Artifacts on my HD4850

[inf3rno]

Hey guys,

Having problems with my HIS HD4850, when I start play TF2 or any other game blue dots appear and some time yellow and red.

dont know what to do.

Please help me in this regard.

Thanks in advance.

 

[pigulici]

after a fres SO install and last driver, same problem?

 

[Derek12]

Try to undo the overclock (even if factory overclock) or underclock and see if artifacts stop.

 

[INSTG8R]

What Temperatures are you running when this happens? Is the Fan/Cooler free of dust?. Sounds like an overheating problem by your description.

 

[inf3rno]

Cleared the dust with an air blower.
Down clock to 625MHz from 650MHz from factory default.

 

[Widjaja]

And....the results are?

The only time I have had red dots on an AMD/ATi card is when I did not have enough power going to the card.

 

[INSTG8R]

Is that pic a flip to desktop?(I ask because I see it wasn't running the full 3D clocks) My previous card was a 4870 so I am familiar enough with the temps. If that is the actual idle temp that is still pretty high if it is 3D clock temp then it is fine. But the symptoms you describe sound more like memory artifacts than issue with the core.

 

[Derek12]

http://img.techpowerup.org/110820/Riva_Tuner.jpg

Cleared the dust with an air blower.
Down clock to 625MHz from 650MHz from factory default.

And still artifacts? maybe drivers or bad card, try reseatting it.

 

[inf3rno]

Converted to 11.6 version of the drivers.

Did not appear for a single time in furmark test. And do appear on desktop.

When I take screen shot there is no dot in Pic.

More shots are here.

 

[Widjaja]

Have you tried running the GPU through VGA mode to the monitor if you are using DVI to see if it maybe the cable since you can not get the red dots to show up in the image.

 

[inf3rno]

As I restore steam blue squares appear.

I minimize and refresh the screen and there is nothing.

Through VGA mode, how?

 

[Derek12]

Through VGA mode, how?

Connecting the video card to your monitor via VGA cable (or DVI if you are using VGA currently), I'm second that, artifacts that don't appear on Screenshots often are caused by monitor or cable, though not always

 

[Widjaja]

As I restore steam blue squares appear.

I minimize and refresh the screen and there is nothing.

Yeah that sounds like memory artifacts.
Still I wouldn't put my money on it.

 

[inf3rno]

Memory artifacts???? You mean VGA memory problem???

 

[Widjaja]

Yes there is a possibility of memory artifacts due to malfunctioning mem IC.
But there has been little done to see if it is definitely the mem ICs.

As I have said, try another VGA cable or DVI cable and see if the artfacts are still there.
Try a the secondary DVI port on your GPU.

As I have mentioned before, I have had the red dot problem before due to not getting enough power to the GPU with the external power so even you PSU maybe an issue.

There are still things to try out.

Are you using a reference cooler are an aftermarket cooler for you GPU?
Or have HIS made a custom cooler for your card?

 

[inf3rno]

Yeah HIS has custom cooler I think ICEQ4.

I ll tryout different cable but don't have now. Lets try different options.

 

[Widjaja]

Thought the temps of your HD4850 were pretty low for a reference cooler.
My Sapphire HD4850 would idle at 84degC and max out around 96-110degC with the stock cooler.
But that was the core temp, not the temperatures of the VRM or memory modules.
I don't know how the memory modules are cooled on your card though as I do not know what the HIS HD4850 with IceQ4 cooler looks like.
For all I know the cooler may only cool the core and have nothing dispersing heat from the memory and VRM ICs.

Different options?
Then switch to the secondary DVI port and see if the issue comes up.

 

[silkstone]

I recently sold a 4850 and the guy who bought it was getting artefacting in games. He solved it by changing to an older driver version. You may wanna try using 6+ month older drivers to see if that sorts anything out.

My second guess would be memory issues.

Does the artifacting still occur in safe mode?

 

[inf3rno]

I have this one model

 

[Widjaja]

Did you try using the other DVI port to see if the dots are still there?
BTW are these dots squares?
Or dots the size of pixels?

Have you uninstalled the GPU driver and ran driver sweeper in safe mode, then reinstalled the drivers?

It's definitely non-reference with the typical IceQ GPU cooler design.
I see the VRMs have no cooling at all but then again the card is non-reference so HIS may have made some enhancements to reducing the temperature of them.
The VRMs do get very hot on some HD4850s.

 

[inf3rno]

artifacts are square.

Changed the DVI port, worked fine for an hour and then again same problem exist.

 

[Widjaja]

Your PSU shouldn't have any problems powering your whole system....

Do you have hardware monitor application?
Try running that in the background while you are playing a game.
Just wondering if the +12v rail is dripping below what it should be while gaming.

 

[inf3rno]

Nope it is not dripping anywhere below +12V.

If it is VRAM then how to cool em down?

 

[Melvis]

Run GPU-Z and give us a screen shot of the VRAM temps? Anything over 75 is bad realy.

 

[Widjaja]

Run GPU-Z and give us a screen shot of the VRAM temps? Anything over 75 is bad realy.

The HD4850 does not have a sensor for VRAM temperatures.

Just for the three sensors located on the core.

If the mem ICs are at fault then there is nothing you can do about it.
I'm still not certain this is memory related though due to the dots you are seeing.

Since I can see your VRMs are not cooled at all, I think just maybe one or some of them are failing causing the dots I have seen when there is lack of power to the card.

When they are at this stage then you can not do anything about it.

As I have said before VRM ICs do get hot and since you over clocked the card, they were under constant strain without any cooling.

When the HD4850 VRMs overheat you get a black screen, I think yours is more to do with constant strain of a higher voltage than what is recommended for the card causing a degrading rather than receiving a black screen.

Your card is not the only one which was released without VRM cooling.
ASUS also released two HD4850s which had only GPU core cooling....I think MSI also released a card the same say too.
There were a stack of ASUS HD4850s for sale on NewEgg and the majority of the responses were negative.