Artifacts appearing in game, most commonly with two or more programs running

[fitsu]

PC Spec:

Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1
ASUS Sabertooth 990fx r2.0
Gigabyte HD7970 1GHz Clock
Novatech powerstation black edition 750W Silent ATX2 Modular
AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1090T 3.2GHz
Corsair CL9 8GB 1866 Ram (running at 1333)
120GB Extreme SATA 6Gb/s 2.5" Solid State Drive (OS installed on this)
2TB Barracuda SATA 6Gb/s 64MB 7200RPM Hard Drive
Monitor #1 - BenQ G2450H (HDMI)
Monitor #2 - Philips 230C, CRT (DVI)
Nothing is overclocked

Other parts i've tried:

Corsair CL9 8GB 1866 Ram (Running at 1333), different cards
GA-990FXA-UD3
AMD FX 8350 Eight-Core Processor 4.00 GHz
Just the SSD alone

I recently built a new PC and i've been having a strange graphical issue, when i'm running more than one application at a time (such as a youtube video and Diablo 3) which ever application I opened second will have some visual issues appear on it at times. On Diablo 3 I get two small parallel white/black lines scattered around the screen, on a youtube video I get white lines moving diagonally across the screen, on World of Warcraft I get objects that look kind of like a cracked mirror scattered around the screen, on far cry 3 there has been large red squares when I look into the distance and on League of Legends I get black squares surrounding any object I hover my mouse over. This issues don't always appear instantly i'll usually need to play for a bit or change a setting, like in diablo 3 change from windows mode to fullscreen, yet once they have appeared they will always appear instantly when running two applications until I reset. I've found that if in Diablo 3 the shadows are set to medium the issue will go away for a while but eventually it'll reappear.

I've tried everything I can think of to fix this, i've updated the BIOS, tried only one monitor, updated Windows, updated firmware on my SSD, updated my gfx card drivers, tried different graphics card driver versions, turned down the clock on my gfx card, overclocked everything, checked temperatures and formatted my PC then tested with the bare minimum installed but the issue remains.

I've also run a FurMark 1920x1080 Burn-In 15min benchmark and a 15min ATITool Artifacts Scan, both ran through fine with 0 errors and temps never went above 80 degrees. So I really am just lost, does anyone have any ideas?

Heres are some screens of the error in diablo 3 and wow... I added the black circles with paint to try and point out some of the errors:

WoW - http://postimage.org/image/utuiua8u1/full/
Diablo 3 - http://postimage.org/image/so07zs5dl/full/

 

[brandonwh64]

The wow shot just looks like empty parts in the sprites and I cannot see anything in the diablo 3 picture but I would say more driver related or game engine based.

 

[fitsu]

The wow shot just looks like empty parts in the sprites and I cannot see anything in the diablo 3 picture but I would say more driver related or game engine based.

Is it just me, or did my post just disappear?

 

[W1zzard]

Is it just me, or did my post just disappear?

the OP triggered the spam filter, which caused the post to go into the moderation queue.

for new users with low post count the filter is set to aggressive to cut down on spam

 

[fitsu]

the OP triggered the spam filter, which caused the post to go into the moderation queue.

for new users with low post count the filter is set to aggressive to cut down on spam

Thanks.. twice, heh . Ok now back to the problem at hand yeh the diablo 3 error is difficult to see but if u look close you will see what seems to be 4 black dots and 3 white dots in two lines parallel to each other scattered all around the screen. I really am lost on how to fix this, i've had people tell me it's a faulty graphics card but at the same time tell me a faulty graphics card wouldn't pass the furmark test.

 

[fitsu]

One thing i've not tried is upping the voltage on my GPU mostly because i've heard it's dangerous and don't really know how to go about it... Could doing this help at all, and if so could I get some recommendations as to what programs to use and by how much??

 

[Slizzo]

One thing i've not tried is upping the voltage on my GPU mostly because i've heard it's dangerous and don't really know how to go about it... Could doing this help at all, and if so could I get some recommendations as to what programs to use and by how much??

