 

[Kinesis]

If it seems to be happening at a certain temp, then try manually decreasing fan % to slowly and gradually force it to exceed the temp threshold during a benchmark or gaming situation.

Yeah tride that, didn't have an effect. I had the temp around 54 Celsius and I still got artifacts

examples:
Mountain Good


Mountain Bad

 

[cmdrdredd]

What is your FPS when running these games? Are you using vsync? I ask because skyrim (specifically the engine used) has problems when the FPS goes up close to 80. So I always had to limit the FPS to 70 or so to avoid glitching out the game(I don't use vsync due to input lag). If you are using vsync then the issue is unrelated.

If the above does not apply or does not help, try underclocking the video card. I Know you will lose performance, but if you drop the clocks by 200Mhz each and the problems go away then the card is not running properly. Are you overclocking by chance?

 

[Kinesis]

I will turn on FRAPs and find out, but I know I have vsync off. But wouldn't the issue be more common if it was related to vsync?

The base GPU is 500Mhz, but clocks to 1000 Mhz in graphical games.

So technically I am not overclocking, just allowing the drivers/control panel to perform as "designed"

 

[cmdrdredd]

I will turn on FRAPs and find out, but I know I have vsync off. But wouldn't the issue be more common if it was related to vsync?

The base GPU is 500Mhz, but clocks to 1000 Mhz in graphical games.

So technically I am not overclocking, just allowing the drivers/control panel to perform as "designed"

Ok so you're just running stock. It makes it easier to troubleshoot. As for the vsync thing, no it wouldn't be universal. Some games don't have a problem running as high as you want to run. I just know Skyrim glitches when the fps goes too high.

 

[FalseChristian]

It looks like your card is fine. Maybe those games need a patch specifically for AMD GPUs or maybe it's a driver issue.

 

[Kinesis]

It looks like your card is fine. Maybe those games need a patch specifically for AMD GPUs or maybe it's a driver issue.

No so sure, now I get this nice pink flicker during the intro part of Skyrim. This makes 3 games now that I am having issues with.



Oh well guess I will see if the card goes completely for loss or shows additional more regular issues before taking it in.

Thanks