BeastFOOD

Hey!
I have an Ati Radeon 9800 Pro, and it's been doing good
for about the last 1.5, 2 years. But lately, something has happened to it
For example when i start my pc and finally the windows loading screen comes up, al these small artifacts show up!
Or when I start a game in the beginning
i start getting weird pixel mutations again
and when i actually play, the whole thing blurs altogether, and i can't see
anything anymore. here are some pics of what happens when i play a game

Start:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y5/...od/9800nr1.gif
Ingame:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y5/...od/9800nr2.gif

Also when i play videos i get the same problem as you can see in pic 1
strange pixel mutations.
Well, please help me!lots of cool games coming out lately, and need my pc 2 be in top condition!

Thanks in Advance
, BeastFOOD

ebackhus

oooh, that sure looks bad. I blame either bad RAM chips on the card and for the 3D a combination of bad RAM and burned out pixel pipelines on the card. If either is the case the only fix is a new card.

BeastFOOD

Ouch, i hope it isn't one of those then :P , though it would explain the sudden problem...
'Thanks for your reply!
But does anyone else maybe know whats going on,next to ebackhus thoughts..

Sarkast

I have to agree with ebackhus - it looks rather bad.

One question though - the artifacts only show up in windows ? No matter how long you have the card sitting in the BIOS (for example) there are no errors on the screen ?

First i'd give the card a good visual inspection. Anything unusual - burn marks, capacitors with bulging tops, leaking capacitors. Is the heatsink attached properly, fan running etc. Take it out of the slot - blow the slot out with a can of air, clean the contacts - reseat it.

Then i'd download a tool called ATITOOL. Run it - switch on the 3D cube and see if you get artifacts. Try underclocking the card (GPU and or RAM) - small steps at a time. Maybe you can get it to work correctly at lower speeds - yes you'll lose performance but for the moment cheaper than buying a new one right ? Maybe you dont even need to go too far to make the artifacts disappear. THis should also show you were the problem lies - is it necessary to underclock the GPU more - or the RAM.

BeastFOOD

When i run DXdiag, and i perform the tests, i do get these artifacts showing up to.
Another part which is quite strange, there were these little (very little) artifacts(cube shapes that stuck to the mouse in the beginning,. you could see them on the desktop to at names and such, and some where blurred out.)
but now, that has stopped! but i gave in to the fact that it is probably burned out.
when i looked on ebay i saw someone selling his ati radeon 9800 with exactly the same problem as me (artifacts at booting and such)
So, i guess it's time to purchase something new,
though i will take a look at the card, and do what you suggested sarkast!
thank you both for your replies, they've been very helpfull!

Sarkast

Your welcome - just post back if you find out anything else or have any other questions.