Weird graphical glitches. Please help :(

[Octavius Maximilian]

Dat Tycho

Octavius Maximilian

Dat Tycho

Octavius Maximilian

Before you consider installing any new fans, or changing the setup you currently have, consider downloading a tool like RivaTuner which you can use to manually control the fan speeds of your video card with.

I wouldn't know a thing about what to increase my fans too ;-;

It depends on what your video card is and how many RPMs the fan can reach, but RivaTuner should have it represented in slider or percent format with the top speed being 100%. Try forcing the card to 80% of its max RPM for now to see if it helps with idle temps.

Alright. It's at 64% right now. But I'll bump it up.

64% is a bit high for idle temps. If you can, try getting a fan near your computer to blow air towards the vents of your case.

Also, here's a picture of changing the fan speeds: http://www.circuitremix.com/images/83/rivatuner.jpg

[Minion4Hire]

Dat Tycho

Octavius Maximilian

Dat Tycho

Octavius Maximilian

Dat Tycho

Octavius Maximilian

Use something like CPU-Z to check your temperatures. Artifacts of that nature are caused by either overheating, driver, or video card issues.

Hrm. CPU-Z seems to be giving me all the information EXCEPT temps xD Where exactly would I look for that? I'd sure hope it's over heating. That seems like an easy fix. I have three fans that I believe are 180mm (Or 90mm. Can't remember >.< wink and one 200mm fan. I can always add another 200mm at the top to get more intake, and maybe flip one of the already existing fans to make it an exhaust if I did that.

Try GPU-z then. Also, having another fan could possibly help. Make sure your case is not in a cluttered location, and that the fans aren't being blocked by anything.

The only cluttered spot is near the exhaust, where it only has about 6 inches of air before it hits a wall. Not anywhere else to put it though that's less cluttered :
And GPU-Z is saying my GPU is at 65 degrees Celsius. This good or bad?

If these are idle temps, then yes it is overheated; however, if you are getting 65C during load, then it is not an overheating issue.

Yep it's idle ;-; Can any long-term damage be done if I left it like this? I need time to get fans and figure out a better configuration and such. Maybe you can help. Here is my case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146061
(Mine's just SLIGHTLY different with a plexiglass side to it, but the dimensions and shape are essentially the same.)
Okay, so currently I have a single 120mm fan on the back for exhaust, one 120mm fan on the side blowing right on to the GPU, a 120mm fan on the front as intake, and a 200mm fan on top as intake. I have room for another 200mm fan on top (Which would blow more air right on to the GPU), and supposedly another 120mm fan on the front, but I don't see a place for one. So what should I do? Should I flip some fans around? Add more?

Your top 200mm should realistically be blowing up (out), not down (in).

But mid 60s isn't necessarily bad for idle. And not for the 4000 series. GPUs are designed to tolerate temperatures upward of 100C. It's also worth noting that with a 65C idle temp, heat is likely not the source of your artifacts since you're getting them browsing the net as well as when in-game.

Don't d**k around with RivaTuner. It's not going to help you here.

If you want to determine whether heat is actually a factor you could use something such as FurMark to stress test your graphics card. Don't use the extreme testing mode however as the 4000 series did not have overcurrent protection. FurMark monitors your GPU temp in real-time while testing, but you could keep GPU-Z open for comparison purposes.

If your temps are going over 100C when under load you have a temp problem that may or may not be related to your artifacting issue. Either way you'd want to remedy that somehow. If it's below 100C then start trying different drivers. If changing drivers doesn't help you'd best start looking at a new card.

[Dat Tycho]

Octavius Maximilian

Dat Tycho

Octavius Maximilian

Dat Tycho

Octavius Maximilian

Before you consider installing any new fans, or changing the setup you currently have, consider downloading a tool like RivaTuner which you can use to manually control the fan speeds of your video card with.

I wouldn't know a thing about what to increase my fans too ;-;

It depends on what your video card is and how many RPMs the fan can reach, but RivaTuner should have it represented in slider or percent format with the top speed being 100%. Try forcing the card to 80% of its max RPM for now to see if it helps with idle temps.

Alright. It's at 64% right now. But I'll bump it up.

64% is a bit high for idle temps. If you can, try getting a fan near your computer to blow air towards the vents of your case.

Also, here's a picture of changing the fan speeds: http://www.circuitremix.com/images/83/rivatuner.jpg

I don't have that button : I'm assuming it's because of a warning I get when I run the program saying that my type of driver isn't officially supported yet, and recommends I upgrade. I'm on the latest version of both the driver and the program, however.

