R9 290 Artifacts.

[Qitarah]

Hi there,

As above says, I am getting artifacts on one of my PCs. It has a Tri-x R9 290, its 8 months old and in some form has done it since I got it.

Here is are a few pics:

Originally started like this:

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk30/Freej0sh/artifact2_zpse0837417.jpg


Now it looks like this:

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk30/Freej0sh/Artifact1_zpsb491a456.jpg

http://s276.photobucket.com/user/Freej0sh/media/artifact3_zps9ba21e83.jpg.html


The thing is, this only happens every so often. Maybe one a week, maybe less. It doesnt seem to happen in games like CS:GO, ARMA3 or Dota, but happens in WoW, Wildstar and Diablo. There is a pattern in the artifacts, as in they are now usually looking like the second and third screen shot.

Alt tabbing from the game and tabbing back in usually fixes it straight away, sometimes (more recently) I have to spam alt tab to fix it kinda.


Nothing (including VRMS) are overheating, the graphics card has been re-seated once, Motherboard bios up to date and I have the latest drivers installed from AMD (Ive also obviously tried multiple drivers).


Rest of the Pc specs;

Asus z87-pro Motherboard,
i5 4670k at stock.
8 Gb 2133 c10 Gskills
750w Gold XFX Pro black edition PSU.
Windows 7.


Any one got any ideas? I mean I haven't ruled out software issues completely, I could do a fresh install. Just seems like its an issue with the GPU, but since it happens quite infrequently I am kinda worried Ill send the GPU off to sapphire and its not gonna derp out while they test it, I end up having to pay and be out of action with a graphics card for a month or more.

 

[Qitarah]

Nah there is no overclock (ever) on this card. I Have tried underclocking the memory and tried upping powerlimit, still happened, not sure if it helped the frequency or not though.

 

[Qitarah]

Yer I've been thinking its memory as well. The problem has got worse gradually, but the frequency it happens has remained constant (not often).

My other 290s have been perfect, and are still perfect (this happens to be my girlfriends GPU). So let's not get anti AMD, it's an complex electronic item and faults can happen regardless of brand, or manufacturer!


Also, yes I always update drivers and keep them at the latest beta usually. I've tried every driver in the last 8 months.

 

[Qitarah]

As mentioned, I have tried underclocking the Vram, and pushing the power limit up. The problem still occurs at roughly the same frequency (Not that often).

Will probably try RMA it and see what happens. Thanks for the input guys.