XFX 7900GS artifacts started... dont know why?

[bigblockmatt]

I have had a xfx 7900gs back in november. a while ago, i noticed that it was running hot, took a look and saw the fan stopped spinning. i swapped out the stock hsf and put in a zalman vf900. it has been working great!! no issues. the nvidia monitor shows temp of ~49C. The past week, i would randomly start getting artifacts when i would play COD4 and it would continue when i stop playing. i would turn off the comp and keep it off over night, and still would get the artifacts when starting up the comp. i took out the card, blew dust out - did NOT solve the problem.

I took out card, redid thermal compound (ceramique by arctic silver). plugged back in and it worked great. played COD4 several different times and it worked fine. then it randomly started showing artifacts (no spikes in temp). i unplugged the card and put in another comp and artifacts showed there as well.

I dont have it overclocked.

Here is a picture


if you have any ideas, let me know.

Thanks!

[vbironchef]

let's start by saying Hi Have you tried to download the lastest drivers for that card? Go into device manager to see if you see any errors. I don't know much else to tell you with the info you gave us. Just have a question. Did you put in a new cpu cooler? Or did you put on a GPU cooler? If you took the card out and put it in another computer and then put it back, I would make sure you have the right drivers and do a windows update. Let us know how things are going. The pic does look bad.

[DMB2000uk]

If you manage to get the card to not artifact any more, then you should grab ATITool, and run it's artifact tester.

It could be that the card is artifacting lots in game, but they are really little ones that you can't really see.

If this errors lots, then you are just going to RMA the card (which you might have to do anyway).

Dan

[bigblockmatt]

yes, i have used the latest drivers..

I only put a new gpu cooler in. (i already had an after market cpu cooler on).

ATI tool: does it matter if it is a Nvidia card?

does putting an after market cooler on void warranty and prevent me from RMAing?

[DMB2000uk]

No it doesn't matter as we aren't trying to change the clocks on it (even thought it works with some nvidia cards).

How long after installing the new cooler did the artifacts occur? I've had them appear on a card before as the cooler mount was pressing too hard on the back of the card.

I think XFX are pretty good with warranties and will let you do a lot to the card before it voids it. If you do have to send it back then just put the stock cooler back on and all will be good with them.

Dan

[bigblockmatt]

i have had the new cooler on for months before it started showing artifacts. once it started showing the 1st time, i took the cooler off and reset it (cleaned the thermal lube off and put new stuff on.) it was fine for several days and then the artifacts came back. i will try resetting the cooler once more (maybe i had it on too tight.) we'll see!