Strange Tearing Problem on screen pics inside

[kinkladze10]

I've been having this problem for a while now with my GPU Nvidia 7900 GT

I'm using the latest set of drivers and have tried a few but they all seem to be doing the same thing.

As you can see below I'm getting strange vertical shapes on the screen but I don't know what is causing this, There is a big long horizontal bar on the top of the screen and then a nasty tear on the character creation screen.

The 2nd picture I'm struggling with as it can't be using much memory or GPU to show that screen and yet look what happens?

Is it a case of setting everything to the lowest possible setting in game then trying to build it up?

the pics below are from Neverwinter Nights which isn't that new of game so my pc should be ok with it.

Is the card overheating?

My monitor is a 21" so the dispay is 1680x1050 is that too much for the card to display.

I've had a look at the Nvida display settings from the Control Panel but I don't really understand all the settings, for now I'm going to stick it on best performance and see what happens.

By the way its not just this game it does do it with others as well.

Are there any guides on this or as what to do?
Many thanks

[Odc]

It looks like a graphics card problem to me. The last time I saw that it was a graphics card problem and when it was replaced the problem went away.

[kinkladze10]

Hmm the GPU is less that a year old however, would that be likely?

my system specs are AMD 4000+ 1Gig of Ram

[DratUK]

Oh yes it can. My 8800GTX has just packed up its six months old.

Temps you need Ntune

This will also install Nvidia Monitor which is the one to use for monitoring temps.

Enable logging in settings and you will be able to see what temps the card is running at. Have you cleaned the fan in case of dust and crap causing issues?

Does this happen in other games or just this particular one?

Can you list your full system specs
IE
Mobo
PSU inc how old
OS
CPU and if your Overclocking

Cheers

[kinkladze10]

Right, I've just checked and actually the card is about 13 months old not as I first thought !!!

I'll install that now and then clean it all out etc.

It does happen in others games, it even happened in Civ 4 which isn't a grahpic intense game at all

the Mobo is about 2 years old is a Lan Party Ultra D
PSU is a Tagan 650W never had any probs with this
WIn XP
and AMD 4000 no overclock

I got the card 13 months ago at a later date but the other components are around 2 maybe even 2 and half years old

[kinkladze10]

ok from idle at the desktop I'm showing CPU temp of 40' System 48' and the GPU at 61'

I fired up a game and the temps go to CPU 48' System 50' and GPU 63'

Is this cause for alarm? I'm in quite a hot room as well

[blowtorch]

63'C is not too bad for the Graphics card, my 7600GT is running at 57'C in a hot room Mobo reports 38'C in my case.

I used to see that a lot when overclocking my old Geforce 2 and benchmarking with 3D Mark. I was pushing the memory too far I think.

Are you using the latest drivers?

[DratUK]

No GPU temp is fine as blowtorch has confirmed. Cant think of anything else other than if it is happening in other games then its on its way out.
Sorry m8 I cant think of anything else to help you out. PSU shouldnt be anywhere near stressed with those components.
Try running the system with the side off and see if lowering the system temps and the GPU temps. Ideally if you ahve a deskfan point that in as well.

[Steve B]

didn't the 7900GT's have GDDR problems?

[kinkladze10]

Cheers, well I've never overclocked it so it shouldn't be stressed so yes sounds like it is going to die soon. I have all the effects on games at their lowest and have turned the cards settings for best performance.

Is it worth trying to contact the manufacturer? I bought it from Scan but I think it is an XFX card is it covered for 3 years or is it just a year I'm guessing I have got no chance for any comeback on this?

As far as I am away I'm using the latest drivers, I've tried 3 now including the latest beta driver , currently using version 6.14.11.102 with a date of 22/03/2007

is there another I should try before I finnally throw in the towel?

[Pob255]

Ok that problem is not actually "tearing" but miss calculation on vertex cordinates. Basically it's getting a decimal point in the wrong place on a vertecies x,y,z spacial coordinates.

XP or vista?
I ask because this can be caused by drivers.

This can also be caused by,
Overheating, GPU or graphics card memory.
Faulty graphics card memory.
Can also be caused by not enough power getting to the card, what PSU have you got?
Heck give us your full system specs while we're at it.

Warranty is probably 24months, that seem pritty standard for xfx.

[scrandman]

Pretty standard failure for the 7900GT series card I'm afraid. RMA it. XFX have a 2 year warranty in the UK.

Another forum user - streetster - had almost identical problems and eventually got a replacement from scan (they couldn't confirm the problem and sent it on to XFX)

[Pob255]

This is a rather old screen shot

This is what a ati 9700Pro looks like after it cooks it's memory chips.
it was a stock card from ocuk who said they got them directly from ATi the card had memory chips on both sides but the only cooling was a rather small ATi reference cooler on the gpu.

This pic shouldn't directly worry you in any way unless your games start to look like this.
Just an extreem example vertex miss calculation.

[kinkladze10]

Right ok cheers guys, I'll give scan a ring tomorrow and see what the crack is, my only concern is that if I do have to RMA it I'm going to be without a pc till I get a new card.

I've just looked on their website and they don't sell those cards anymore, they have the 7900 still but not mine, and blimey the cost of them is almost half price compared to what I paid for it a year ago..ouch

Spec below

Tagan 650W
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2
System Manufacturer: NVIDIA
System Model: AWRDACPI
BIOS: )Phoenix - Award WorkstationBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 4000+, MMX, 3DNow, ~2.4GHz
Memory: 1024MB RAM
Page File: 401MB used, 2571MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicode

[Pob255]

at 13months you'll probably have to go through xfx them selves although the thing to do if they cannot supply you with a replacement 7900GT would be to try to get them to give you a 7950GT instead fewer horror stories around for the 7950GT

[kinkladze10]

Well scan were very helpful, it is a 2 year warranty they offer, the only issue isI have to send it back to scan and they will take around a week to test it then they have to send it to xfx for them to test as well, which will be another 2 weeks so basically I have no pc for all that time, what a bummer !!!

Talk about the victim being screwed.