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7800GTX Artifacts in ATI Tool but not in Games etc?

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My brother is in possession of my old BFG 7800GTX OC, which is a factory overclocked model. It is overclocked 30mhz on the core, and 100mhz on the memory.

I was round his house the other day, and he commented that when using the 'scan for artifacts' tool on ATI Tool, he gets errors. If he knocks the clocks back down to a standard 7800GTX, then he gets no errors whatsoever.

I put the clocks back up and ran 3dmark06 a couple of times, and saw no graphical glitches at all, and we tried a few games again with no problems.

So, do you think this is just an ATI Tool quirk or is the card technically faulty, and we should be availing ourselves of the lifetime BFG warranty?

Any thoughts would be welcome.
 
if this doesn't happen at stock then the card couldn't really be called faulty, I'd be inclined to back off the clocks a little. Have you thought about reseating the cooler, chucking some arctic silver on at the same time?
Could just be dust build up?
 
Sorry, I might not have made it clear in my OP!

The card is factory overclocked meaning it's core speed is set in the bios at 460mhz (vs 430mhz for a standard 7800GTX) and 1300mhz memory (vs 1200mhz for a standard 7800GTX). The overclocks are set by BFG, so the card isn't being overclocked any further than BFG sold it.

So, at the standard out of the box BFG set overclock, it artifacts in ATI Tool, but doesn't when you underclock the card back to where a standard 7800GTX would be. Does that make any sense?!

But, it's fine in day to day operation and in games. Just wondering if it's starting to fail really I guess?
 
Oh right, I thought it was maybe overclocked past the supplied OC...
Do you know what sort of temperatures it's getting up to during games? Probably best to keep an eye on it and maybe see what BFG are saying.
If it's only ATI Tool that's seeing it and there aren't any problems in games then should probably just leave it as it is. No sense underclocking the card when it's got a lifetime warranty! :)
 
I'd send BFG an email with everything you just told us, including the tool you are using to check for artifacts, so that they can deal with replacing it. The 7800GTX has been EOL for quite some time now so you and/or your brother should get something nice back. :)

No sense in letting that warranty go to waste when it's not operating right at spec.
 
Yeah, I think you're right Ulf.

Temps during gaming never get much above 65c, so I don't think the temps an issue. It will artifact in ATI Tool from cold anyway, so it doesn't seem to be temp related.

I'll drop BFG an email then, and see what they say.

Cheers.
 
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