• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

Artifacts on 7990 Ares II

Soldato
Joined
25 Mar 2004
Posts
2,885
Location
Iwade, Kent
So I initially bought a 7990 from a competitor as part of a hardware bundle which comprised of a i5-3570K clocked to 4.5Ghz with a Corsair H100i cooler a Asus P8Z77-V an Akasa Venom 1kW modular PSU and a Samsung 500GB 840 Pro SSD (I re-used my existing 4x 4GB 1866Mhz Corsair Vengeance RAM).

Initially I had overclock stability issues and I was unhappy with the temps on the i5 so I swapped the CPU back to my prior 2700k which was nice and stable at 4.6Ghz and at decent temps considered the low end W/C'd setup.

However, I then started noticing Artifacts from time to time, mostly when playing BF3 but sometimes even whilst at desktop and doing various things. BF3 results in wireframe / screen tearing oddness (still happens with vsync enabled which also then makes the game feel jittery) where as in Windows I get odd blocks that show up - see this screen shot which was a VNC window running: http://www.axerite.com/jing/2013-03-14_0128.png

I tried uninstalling and re-installing both the latest normal release drivers as well as beta, installed/uninstalled the CAP profiles and even tried downclocking the GFX and CPU but the problem persisted.

Last but not least I dug deep and bought a second Ares II, from OcUK this time and I fitted this yesterday but STILL the problem persists.

What are we thinking OcUK?

1.)I don't see how it can be the RAM or CPU as they are from before, worked fine for 1yr+ and I've tried downclocking anyway
2.) It can't be GFX card, I've already swapped it
3.) I can't see it being a corruption issue, the OS install is fresh and everything bar this display issue works fine
4.) Temps throughout the system are absolutely fine

Could the PSU cause this? I read reviews and it was pretty well rated...?

Thanks!
 
Eek ! Expensive bit of kit, for it not to work ;'((

1. Artifacts are nearly always related to RAM, be it vram or system RAM. I'd run several memory tests to rule out your system ram first.
2. Do you have access to another system you can try it in ? This would ensure it isn't the card (s)
3. So long as you're on the latest drivers across the board it should be ok... Drivers don't usually cause artifacts

As for the PSU, check your voltages but yeah that PSU should be fine !

My advice -

1. Try a different PCI-e slot ! Could be a dodgy lane ( doubtful )
2. Try card in a different system if poss.
3. Test the RAM, and if possible try different ram !
4. Contact the company you bought the bundle off & cry down the phone, pleading for monies..

-greeny
 
I had a similar issue with a X800 way back and it turned out to be the sound card. There was some sort of interaction, can't remember.

Something else which it could be. On my MIVE P67 when I went from a 2600K to a 3570K it updated something which caused the graphics card driver to fail. Didn't have the time to look into it and just bought a new board.

Might help.
 
Long shot, but could it be down to the 2.0 lane struggling with the throughput of two high clocked xt chips?

Did the same happen with the 3570k with gen3 enabled?
 
So I initially bought a 7990 from a competitor as part of a hardware bundle which comprised of a i5-3570K clocked to 4.5Ghz with a Corsair H100i cooler a Asus P8Z77-V an Akasa Venom 1kW modular PSU and a Samsung 500GB 840 Pro SSD (I re-used my existing 4x 4GB 1866Mhz Corsair Vengeance RAM).

Initially I had overclock stability issues and I was unhappy with the temps on the i5 so I swapped the CPU back to my prior 2700k which was nice and stable at 4.6Ghz and at decent temps considered the low end W/C'd setup.

However, I then started noticing Artifacts from time to time, mostly when playing BF3 but sometimes even whilst at desktop and doing various things. BF3 results in wireframe / screen tearing oddness (still happens with vsync enabled which also then makes the game feel jittery) where as in Windows I get odd blocks that show up - see this screen shot which was a VNC window running: http://www.axerite.com/jing/2013-03-14_0128.png

I tried uninstalling and re-installing both the latest normal release drivers as well as beta, installed/uninstalled the CAP profiles and even tried downclocking the GFX and CPU but the problem persisted.

