Radeon Diamond 6950 textures flickering

[admaster99]

xx

 

[MentalIlness]

High I posted a while back that I suspected my video card was bad because I overclocked the bios to 6970, it started showing artifacts really bad soon after. So I reset it to the original bios and it still showed some artifacts in Vista. But I decided to reinstall XP because I like it better and I have not noticed any artifacts but I notice a lot of textures flicker on the desktop(like when you click on something) and in certain games and programs. Games as in crysis and doom 3 also I like to run UDk every now and then and when I jump into game the graphics around the edge of the screen go crazy.

Also the program constantly freezes on me which I never had these issues with my old 8800gt is the card bad or is this common for ati cards because of drivers. My window to return the card it is getting smaller so I need to know what you guys think thanks.

So you are saying ..... You flashed/unlocked the BIOS to run at 6970 spec, overclocked....and possibly damaged the card and now you are looking for a solution for a problem that you potentially caused....and if there is no solution; you are going to return the card ?

Did you over volt anything ?

Very unethical. :thumbsdown:

Other than that, based on the info you have provided, It is not due to drivers IMO.

 

[mnewsham]

OP fairly sure you screwed the pooch and its your own damn fault.

 

[nitromullet]

I'm surprised AMD hasn't gotten rid of the BIOS switch yet.

"Just put the new Scam-o-rama switch into the 'B' position, flash your BIOS, and you're on the fast track to becoming an RMA fraudster!"

 

[3DVagabond]

Make sure windows is up to date. Make sure Direct X is up to date. Do a fresh driver install with the latest drivers. Check you have the latest game patches, etc...

Here's a link to the latest Dx9 version for XP.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=2da43d38-db71-4c1b-bc6a-9b6652cd92a3

 

[admaster99]

thanks 3Dvagebond for the sincere post, otherwise I removed the original due to all the haters out there.

 

[mnewsham]

thanks 3Dvagebond for the sincere post, otherwise I removed the original due to all the haters out there.

I only hate fraud

 

[Arkadrel]

You have to be very carefull of flashing bioses, not all of them use the same "volt" settings for memory ect, *IF* you where *nutty* enough to flash with a bios that uses differnt amounts of volts, and you cause damage the card because of such...

You need to read up carefully because you try any such things, and before hand know that you could *damage* your card, so you cant expect 100% succesrates.

and if such does happend, its not the cards fault... you fried it on your own.

 

[3DVagabond]

thanks 3Dvagebond for the sincere post, otherwise I removed the original due to all the haters out there.

Well, maybe if you sort it out yourself, we won't have to worry what your next move should be.

 

[MentalIlness]

High I posted a while back that I suspected my video card was bad because I overclocked the bios to 6970, it started showing artifacts really bad soon after. So I reset it to the original bios and it still showed some artifacts in Vista. But I decided to reinstall XP because I like it better and I have not noticed any artifacts but I notice a lot of textures flicker on the desktop(like when you click on something) and in certain games and programs. Games as in crysis and doom 3 also I like to run UDk every now and then and when I jump into game the graphics around the edge of the screen go crazy.

Also the program constantly freezes on me which I never had these issues with my old 8800gt is the card bad or is this common for ati cards because of drivers. My window to return the card it is getting smaller so I need to know what you guys think thanks.

thanks 3Dvagebond for the sincere post, otherwise I removed the original due to all the haters out there.

Removed the OP because of haters ? Or did you remove the OP so you didn't get flamed for being unethical ?

Might as well face it, you screwed the card. There is a reason the artifacts are there, and if they weren't there before the BIOS change, then it is your fault. And there is no reason in hiding behind your own actions.

Chalk it up to a learning experience, and research quite a bit more before attempting it again. Which in turn should alleviate any future occurrences.

In the meantime. Buy another video card.

And just so you know, they can and more than likely will detect if a failed BIOS change attempt was made, and can very easily reject the RMA.

 

[admaster99]

But as far as it knows it works just fine I have it back to original and its been fine, I'm just wondering if its normal for a ati card to do this stuff because I'm accustom to nividia and I never do this stuff. And no I didn't overclock it. I just read around and everybody else was doing it I figure alright why not.