[Dat Tycho]

@Minion4Hire, alright, I'll give that a try before I screw around with fan-speeds.

[Dat Tycho]

Minion4Hire

Dat Tycho

Octavius Maximilian

Dat Tycho

Octavius Maximilian

Try GPU-z then. Also, having another fan could possibly help. Make sure your case is not in a cluttered location, and that the fans aren't being blocked by anything.

The only cluttered spot is near the exhaust, where it only has about 6 inches of air before it hits a wall. Not anywhere else to put it though that's less cluttered :
And GPU-Z is saying my GPU is at 65 degrees Celsius. This good or bad?

If these are idle temps, then yes it is overheated; however, if you are getting 65C during load, then it is not an overheating issue.

Yep it's idle ;-; Can any long-term damage be done if I left it like this? I need time to get fans and figure out a better configuration and such. Maybe you can help. Here is my case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146061
(Mine's just SLIGHTLY different with a plexiglass side to it, but the dimensions and shape are essentially the same.)
Okay, so currently I have a single 120mm fan on the back for exhaust, one 120mm fan on the side blowing right on to the GPU, a 120mm fan on the front as intake, and a 200mm fan on top as intake. I have room for another 200mm fan on top (Which would blow more air right on to the GPU), and supposedly another 120mm fan on the front, but I don't see a place for one. So what should I do? Should I flip some fans around? Add more?

Your top 200mm should realistically be blowing up (out), not down (in).

But mid 60s isn't necessarily bad for idle. And not for the 4000 series. GPUs are designed to tolerate temperatures upward of 100C. It's also worth noting that with a 65C idle temp, heat is likely not the source of your artifacts since you're getting them browsing the net as well as when in-game.

Don't d**k around with RivaTuner. It's not going to help you here.

If you want to determine whether heat is actually a factor you could use something such as FurMark to stress test your graphics card. Don't use the extreme testing mode however as the 4000 series did not have overcurrent protection. FurMark monitors your GPU temp in real-time while testing, but you could keep GPU-Z open for comparison purposes.

If your temps are going over 100C when under load you have a temp problem that may or may not be related to your artifacting issue. Either way you'd want to remedy that somehow. If it's below 100C then start trying different drivers. If changing drivers doesn't help you'd best start looking at a new card.

I ran the 720 test (I assume that was the not-extreme one) and started to get temps of 102 degrees Celsius towards the end of the run with nothing hinting that it was going to stop heating up, it was on a steady increase the whole time.

[Octavius Maximilian]

Dat Tycho

I ran the 720 test (I assume that was the not-extreme one) and started to get temps of 102 degrees Celsius towards the end of the run with nothing hinting that it was going to stop heating up, it was on a steady increase the whole time.

You have an overheating issue. It might not be the direct cause of the artifact, but taking care of this should take precedence. Ideally, you want a setup where cool air goes inwards, and hot air gets expelled. For now, you can take a desk fan and point it toward one of the vents until you can purchase a new fan or re-position the ones you have to blow outward.

[Dat Tycho]

Octavius Maximilian

Dat Tycho

I ran the 720 test (I assume that was the not-extreme one) and started to get temps of 102 degrees Celsius towards the end of the run with nothing hinting that it was going to stop heating up, it was on a steady increase the whole time.

You have an overheating issue. It might not be the direct cause of the artifact, but taking care of this should take precedence. Ideally, you want a setup where cool air goes inwards, and hot air gets expelled. For now, you can take a desk fan and point it toward one of the vents until you can purchase a new fan or re-position the ones you have to blow outward.

Alright. Which brings us back, what's an optimal set-up? My friend's a tech guy and says that I could get another 200mm fan up top, make those two top fans exhaust, and make everything else in take, but that means that the rear fan takes in warmer air from the monitor. I think having the top 200mm going inward, and the front intake fan going inward, with the side fan (The one nearest the GPU) and rear fan being exhaust would be a good idea, but that's just me.

[Octavius Maximilian]

Dat Tycho

Octavius Maximilian

Dat Tycho

I ran the 720 test (I assume that was the not-extreme one) and started to get temps of 102 degrees Celsius towards the end of the run with nothing hinting that it was going to stop heating up, it was on a steady increase the whole time.

You have an overheating issue. It might not be the direct cause of the artifact, but taking care of this should take precedence. Ideally, you want a setup where cool air goes inwards, and hot air gets expelled. For now, you can take a desk fan and point it toward one of the vents until you can purchase a new fan or re-position the ones you have to blow outward.

