Artefact problem... Help needed!

SamyBoy13 · 12 Jan 2019 at 13:36

Hello, guys, I think I know what the problem is but will need a second opinion. In short, I gave my sister EVGA GTX 780 SC ACX in November 2018. It ran without any issues until today where weird artifacts started to appear (checkerboard, green/purple artifacts, missing and/or different color textures) and games started to crash (not all the time).

I've cleaned the GPU and replaced the thermal paste before giving it to my sister. Yet I haven't replaced thermal pads on vrms and memory as I was lazy to check them. I hope this is not a bad memory = gpu on its way out. I attach a link to youtube to show those artifacts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXesUUbqHHQ
Artifacts appear between 0:01 and 0:10, then from 0:38 to 0:42. The gameplay of assassins creed from 1:50 is fine as you can see but sometimes there are green/black lines and/or checkerboard full/partial)

I've plugged the GPU to my rig with the same issue, yet raising the fan speed to static 65% caused fewer artifacts. The card idles at 29C and 78C at load (assassin creed odyssey) so I guess thermal performance is not an issue. Maybe dried out thermal pads?

All help and advice will be appreciated! Thanks in advance

UPDATE another example from cs go
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AEdp4oyj6o
0:18 to 0:25 and from 1:40

spolsh · 13 Jan 2019 at 14:26

Looks like time for a new card to me. Those artefacts suggest as you suspect memory going bad. BUT, have you tried using older drivers with it ? Maybe an update is causing the problem. I had a 980ti that went south in a similar way. Maybe you could try underclocking it a bit as well see if that helps (but obviously performance will suffer).

Randomface74 · 13 Jan 2019 at 14:33

Yea that's bad memory = rip.

SamyBoy13 · 14 Jan 2019 at 13:45

spolsh said:
Looks like time for a new card to me. Those artefacts suggest as you suspect memory going bad. BUT, have you tried using older drivers with it ? Maybe an update is causing the problem. I had a 980ti that went south in a similar way. Maybe you could try underclocking it a bit as well see if that helps (but obviously performance will suffer).

Thanks for confirming and it is 100% memory as when underclocked artefacts almost went away. Ive set gpu power limit to 90% core -105mhz and memory -200 mhz and all artifacts are gone now in games. Card boosted to 1300mhz+ before but now only does just above 1100mhz so not a big hit in performance. There are occasional random flics but at least my sister can play games. I'm going to end this card then buy a new one. Thanks for your advice

Another question if memory fully gives up is there a chance that the card can kill i.e. psu mobo or any other part of the system?

freddie64 · 14 Jan 2019 at 16:34

Not saying the memory is not bad, but i thought if it was it would artefact all the time , even in windows boot screen.

You could always check the thermal pads before you replace the card, in case that is the problem.

Not sure if it will damage other components if memory dies totally, but would not think so.