7950gx2 artifacts..help!

[GLENNYBOY1]

Aah where to begin!

After RMAing a 7900gt back to ebuyer because of artifacts I decided to get a 7950 gx2 to replace it.Now as you all probably know the 7900gts are going through a bad patch at the mo and my old one displayed all the symptoms that other folks on the web were getting,sooo time for a refund and time for a different graphics card.

So ive been using this brand new 7950gx2 for 4 days now and I was well chuffed with it...F.E.A.R demo at 1280X1024,all settings high with no problems whatsoever,Quake 4 looked tip top and BF2 played like a dream (all at 1280x1024).

Fast forward to today and I fancied an online battle with the toca race driver 3 demo and what ya know...artifacts.I tried all the above games again just to check it was just toca that had a problem and they all artifact too,I havent overclocked or tinkered with anything.

My specs are in my sig,hope this helps.

Its my first build and I dont know if it's a components issue or me being a doofus.

I tried the ati tool artifact scan utiliy today as well,it brings up yellow squares immediately..it didnt do that yesterday !!

Help guys...please!

[GunHappyBob]

Re: 7950gx2 artifacts..help!

I'm trying to figure out why Nvidia is releases new cards so frequently. It's stupid. I've heard so many issues with the 7900 and 7950 series it's not even a joke. I have never once had one problem with my 7800gtx and games looks amazing with it. Never once had anyth9ing artifact. I think Nvidia is trying to make a quick buck and it's evident with the release of their last few cards.

[GLENNYBOY1]

Re: 7950gx2 artifacts..help!

I'm trying to figure out why Nvidia is releases new cards so frequently. It's stupid. I've heard so many issues with the 7900 and 7950 series it's not even a joke. I have never once had one problem with my 7800gtx and games looks amazing with it. Never once had anyth9ing artifact. I think Nvidia is trying to make a quick buck and it's evident with the release of their last few cards.

Ive seen the major issues with the 7900gts but so far I cant find anyone on the web with my probs concerning the 7950gx2...enlighten me please bob !

[K8T]

Re: 7950gx2 artifacts..help!

Your question is exactly why I dont buy cards like early after the relase date, there are bound to be problems.

[clatch22]

Re: 7950gx2 artifacts..help!

Your Mobo is an earlier SLI model, early SLI Mobo's split i PCI-e x16 lane in two to service both cards giving 2 PCI-e x8 lanes. Since your 7950gx2 is essentially to cards running through one interface you may be running into problems with bandwidth as you will be running at x4 for each half of the card. A few things to check are, motherboard bios is up to date and supports the gx2 cards, graphics card drivers are up to date and make sure you have plenty of airflow through your case as the clearence between the bottom cards cooler and the top card is absolutely minimal and those things will get hot. You may find you need a new mobo with dual PCI-e x16 lanes, ASUS (ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe) are definately producing them and other manufacturers should be too. Try the updates and cooling and see if that helps with anything.

[lonegunm4n]

Re: 7950gx2 artifacts..help!

Your Mobo is an earlier SLI model, early SLI Mobo's split i PCI-e x16 lane in two to service both cards giving 2 PCI-e x8 lanes. Since your 7950gx2 is essentially to cards running through one interface you may be running into problems with bandwidth as you will be running at x4 for each half of the card. A few things to check are, motherboard bios is up to date and supports the gx2 cards, graphics card drivers are up to date and make sure you have plenty of airflow through your case as the clearence between the bottom cards cooler and the top card is absolutely minimal and those things will get hot. You may find you need a new mobo with dual PCI-e x16 lanes, ASUS (ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe) are definately producing them and other manufacturers should be too. Try the updates and cooling and see if that helps with anything.

having that card with a mobo that has only x8 SLi wouldn't cause it to artifact. t would just slightly decrease the performance.

[GLENNYBOY1]

Re: 7950gx2 artifacts..help!

Whats got me confused is it ran with no probs for 4 days then BLAMMO...artifacts everywhere!

I had the latest drivers installed,which are gx2 compliant apparently,my mobo's BIOS are F6 which to be honest aren't the recommended BIOS (F4 are recommended),is this a problem as everything was working fine n dandy until today?

[clatch22]

Re: 7950gx2 artifacts..help!

having that card with a mobo that has only x8 SLi wouldn't cause it to artifact. t would just slightly decrease the performance.

Yep but buying a gx2 and not running it at it's full potential negates buying a twin GPU card in the first place. Also artifacts can have many causes but Motherboard is probably last resort. Cooling seems likely as this is the his second card to show artifacts. Anyway it's always best to discount every possibility.

[GLENNYBOY1]

Re: 7950gx2 artifacts..help!

As for cooling I went and bought a Coolermaster wavemaster case so I've got 2 fans blowing across the gfx card and 2 exhaust fans (one being on the psu).Even the side panels were off before the artifacting started.

Artifacts so I gather do seem to be a heat issue but does it take 4 days for the problems to surface or would it be more immediate?

Aargh lads....I just wanna shoot some bad guys lol

Cheers for the responses btw.

[clatch22]

Re: 7950gx2 artifacts..help!

Heat can damage components gradually or a long gaming session can keep the card running hot enough to cause permanent damage. Are the artifacts only in BF2 or are they in other games? Also make sure the fans are mounted the correct way around and there is nothing impeding airflow through the case ( IDE cables molex power cables etc.)

[redearedslider]

Re: 7950gx2 artifacts..help!

wait i got the perfect way to prefent these kind of problems, dont buy overkill hardware ^^

[GLENNYBOY1]

Re: 7950gx2 artifacts..help!

wait i got the perfect way to prefent these kind of problems, dont buy overkill hardware ^^

Ha,I was waiting for a reply like that lol

Heat can damage components gradually or a long gaming session can keep the card running hot enough to cause permanent damage. Are the artifacts only in BF2 or are they in other games? Also make sure the fans are mounted the correct way around and there is nothing impeding airflow through the case ( IDE cables molex power cables etc.)

All the cables are tucked up above the fans airflow to the card and the artifacts are appearing in all games,funnily enuff I just installed the slightly older drivers that came with the card and (dont laugh!) 'hidden and dangerous 2' doesn't artifact anymore...the rest,bf2,FEAR,quake 4 still do.

Airflow seems to be blowing in the right direction.

The northbridge heatsink on the mobo does seem incredibly hot and its situated right by gfx card!

[lonegunm4n]

Re: 7950gx2 artifacts..help!

it may be the same issues they are having with the 7900 GTs, with the voltage regulators overheating. Several of the cases I have read about, it took a little while for the damage to show (artifacts).

[imported_Rumple9]

Re: 7950gx2 artifacts..help!

I bought a leadtek gx2 and it sucked. It simply didnt work so I went back to the shop and bought a new mobo , but the card just crashed all the time so I got my money back. The guy in the tech shop said there are always problems with newly released cards and he advised I wait 3 months until the drivers are sorted out.
Then again we are only 7 months or so away from vista and directx 10, so these cards will be worthless soon anyway