 

[thilanliyan]

I'm just wondering if its normal for a ati card to do this stuff because I'm accustom to nividia and I never do this stuff. And no I didn't overclock it. I just read around and everybody else was doing it I figure alright why not.

Hehehe, flash the BIOS from a GTX570 onto a GTX560 and you'll run into the same problem of the card dying...it isn't limited to ATI cards. A 6970 BIOS IS NOT INTENDED TO BE RUN ON A 6950 CARD!!. Doing it just because other people were is not always a good idea, but I guess you know that now.

 

[admaster99]

yep lesson learned never again

 

[GaiaHunter]

But as far as it knows it works just fine I have it back to original and its been fine, I'm just wondering if its normal for a ati card to do this stuff because I'm accustom to nividia and I never do this stuff. And no I didn't overclock it. I just read around and everybody else was doing it I figure alright why not.

No, it isn't normal for an AMD or NVIDIA card to flicker in the desktop or show artifacts in games.

And I've been using AMD drivers for more then 2 years now with no problems.

 

[MentalIlness]

yep lesson learned never again

Lets just hope somehow the card turns out to be fine. These cards are too hard to come by for some people, like the more expensive models. Like your 6970. For a card that nice, is there even a real reason to unlock the shaders/bios ?

Overclocking for e-peen is not good. Most people overclock for scores/benchs/comparisons by saying....AMD is better than NVidia and vice-versa. Or they overclock because they need more performance to make their games run the way they want them too. You can be an average user of a PC, and still be a hardcore gamer. Overclocking doesn't make your a better gamer, it just can cause a lot of problems. Afterall...GPU's are bought for games.

And if your not a gamer...why the 6970 ?

Just wondering...what is the rest of the specs for your PC ?

 

[Arkadrel]

Admaster99,

its not 100% sure to work.. its only like 95% that work... you might be the 5% unlucky guy with your grafic card. Its a gamble, someone losses, occassionally that person is yourself.

OR... the bios you flashed was a bad one, or you didnt follow the steps right ect ect.

* Think I heard some say the safest was a modified 6950 bios with them unlocked, not useing a 6970's. That way your sure its not altering other stuff, all you want is those extra shaders.

 

[MentalIlness]

Also, what resolution do you game at ?

 

[GaiaHunter]

Lets just hope somehow the card turns out to be fine. These cards are too hard to come by for some people, like the more expensive models. Like your 6970. For a card that nice, is there even a real reason to unlock the shaders/bios ?

Overclocking for e-peen is not good. Most people overclock for scores/benchs/comparisons by saying....AMD is better than NVidia and vice-versa. Or they overclock because they need more performance to make their games run the way they want them too. You can be an average user of a PC, and still be a hardcore gamer. Overclocking doesn't make your a better gamer, it just can cause a lot of problems. Afterall...GPU's are bought for games.

And if your not a gamer...why the 6970 ?

Just wondering...what is the rest of the specs for your PC ?

I don't understand this new attitude around here - OC, unlocking shaders, flashing, etc, has a risk, but it isn't a substancial one, as long people do some research.

In this case, of unlocking 6950 shaders, using a modified 6950 bios instead of a 6970 would have been safer.

Additionally sometimes cards (6800GT and 4850 here) get crapped even if you don't do any OC, overvolting, unlocking, etc.

It isn't like the guy burned his card and it doesn't even start anymore! The card can play games for crying out loud!

He should dial down all Overclocks, including any CPU overclocks, return ram to stock values, list system specs (for all we know he can even be using a PSU that barely provides enough power), etc.

 

[admaster99]

Thank you gaiahunter because my card always flickered and acted weird when I first got it cause I remember I had friends over the first weekend I got it and I remember Mafia II was another game that stuff would flicker really bad in the background. We played it all weekend. And then I stupidy later changed the bios and thats when it started showing artifacts which I knew wasnt right. So I put it right back to the original. But it still does all the flickering of textures that it originally has done.

