8800GT corruption issue...

[Silent Shark]

I'm getting these odd graphical corruptions showing up in various situations, both in windows and in games.

Surprisingly (for me) the corruption is still present when you use printscreen, so I am able to show you what I mean. Here are some pictures showing the problem:

(If anyone knows of an imagehosting site that hosts bitmaps and not jpegs, let me know and I'll post them there. The compression to jpeg looses the detail of the corruption)

A wallpaper jpeg being corrupted in Windows Pic/Photo viewer
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The only game (C&C3) where it can be seen easily that I can get screenshots out of. The reflection of the sun seems to be repeated in small groups of pixels. (This IS corruption and not just the reflection occuring in lots of places, because as you move the camera the corrupted pixels stay in the same place on the screen).
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A screen from Gran Turismo 5 shows it happening in various places. The bonnet, the bumper, by the car door, the wall at the far right.
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Things I've noticed so far:
- It appears more on red-brown areas (I chose image files with the colours that make it stand out)
- When viewing images, the corruption is static, but in games it flickers/shimmers.
- When images are shown actual size, no corruption appears, only when zoomed out.
- Changing zoom and then back again causes the corruption to appear in different places randomly.

Things I've tested/tried:
- I've tried different monitors (initially thinking this was a monitor fault), but all monitors connected show the corruption.
- All resolutions show corruption.
- Connecting through VGA (rather than DVI) has no effect.
- Various drivers have been tested, all show corruption (including ones known to be fine a few weeks ago). A driver sweeper tool was used.
- Tried disabling Aero Glass, no effect.
- The card was tested in another PC (running XP on a CRT monitor). No corruption could be found on this setup using the same images shown above.

Corruption spotted in:
- Windows Picture Viewer
- Crysis
- The Sims 2 (Very bad in this game, but screenshots can't be taken normally, so I can't show you)
- C&C3
- VLC Player (at all zoom levels, but not in snapshots, so I can't show you)

I'm hoping someone else has seen this before and can advise me. I have no more ideas how to narrow it down other than trying a different card in my PC, something I can't do till tomorrow. I would consider taking the card back, but as I was unable to replicate the issue in another PC, I don't know if it would show up in their tests, and if it didn't, they won't take it back.

Any help would be very much appreciated.
Thanks.

[Hunain]

Since there was no such corruption on another setup, you would do better if you list your own setup here, the motherboard, the monitor, the CPU, if you are overclocking? is the 8800GT a factory overclocked version? Since when has this corruption started? was it not there earlier? Have you upgraded something recently?..

[Silent Shark]

My setup is the setup in my profile, but I'll list it all here:
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
Memory: 2GB DDR2 (800)
HDD Capacity: 3x HDDs (640GB Total) SATA
Graphics Card: XFX 8800GT 512MB
Power Supply: Corsair 520W
Case: Gigabye 3D Aurora (Black)
Monitor: LG L226W 22" Widescreen LCD

No overclocking of any kind (gfx card is not pre-overclocked). Corruption only appeared in the last week or so (can't remember when exactly, I thought it was simply a driver issue for a while), and it definitely has not always been there.

Ideas welcome .

[Hunain]

did you try system restore? did you change any display settings? try setting everything to default, Nvidia control panel? Try with a different monitor as well.

[Blitzen]

Does it ever happen from post or is it just once in windows or 3d apps?

If it happens from post then the card is effed.

[Silent Shark]

Already tried a different monitor, and tried using VGA rather than DVI. No effect. Corruption shows up on all monitors, at all resolutions. I haven't tried system restore, might be worth a look, I'd rather not do it because of the various changes I've made to drivers/windows update etc.

I've not noticed corruption in POST, but there is very little on screen at that point, so the chances of it occuring are slight. It's not as if everything is corrupted. Most of the time in Windows there is nothing to see. When pictures are being shown on a 1:1 pixel ratio (actual size, one pixel of the image uses one pixel on the monitor) or zoomed in, everything is fine. It only occurs when an image is being shrunk to fit a window (zoomed out), or in a game where a texture is applied to something far away. It's possibly some sort of compression issue.

I'm going to try another gfx card in my PC. If that corrupts, then I know it's something else in my PC. If it's fine then it's most likely a duff card, but it could still be something else.

[Hunain]

Its quite strange...I actually read something like this regarding the 8800GT...something with memory clocks....but that was during 3D games etc. Yes do try another GFX card, or if you dont have another one, just take this one out and use the integrated graphics, you might need to do a backup before installing the IG drivers etc..

[Silent Shark]

I don't have integrated graphics . I did try my brothers 8600GT (the closest card to mine that I can get), and that was fine, so it's definatly a problem that involves my card.

I've spent most of the afternoon/evening performing various tests, and this is what happened:

- I got a spare hard drive, wiped it and installed a fresh copy of Vista onto it. I check for corruption with the standard windows driver and there was none. I installed the 169.25 drivers from nvidia.com and the corruption appeared.
This is on a clean install of Vista with no other programs, updates or drivers installed, and there is corruption. Something is clearly wrong.

- I then wiped the drive again and installed Win XP Pro SP2. Under normal windows drivers, it was fine. I installed the 169.21 drivers from nvidia.com and they worked perfectly. Again, this was a clean install of XP with no other programs, updates or drivers installed, and there is no corruption.

- I thought maybe it's something that was introduced in the more recent drivers, that wasn't in the 169.21s. I tried beta XP drivers from nvidia (169.44), and still no corruption.

- Then I wiped the drive once more and installed Vista again. Checked once more there was no corruption using the windows driver (there was none), and installed the 169.04 drivers, the oldest available drivers for the 8800GT. The corruption appeared.

(Sorry about the bold text. It's just to highlight the points that are important)

So I've put my normal HDD back and that's where I'm at. Ideally I'd get another 8800GT and try it, but I don't know anyone with one.

The next thing I'm going to try is to put the card and my spare HDD into another PC and install Vista and drivers. If there is no corruption then I will know that it's a fault in my PC that isn't the graphics card. If there is corruption, then it can only be a card fault. The Vista installs are clean and the drivers are unmodified, so that is the only common component.

I'll post back with an update tomorrow, but if anyone has any more thoughts, ideas or suggestions I'll be grateful.

[Silent Shark]

I tried my card in another PC, installing Vista onto it, and the drivers, and the corruption is present.

This means that it has to be the graphics card, as that was the only common component.

I'll start speaking to Scan and/or XFX about the issue.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions.

[Blitzen]

I've not noticed corruption in POST, but there is very little on screen at that point, so the chances of it occuring are slight. It's not as if everything is corrupted. Most of the time in Windows there is nothing to see. When pictures are being shown on a 1:1 pixel ratio (actual size, one pixel of the image uses one pixel on the monitor) or zoomed in, everything is fine. It only occurs when an image is being shrunk to fit a window (zoomed out), or in a game where a texture is applied to something far away. It's possibly some sort of compression issue.

I'm going to try another gfx card in my PC. If that corrupts, then I know it's something else in my PC. If it's fine then it's most likely a duff card, but it could still be something else.

If you are getting corruption at post then card is most definitely buggered im afraid.
Chances are the memory has got too hot and died/dying.

RMA time.

I tried my card in another PC, installing Vista onto it, and the drivers, and the corruption is present.

This means that it has to be the graphics card, as that was the only common component.

I'll start speaking to Scan and/or XFX about the issue.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions.

How long have you had the card?
I only ask becauseif you card needs to be sent back to XFX then you are probably in for a long wait.
Their CS is awful!

[Hunain]

Yeah, it is the card then, most definitely ...Glad we could help, let us know how it goes