Last but not least I dug deep and bought a second Ares II, from OcUK this time and I fitted this yesterday but STILL the problem persists.

What are we thinking OcUK?

1.)I don't see how it can be the RAM or CPU as they are from before, worked fine for 1yr+ and I've tried downclocking anyway
2.) It can't be GFX card, I've already swapped it
3.) I can't see it being a corruption issue, the OS install is fresh and everything bar this display issue works fine
4.) Temps throughout the system are absolutely fine

Could the PSU cause this? I read reviews and it was pretty well rated...?

Thanks!

Are you using anything to overclock the cards such as afterburner's un-official overclocking mode? Looking at your screen shot it could indicate dodgy memory but first lets try something.

To rule out all possibilities just follow the guide below and report back if the issue still occurs. :)

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18431335
 
I'll try bunging the 3570 back in and see if the issue goes away.

To feedback on some of Q's though:

a.) I'm running Windows 7 Pro
b.) It can't be dodgy vram on the video card as it does it on 2 seperate, identical, cards
c.) I don't have a dedicated sound card (I don't have any other PCI/PCI-E cards bar the 1x video card installed)
 
I'll try bunging the 3570 back in and see if the issue goes away.

To feedback on some of Q's though:

a.) I'm running Windows 7 Pro
b.) It can't be dodgy vram on the video card as it does it on 2 seperate, identical, cards
c.) I don't have a dedicated sound card (I don't have any other PCI/PCI-E cards bar the 1x video card installed)

Please try what i posted above then. ;)
 
I'm not sure I understand the purpose, the GFX card isn't overclocked and nor do I have any tools installed to overclock it that could be causing the issue?

I suggested it as part of the process of elimination. A driver sweep + fresh driver install can sometimes help or solve such issues. The issue you describe also sounds like a issue that sometimes occurs when clock speeds are changing.

Have you tried disabling ULPS? I would give that a shot and see if it makes a difference. You can disable ULPS by using afterburner.
 
I used to get something similar with my old HIS 4850 and only a complete driver clean out would fix it, Completely uninstall drivers, Reboot and then remove drivers from device manager too.

Is your Bios for your mobo up to date too?

Have you tried your old card aswell?
 
Just adjusted that reg setting now (not rebooted yet though) and am just about to grab the tool to sweep for ATi drivers.

Whilst on the thread the issue happened again and I grabbed a screen shot:

http://www.axerite.com/jing/2013-03-14_0942.png

Regards, Jon

What browser are you using?

I used to get something similar with my old HIS 4850 and only a complete driver clean out would fix it, Completely uninstall drivers, Reboot and then remove drivers from device manager too.

Always good to try this early just to rule it out.
 
Just adjusted that reg setting now (not rebooted yet though) and am just about to grab the tool to sweep for ATi drivers.

Whilst on the thread the issue happened again and I grabbed a screen shot:

http://www.axerite.com/jing/2013-03-14_0942.png

Regards, Jon

thats checker board you get when the GPU isn't working right.

I had the same thing just on firefox with a certain driver. but it's now long gone.
 
Looks like you have the future trying to break into the present! a FRINGE event is happening!

Seriously though, uninstall all drivers, swap PCI Slots and do new drivers again.

Check temps on the GPU's
 
Uninstall AMD drivers
Remove Asus Ares II
RMA
Purchase 2 GTX Titans
Load 314.09 drivers
Enable SLI
Job done

I would never give this advise to anyone running any other AMD setup.

Edit I should explain in more detail, the Mars and Ares cards have had good performance but once you start looking a bit closer they can be a bit quirky. The 2 x GTX 580 card asus did would outperform a standard GTX 590 a lot of the time but lose out sometimes for no apparent reason.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom