Overclocking problem
 

I lost the year + old data on my CMOS and as a consequence, also lost the overclock on my CPU and memory. I went through the hassle of finding the highest stable clock via memtest and intelburn and those things work great. However I also decided to overclock my video card and that is where the problems are. I overclocked (slowly and over many tests) my GT8800 with rivatuner and tested with furmark up to 720vpu/900mem from 620/800 and found a stable clock with the test. However, BF2142 crashed immediately and Ive since gone back to the original clock speed, but I have strange visual effects on the screen when I play, but they are constant visual distortions, unlike artifacts which come and go as they please.

Right now as I play, the screen has horizontal stripes on the overlay that are a slightly different color and the loading screen image is visible in the discolored stripes.

http://media.serious-internet.biz/se...rd_640x480.jpg


sorry man I dont know shit about computers:giggle:

best/earliest bump ever

just reload the lastest drivers for video card.


Dr.

Those strange colors and lines are artifacts. Have you set your vid card back to stock speeds? If so do you still get the artifacts? Also set your cpu back to stock speeds and check. If you do then your video card is going bad. Depending on the age you might still be able to RMA the card and get a new one. If not then you need to go out and buy a new card.

+1

Sounds like a dying video card... or the drivers

Your gpu is dying. Look into problems with the 8*** series of chips and you will find that you were lucky that your card lasted as long as it did. They have a serious problem with thermal cycling and chips dying.

Try drivers first, try reseating the card, but bet on it dying. Especially if it artifacts all the time and is constant like you say. Those were the signs I got on my first high end card dying back in the day...FX 5900 flashed to a 5950.

I am reinstalling the drivers now, Ill let you know if it helps. What seems strange to me is that I could use furmark up to super high settings before I started getting artifacts and as soon as I started BF2142, I had to back it wayyyy down. Can anybody into overclocking recommend a gpu stress test that works better for the next video card I pick up?

3dmark is the only one i know of that works well. and if you intend to overclock the video card, always buy one that says lifetime warranty. If you fry it, they will replace it. my evga 8800gts is lifetime warranty. i think some xfx cards, and also BFG. make sure you read it on the box or description, they can vary from card to card within the same company.

3dmark isn't always the most stressful thing out there. It's a good test to loop for a while (like overnight or for a couple hours) but a lot of games are tougher on the card. Find the most graphically intense game you have, max it out, and play it.

Looks like your video memory is going bad or running too hot. Did you upgrade the video card cooler/RAM sinks when you started overclocking it?

no changes to the card, and there are no ram sinks. The card is back to the original clock and I reloaded the drivers ... it still has bad artifacts so i am going to see if i can get it replaced. It is an XFX GT8600 btw (i stated earlier that it was an 8800, but its 8600).

edit: so i looked into it and there would have been a lifetime warranty if i registered it withing 30 days and 1 year if I did not. I did not and so now it looks like I need to buy a new video card. So the decision time is here, a quick search shows the the 9800 series cards around the $100 - $150 pricerange. nvidia or radeon, that is now the question

what the fuck is overclocking?

you really have not heard of overclocking?

well in short, the speed a processor can run is basically determined by the heat it generates. Processors are set to a speed that is known to be stable for ALL of the chips in the factory run. Overclocking is basically finding that ragged edge where failure is eminent and sometimes this is 5% over stock and sometimes it is 20% faster. In car terms, it would be like taking a stock motor and getting it tuned to the ragged edge to get every last bit of performance.

oh ok. i have heard of it, just didn't know what it was.

I have always been an Nvidia guy. That more comes from them haveing a decent linux driver while Ati did not. As for what card you should get specifically I would check out ocforums.com. I have been a member there for years and they are very knowledgable when it comes to all things overclocking.

you should try warranting it anyways. i forgot to register for one of my cards and they still did it anyways.

Its pretty much analogous to turbocharging a Miata. But in this case we take a cheap processor and attempt to make it faster.

Video card is about to die...

When you get your new card...try Ultimate Boot CD for Windows...comes preloaded with over 200 programs - alot of which are for performance mods.

UBCD for Windows

It's free - DO NOT PAY ANYONE FOR IT (it's legal I swear)