You shouldn't have to do this with the GPU at stock. I wouldn't touch the card's clocks or voltages until this issue is resolved.

 

[cadaveca]

One thing i've not tried is upping the voltage on my GPU mostly because i've heard it's dangerous and don't really know how to go about it... Could doing this help at all, and if so could I get some recommendations as to what programs to use and by how much??

Switching between loads just causes issues like this, unfortunately. you get the same running multiple GPU-accelerated flash videos, too. Heck, try to do anything, two things at once, and you'll notice problems, even on NVidia(sometimes fullscreens apps get set off of fullscreen, most common issue, when secondary app requests main GPU time).

AMD is a bit more problematic with this, seems related to memory, and they have admitted already that the driver's memory management needs some work.

Until this driver problem is fixed, issues like this are just how it is. I am pretty confident that the issues I have with flicker on secondary monitors with Eyefinity is a victim of the same problem.

 

[bmaverick]

From experience, ...

- memory timings could be an issue
- thermal issues with the GPU card; check the heat-sink, fan and air-circulation.
- driver may be corruptly installed, reinstall or find the latest driver (or older driver that worked).
- If the MB is OCed, then the northbridge could cause the display problems.
- Look for a MB BIOS update to fix any issues ...

 

[fitsu]

From experience, ...

- memory timings could be an issue
- thermal issues with the GPU card; check the heat-sink, fan and air-circulation.
- driver may be corruptly installed, reinstall or find the latest driver (or older driver that worked).
- If the MB is OCed, then the northbridge could cause the display problems.
- Look for a MB BIOS update to fix any issues ...

Sadly, i've already tried all this multiple times I did do a little paragraph of the things i've attempted. For Mem timings and bios i've already tried different RAM and a different motherboard. Nothing is OCed, i've tried atleast 5 different gfx card drivers and i've lost count of the amount of times i've formatted now .

Maybe there are some unofficial gfx card drivers out there, i've seen sites advertising them but i've never really gone near them myself, could somthing like that help?

You shouldn't have to do this with the GPU at stock. I wouldn't touch the card's clocks or voltages until this issue is resolved.

Oh ok, i've found I need to flash the BIOS anyway to unlock my GPUs voltages and that's not something I wanted to do so glad I don't have to thanks.

Switching between loads just causes issues like this, unfortunately. you get the same running multiple GPU-accelerated flash videos, too. Heck, try to do anything, two things at once, and you'll notice problems, even on NVidia(sometimes fullscreens apps get set off of fullscreen, most common issue, when secondary app requests main GPU time).

AMD is a bit more problematic with this, seems related to memory, and they have admitted already that the driver's memory management needs some work.

Until this driver problem is fixed, issues like this are just how it is. I am pretty confident that the issues I have with flicker on secondary monitors with Eyefinity is a victim of the same problem.

So are we saying from this based on the results of the multiple tests i've run so far I should assume that graphics card is not faulty and that it is in fact a software issue, just not one I can resolve? Are there any tests out there that can 100% prove without a doubt that my graphics card isn't faulty?

 

[natr0n]

Your issues are driver related.

No need to worry about your card. just keep it cool.

 

[cadaveca]

So are we saying from this based on the results of the multiple tests i've run so far I should assume that graphics card is not faulty and that it is in fact a software issue, just not one I can resolve? Are there any tests out there that can 100% prove without a doubt that my graphics card isn't faulty?

Yes, were are saying that the problems aren't avoidable, especially since I have the same or similar problems with my perfectly working cards.

You know, for me, being able to run BF3 on the FireStorm map for over an hour is usually good enough. I have also found that recently released drivers now properly crash and restart without causing BSOD, so they are better at reporting actual problems.

Also, Gigabyte has tools to update BIOS of the card, as well as clock the card, and they work quite well. I am using Gigabyte 7950, and it works great, as does the software.

As far as I am concerned, the issues arise from the GPU having to switch between data streams of the concurrent apps you are running.

