WTF is causing visual artifacts?

[Mears]

My computer NForce3, Athlon64 3800+, and NVidia 6600GT started screwing up colors on my desktop and drawing rainbows when browsing the web. 3Dmark has so many artifacts I feel like I'm looking through a kaliedascope. Linux immediately hard locks after loading the login screen. I was sure this pointed to a problem with my video card. I was even more certain after running a few iterations of super pi. Just to be sure, I put the video card in one of my servers runing windows server 2003 and downloaded the latest forceware drivers and enabled full hardware accelleration. No problems whatsoever. I think this rules out my video card. So now I'm wondering what is responsible for graphical oddities when running winxp and causing linux to hard lock.

 

[myocardia]

It's most likely either a problem with your RAM, or a weak psu. My guess is the psu; they can cause all kinds of problems, when they have barely enough power.

 

[Mears]

If it was a problem with RAM, wouldn't you expect super pi to bomb out? I'm currently putting it through a 3dmark workout in my server, but I'll check for undervoltage in my desktop after I'm done testing it in the server.

 

[Mears]

Video card passed through 3dmark with flying colors on my server. I checked the voltage on the 5v and 12v lines after putting the card back in my desktop and they both looked ok (5.1V & 12.1V). I currently running through memtest86 and so far after 2 full passes, no errors.

 

[pcgeek11]

The problem may very well be heat related. The card may be getting hotter in your PC than in the Server.

pcgeek11

 

[Markbnj]

Originally posted by: pcgeek11
The problem may very well be heat related. The card may be getting hotter in your PC than in the Server.

pcgeek11

Yeah, I usually think heat first when I see artifacts.

 

[ShellGuy]

Mine was a pwr supply issue, not enough juice for the card but then it was a 6800gt up from a radion 7200.. LOL.. what is the wattage of the psu??


Will G

 

[Mears]

Heat is fine...around 50C. I checked the temp in both the server and my desktop. The desktop PSU is actually nicer than the server, which is only using the PSU that came with the antec case it is in. The desktop PSU is using a 550W Enermax. I've had this same setup for almost a year with no problems.

 

[Operandi]

If the card works in a different machine then it's probably getting bad power from either the PSU itself or from the motherboard.

If it was the PSU I would suspect there would be CPU instability as well so my inclination is to think the motherboard may be at fault. Check the board for signs of bad capacitors (badcaps.net.).

 

[Mears]

I checked the board's capacitor's and didn't notice any obvious bulges or leaked electrolyte.