Graphics card artifacts

[Wolf52]

I have a Geforce 7900 GT and i have been getting strange graphical issues with some of my games lately. It first showed up in the Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, and now in Medieval 2: total war, especially during battles. Its hard to describe, but it looks as if a completely flat plane of a single color gets streched from an object and runs all the way to the edge of the screen. If i change camera angles it will go away until i go back to the original angle. If the game lets me alt-tab (which oblivion didnt) i could do that and most of the time it would be fixed. My question is, are these caused by bad drivers or overheating? I am currently using the latest nvidia drivers for my card. Any help would be appreciated.

EDIT: I have also gone into my nvidia control panel and changed my conformant texture clamp to off, which has helped a bit. It still hasnt eliminated the problem however.

 

[Zelig]

Either overheating or a defective card. If you've had the card for a while, and it's the fun is clear of dust, your best bet is probably getting an RMA.

 

[Wolf52]

Whats an rma?

 

[Zelig]

Return Merchandise Authorization, call up your manufacturer (BFG, EVGA or whatever), and either ask for an RMA, or explain your problem, and they'll probably arrange for a replacement.

It was on ongoing problem with a relatively high number of 7900 series cards, mine has been having issues for months, but since I rarely game anymore, I haven't gotten around to replacing it yet.

 

[kuukkeli]

Either overheating or a defective card.

Or both My first 7900GT had similar symptoms and it's cooling fan was dead from the beginning. Although at least in Oblivion something like the description can also be caused by bad meshes in mods that alter or add graphics (though I believe they'd be accompanied by black screens as well).

 

[Wolf52]

Well, the thing is ive had it for about a year and a half now, so i doubt that i'll get a replacement.

 

[Zelig]

Well, the thing is ive had it for about a year and a half now, so i doubt that i'll get a replacement.

What make is it?

A lot of video card companies have warranties longer than a year, EVGA and BFG both have lifetime warranties.

 

[Wolf52]

Its an asus. I'll send them an email today. M2:TW just froze up again, this time in the campaign map even. Strange that i can still control the mouse but everything else is unresponsive.

 

[Ghost Ranger]

It must be heat. Did you overclock any components of your computer? Did you try cleaning dust out of the case? Is one of the fans blocked somehow?

 

[Wolf52]

Nope, i havent overclocked anything. I also make sure there isnt much dust in the computer and my fans arent blocked. I also have a little temperature monitor that ive started to look at off and on, and from what i can tell the gpu idles at 115 degrees F and while running M2:TW it goes up to about 130 degrees.

 

[Ghost Ranger]

The temp is strange, although the idle temp is ~8°F more than what's expected, but is still way below acceptable levels. Source

 

[Wolf52]

Check that, when running the campaign mode its at 130, but when i go to a battle it can be between 150-160. Still pretty acceptable under full load i would think.

Oh and this is just great, when i go to asus to register my card to get warranty support, the damn server is busy. Has been for two days now. Sheesh.

 

[Pyrion]

Likely overheating. Also the 7900GT's have been notorious for developing problems ultimately requiring RMAs and the symptoms are pretty much the same: card works fine for a while, then starts artifacting like crazy and ultimately ends up dying, and I've read of multiple things being attributed to this, such as bad voltage regulators and bad memory controllers.

The 7950GT doesn't have these problems.

 

[Wolf52]

Well, i got an RMA from asus, since i'm still under warrantee. I hope it doesnt take the full 10 days for them to fix it, since i'll probably be going to a few lan parties in the near future. Hopefully my old radeon 9800 pro can cut it for a while...

 

[GenMarshall]

I remember that when my video crapped out and started getting the BSODs that I had to get a new video card.

 

[Naked Paladin]

I have an EVGA version of this card and from my research about this problem, the memory controllers on these cards tend to have problems. I am having the same problem but I haven't gotten around to RMA'ing my card yet.