If you have no issues with a single app, that says a lot about stability, IMHO. IF you can run single apps just fine, for hours on end, then I'd not worry about it too much, and patiently wait for a driver update. Submitting feedback to AMD's driver team would be a good idea too. I had an issue with PCMark7, and AMD has already fixed it.

 

[fitsu]

Yes, were are saying that the problems aren't avoidable, especially since I have the same or similar problems with my perfectly working cards.

You know, for me, being able to run BF3 on the FireStorm map for over an hour is usually good enough. I have also found that recently released drivers now properly crash and restart without causing BSOD, so they are better at reporting actual problems.

Also, Gigabyte has tools to update BIOS of the card, as well as clock the card, and they work quite well. I am using Gigabyte 7950, and it works great, as does the software.

As far as I am concerned, the issues arise from the GPU having to switch between data streams of the concurrent apps you are running.

If you have no issues with a single app, that says a lot about stability, IMHO. IF you can run single apps just fine, for hours on end, then I'd not worry about it too much, and patiently wait for a driver update. Submitting feedback to AMD's driver team would be a good idea too. I had an issue with PCMark7, and AMD has already fixed it.

Alright, thanks for all the feedback! A few things i'm curious about though, if this were the issue wouldn't there be a lot more complaints about it? I mean my issue isn't only on one application it's if I run any two things at the same time, which i'm sure a lot of people do... Why would I be suffering from this problem when others with the exact same card arn't?

Also, if this were the issue then when I plug it into a different computer I assume the same issue should occur? Is there any unofficial drivers you might recommend that could solve the problem, older driver versions you would consider to be a more stable option, or any other things I could attempt? Is there any way of proving 100% that my card isn't faulty?

 

[drdeathx]

May have missed it, did you try it in another computer?

 

[fitsu]

May have missed it, did you try it in another computer?

I've not yet, my CPU popped and i've been waiting on a return which will be here by Friday. Gonna test it in a different machine then, until then though lets say the issue does occur on a different machine what does that mean and then lets say it doesn't... What would that mean?

 

[drdeathx]

Artifacting most likely is a bad solder point IMO.

 

[Athlon2K15]

I have had this issue with my NVIDIA cards as well, as dave stated its most likely a driver issue. If it was a bad solder point as dr states it would happen in bios as well.

 

[fitsu]

I have had this issue with my NVIDIA cards as well, as dave stated its most likely a driver issue. If it was a bad solder point as dr states it would happen in bios as well.

What do u mean happen in Bios? Also my motherboard the sabertooth r2.0 990fx does a system check before it comes on would it not pick up on bad solder points?

 

[Athlon2K15]

You would have corruption when your in bios if there was a bad solder point

 

[drdeathx]

You would have corruption when your in bios if there was a bad solder point

Says who? A bad or weak solder point can cause artifacting. I had it once and had to bake the card. it is common.

 

[fitsu]

Says who? A bad or weak solder point can cause artifacting. I had it once and had to bake the card. it is common.

Is there any way of testing to see if this is the issue?

 

[drdeathx]

Is there any way of testing to see if this is the issue?

Try it in another computer. Same issue, then its the card.

 

[Athlon2K15]

Says who? A bad or weak solder point can cause artifacting. I had it once and had to bake the card. it is common.

Yes it can cause artifacting but it wont be limited to just the OS.

 

[fitsu]

Other than trying the graphics card in another computer, as I am currently unable to do that but will do it within the next couple of days... Is there anything more than what i've already done that I can try? Any setting or recommended driver versions?

Thanks again for all the responses, I tried this on over 7 forums and this is the only one to get any real traffic .

Also, this solder point would it be visually noticeable? Maybe I could take some pics of my graphics card and upload them if that would help?

 

[tokyoduong]

it would be visible but not always. Scan through it with a magnifying glass. I'm sure you'll know when you see a bad solder as it doesn't look like the others.

But on the other hand, what you're experiencing is most likely a driver issue with memory management. I have the same problem with my 7850 running multiple programs. I think the fact that you even mentioned that you are running multiple programs means that you already have suspected it.