Also I have another question, I recently switched processors from an Intel 6420 duo core to a quad core Q6600 and my computer seems like it doesn't run as smoothly as it did before like it stutters during movies on desktop sometimes and also while having multiple programs running. Is it the processor or maybe something else? Just wondering? Because I did change my harddrive also. But I can't imagine it would make that much of a difference.

Specs
- DDR2 6 gigs of ram
- PSU Coolermaster 600 watt
- Q6600 Intel Processor stock cooler
- 400 gig harddrive
- Abit IP-35E

 

[admaster99]

Yeah it runs games great like really smoothly with no artifacts like Dead Space 2 all the way up graphic wise never even hesitates. I just find it really weird the texture issue and it drives me nuts.

 

[admaster99]

Depends which runs better usually 1600x1000 or 1900x1000, Nothing is overclocked except for the cpu but that never breaks 70C even under extreme loads. And I was watching the temp on the video card while playing DS2 for several hours and it never broke 60C but I had the fan speed turned up to 50% manually.

 

[mnewsham]

Depends which runs better usually 1600x1000 or 1900x1000

1680x1050 or 1600x900? and 1920x1080 i assume for the second?

 

[GaiaHunter]

Thank you gaiahunter because my card always flickered and acted weird when I first got it cause I remember I had friends over the first weekend I got it and I remember Mafia II was another game that stuff would flicker really bad in the background. We played it all weekend. And then I stupidy later changed the bios and thats when it started showing artifacts which I knew wasnt right. So I put it right back to the original. But it still does all the flickering of textures that it originally has done.

What Catalyst version are you using?

And by flicker in the background, you mean desktop or game?

If it is in game might be because AMD image generally is sharper but more shimmery when compared to NVIDIA.

Download the latest catalyst drivers and make sure the texture filtering is set for high quality and Anisotropic Filtering is set to 16x.

Also I have another question, I recently switched processors from an Intel 6420 duo core to a quad core Q6600 and my computer seems like it doesn't run as smoothly as it did before like it stutters during movies on desktop sometimes and also while having multiple programs running. Is it the processor or maybe something else? Just wondering? Because I did change my harddrive also. But I can't imagine it would make that much of a difference.

Weird since it should be the other way around.

Specs
- DDR2 6 gigs of ram
- PSU Coolermaster 600 watt
- Q6600 Intel Processor stock cooler
- 400 gig harddrive
- Abit IP-35E

Is that 3 sticks of 2GB? Can you try with only 2 sticks?

Also, what is the bios version of your motherboard?

 

[admaster99]

It is actually 4 sticks (2) at 1 gig and (2) at 2 gig because I originally started with only 2 gigs. Also I believe I have driver 10.12 because I am unable to get catalyst to open with the lastest driver package for some reason. The packaging verison is 8.812. As far as flickering its both really like I notice when I minimize a window all the icons in the background will flicker. Also if I sometimes have a downloading window active in the background it will kind of pop through my current window and causes it to flicker. Its really hard to explain but maybe I'm reading to much into it either way it drives me nuts. And certain textures in games act weird like I was playing a game the other day crysis I beleive and out in the middle of the ocean where the water was it was like spiked up!?!? Also the motherboard bios is up to date.

 

[GaiaHunter]

It is actually 4 sticks (2) at 1 gig and (2) at 2 gig because I originally started with only 2 gigs. Also I believe I have driver 10.12 because I am unable to get catalyst to open with the lastest driver package for some reason. The packaging verison is 8.812. As far as flickering its both really like I notice when I minimize a window all the icons in the background will flicker. Also if I sometimes have a downloading window active in the background it will kind of pop through my current window and causes it to flicker. Its really hard to explain but maybe I'm reading to much into it either way it drives me nuts. And certain textures in games act weird like I was playing a game the other day crysis I beleive and out in the middle of the ocean where the water was it was like spiked up!?!? Also the motherboard bios is up to date.

The 8.812 is the 11.1 if I'm not mistaken.

What OS are you currently using? XP 64bits?