Alright. Which brings us back, what's an optimal set-up? My friend's a tech guy and says that I could get another 200mm fan up top, make those two top fans exhaust, and make everything else in take, but that means that the rear fan takes in warmer air from the monitor. I think having the top 200mm going inward, and the front intake fan going inward, with the side fan (The one nearest the GPU) and rear fan being exhaust would be a good idea, but that's just me.

That could work. Try it out and see what happens.

[GrimFusion]

Dat Tycho

Alright. Which brings us back, what's an optimal set-up? My friend's a tech guy and says that I could get another 200mm fan up top, make those two top fans exhaust, and make everything else in take, but that means that the rear fan takes in warmer air from the monitor. I think having the top 200mm going inward, and the front intake fan going inward, with the side fan (The one nearest the GPU) and rear fan being exhaust would be a good idea, but that's just me.

102C during a stress test isn't so out-of-the-ordinary it denotes an overheating issue.
If your card came stock-overclocked, you may be able to salvage the card by underclocking it. That's not something I'd recommend, though. Honestly, I think you just had your graphics card go a**-up on you. I wouldn't mess with adding fans and all that other junk. Look around for the paperwork that came with the card, as some manufacturers have a five year or lifetime warranty. Otherwise, start saving up for a new graphics card.

[Minion4Hire]

Dat Tycho

Octavius Maximilian

Dat Tycho

I ran the 720 test (I assume that was the not-extreme one) and started to get temps of 102 degrees Celsius towards the end of the run with nothing hinting that it was going to stop heating up, it was on a steady increase the whole time.

You have an overheating issue. It might not be the direct cause of the artifact, but taking care of this should take precedence. Ideally, you want a setup where cool air goes inwards, and hot air gets expelled. For now, you can take a desk fan and point it toward one of the vents until you can purchase a new fan or re-position the ones you have to blow outward.

Alright. Which brings us back, what's an optimal set-up? My friend's a tech guy and says that I could get another 200mm fan up top, make those two top fans exhaust, and make everything else in take, but that means that the rear fan takes in warmer air from the monitor. I think having the top 200mm going inward, and the front intake fan going inward, with the side fan (The one nearest the GPU) and rear fan being exhaust would be a good idea, but that's just me.

The top fan should be an exhaust. The side fan should provide spot cooling for your GPU, so changing it to an exhaust would most likely be detrimental. Nothing else should have to change.

The biggest question is how much air are they moving (e.g. are they on a fan controller) and is your GPU heatsink clean. It doesn't matter how many fans are on your chassis if your heatsink is dirty, because direct contact with the air is how heat gets transferred away from the card. The more air that moves over the heatsink the more heat that will be transferred, but a layer of dust, dirt or grime will cause the heatsink to retain a lot of heat.

If at all possible, shut your computer off take out your graphics card and inspect it. Blow out the GPU fan and heatsink with a can of compressed air. Be liberal, but blow in bursts. Once it is clean, reinstall it and try the stress test again. Document what kind of improvement you see. Ideally it should reach a stable temperature. You can have the Catalyst Control Center open at the same time to better monitor fan speed and temps and also see if the GPU frequency is throttling at any point. Stop if it hits 110C, but see if you can get it stable below that temp. If you can that means there should still be room for improvement. If the card can't stay below that while clean there's probably either a problem with the thermal pad/paste under the heatsink or there's an actual problem with the hardware.

Just to shed a little more light on this as well, what are the temps of your processor? Motherboard? Ambient? Idle and Load?

[Dat Tycho]

All right. So right after I saw "Take out your GPU and check for dust." I tried taking it out but it got stuck, and I couldn't plug it back in xD So I took it to CompUSA and they fixed it fo free. Picked up another 120mm fan while I was there for the top. Ran a stress test, it got to 93 degrees and looked like it was almost peaking. Like it would be just fine at about 97 or so. So now I have a 200mm and a 120mm fan on the top as intake, a 90mm fan on the side as intake, a 90mm on the back as exhaust, and a 90mm on the front as intake. Any suggestions now? It's a real b***h getting those screws in and out of those fans so I hope whatever you guys suggest works xD

EDIT: Yeah that extra fan definitely helped. I don't think the GPU's gonna leave the 90's unless it's under LOTS of stress. But still, optimal fan configuration would be nice.

EDIT EDIT: The idle temp is now at 60 degrees Celsius on the nose instead of 65. The GPU fan speed is also only cranked up to 55% instead of 65%.