X800XL artifacting at stock speeds

[geokilla]

Ok. So I run ATI Tool to monitor my video card's temps. Well I play F.E.A.R, and today I decided to overclock the card just a little. First I ran the artifact scanning at stock speeds and after 1m and 30sec, I got artifacts. Is this suppose to happen? I'm using Catalyst drivers version 6.10 I think. It's definitly not the 7 versions.

I'm using the stock fan and the card idles at 45C and tops out at 76C while running the artifact scanning in ATI Tool.

 

[40sTheme]

Tops out at 78C with artifacting?! That sounds like a driver issue. Did you just get the card? If so, uninstall the drivers, run DriverCleaner in Safe Mode for ALL nV (if you came from them)/ATi driver instances available. 78C is perfectly stable...

 

[geokilla]

I got the card a few months ago so I won't be able to get an exchange. I got my computer with the video card so this was not a video upgrade or anything of that sort. The only upgrade that I've done is adding a case fan, and adding another 512MB RAM. I never installed any nVidia drivers except the ones that my motherboard needs.

Can my video card be faulty? I know I can't get an exchange or anything like that because I threw out the ATI box. If the card is faulty, I guess I'll have to use this card till it breaks.

Would having a generic (think that means no-name brand) power supply cause artifacts? I have no idea what the amps or volts are. The power supply is rated at 380w I think.

 

[AFurryReptile]

I used to have the same card, and I had the same problem. The sad truth is that that particular card is pretty terrible for overclocking, mine would also start to artifact at about that temperature. So I would say just leave it at the stock clock speeds, because any little bit of overclocking on that card puts it way hotter than it needs to be, and you won't notice much of a difference in performance anyway. Believe me, I had the same card too.

 

[geokilla]

How about those artifacts. Will my computer or video card be damaged in any way? I wouldn't want to replace my whole computer that's less than a few months old because of a stupid video card.

 

[agathodaimon]

Depends on how hard you pushed it and for how long.
78 degrees is pretty hot. My R430 X800gto2 card gets up to about 55-60 at the HIGHEST with a 120mhz overclock.
I get artifacts when I go much faster... But the card runs perfect still.

 

[Modular]

78 is warm by video card core standards, not hot. The X1XXX cards often reach the 90's and my 6600gt used to hit 91c before I replaced the stock cooler.

 

[geokilla]

But artifacting in less than 2 minutes. I remember reading from a site or thread stating that his video card never got any artifacts at stock speeds. Assuming that my card is faulty, how long should the card last. I'm the one that's an occasional gamer.....homework comes first Or usually it is.

 

[agathodaimon]

I'd consider a card that artifacts at stock speed either needs a new fan or is FUBAR.

 

[Matt2]

I've had this problem twice.

The first was with my X800XL and I am sad to report these cards do suck at overclocking. ATI Tool would however show artifacting, lots of it at low temps. Even though the selected clock speed was a mere bump and was completely stable after hours of gaming.

The same thing happens with my X1900XTX. ATI Tool will artifact immediately even with a higher voltage, but will be 100% game stable. MY card can sit through 6 hours of RTHDRIBL at 80*C without a hitch, but cant pass 5 seconds of ATI Tool?

I just ignore it and use my own stability tests.

 

[geokilla]

How can I tell whether my video card is artifacting or not? The only way I know whether it's artifacting or not is when I run ATI Tool and ATI Tray Tools and scan for artifacts. I still have warranty for my video card so if the card does indeed artifact, I will give it back to Canada Computers for RMA.

I ran ATI Tray Tools and scanned for artifacts. The card was not artifacting for over 6 min, but last time I did a scan, it found artifacts in 2 min.

Edit: I ran ATI Tray Tools 10min ago. The program found artifacts in 10min on the first run, and in the second run, 18 artifacts were found after running the scanner for one minute. I still can't see where the artifacts are though, since I don't know what they look like. I am currently using Catalyst 7.4.

 

[brencat]

I suggest you uninstall that Catalyst driver, do a driverclean like previously recommended, and install the Omega Drivers (just Google for them). Perfectly safe and they are optimized for gaming. I'm using a slightly older version...Omega 6.3, and they work great. I play FPSs like BF2 almost exclusively.

The gfx chip on the X800XL is a notoriously bad OCer. The numbers you see in my sig (435 core/574 mem) are close to the limit on stock cooling. I've seen some people with hi-perf cooling take the core to about 452. No artifacts at this setting in ATI Tray Tools...using the Omega Drivers.

 

[evolucion8]

They don't overclock well cause they are based on the 110nm process which is a budget manufacturing process with no benefits of Low K dielectric like the X800XT/X850XT have.

 

[geokilla]

How can I tell whether my video card does artifact or not. I know that my video card artifacts through ATI Tray Tools and ATI Tools. I can't really see the artifacts, since I'm not a crazy gamer/video kind of person. I'm need to say something to the Canada Computers' guy when I give in a RMA because of the artifacts. I don't want them to say something like "Little artifacts like this are a very common thing" because I'm pretty sure it's not a common thing.

Also, since I'm RMAing the card, I have given up on overclocking the card.

 

[evolucion8]

Well, usually when a GPU artifacts, you can see it, sometimes can be white dots, or distorted polygons or missing textures, or vertical or horizontal lines, but sometimes those can't be seen when they're not severe and ATi Tray Tool and ATi Tool can trap them.