R9800Pro + VGA Silencer, Getting Artifacts

A

AcneBrain

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 11, 2003
Messages
219
Hooked up my new VGA Silencer to my ATI 9800 Pro, and immediately noticed artifacts. Lots of colored blocks flashing all over, in any game. I had it overclocked, so I reset it to stock. A bit less artifacts but they are still there. Underclocked, and the same results.

Thought maybe it was overheating, so I took it off, put new goop on, re-seated it and no difference. The stock heatsink on the card had a little raised square in the middle, is that because of the shim? Should I take the shim off?

:confused:
 
take the shim off if you know what your doing. just be careful. if i was in your shoes the next sted i would take is to pop off that shim. good luck. :)

report back your results.
 
use a goopy TIM like as5 or as ceramique. VGA silencer isnt really very good.
 
After surviving a heart attack, I got the shim off. Still no difference :(

I uninstalled and installed the cat 4.1 drivers, just for the heck of it, no difference.

Do artifacts mean something is wrong with the core, the memory, or both?
 
At this point I would reinstall the stock HSF and see if that fixes things. If it doesnt, then you unknowingly physically damaged the card in some way....I dunno....
 
try putting alot of thermal grease on
maybe its not making enuf contact?
 
no, i dont want anyone to feel the shittyness of the vga silencer, maybe when they make a copper one i'll reconsider its place in my arsenal
 
I installed a vga silencer along with AS3 on my 9800 pro and I am VERY happy with it. I have been able to push it farther than before with zero artifacts. My stock hs was loose, so it is nice knowing that it is now running much cooler. I wish I had taken temps with a IR temp sensor to see the actual difference.

Here are a few pics....

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002a.JPG


003a.JPG


004a.JPG
 
Sorry to bump this thread, but I'm still working on this problem.

I tried putting the stock cooler back on.
I tried using the newest Omega drivers instead of Catalyst.
I looked around the whole card to see if there was any thermal goop or dust anywhere.
I tried changing from VGA to DVI to see if the monitor output was messed up.
I disabled fastwrites and AGP 8x.

When I see the flickering and artifacts, it's usually in the same place. For example, in Jedi Knight 2, on the main menu, the lightsaber spinning on the left has artifacts around the bottom, and the words STAR WARS at the top always have artifacts in the letter W. It's weird.

The only thing I can think to try next is putting it in another machine.

Edit: Also, the memory chips are hot to the touch, almost burning. I don't think I remember this before?
 
One way i figured out that my card was fubarred is when i saw graphical glitches in my BIOS, now thats not good. But before you get worried, i had a similiar problem one with my 9800XT card, i would get all kinds of goofy errors and artifacts, so i re-installed all sorts of drivers, cooled the card down even more with excess fans nothing worked. I figured the card was fried so i re-installed windows for the fuk of it, and for some reason it actually fixed the problem, so if all else falls re-install windows it made my day.
 
Originally posted by AcneBrain
When I see the flickering and artifacts, it's usually in the same place. For example, in Jedi Knight 2, on the main menu, the lightsaber spinning on the left has artifacts around the bottom, and the words STAR WARS at the top always have artifacts in the letter W. It's weird.
Click to expand...

no articafts in Windows or POST screens? if not, uninstall your video drivers and then reinstall.

i had the same problem when i was trying to overclock my GeForce4 too far, so it sounds like theres a heat issue. i would get artifacts that wouldnt go away even after i put its speeds back at stock and i just had to reinstall the Detonators. but i did have to "Remove the device from my system" in order to uninstall the drivers.
 
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