Radeon HD 6780 graphical corruption

zilog_jones

Yesterday I suddenly started getting this weird graphical corruption while playing a game with my Sapphire Radeon HD 6780. I thought it was like the stuff I used to get on my older card (GeForce 8600 GT) after overclocking too much - but this time I'm not overclocking, I can actually take screenshots of the dodgy graphics, and the problem does not go away after a reboot

The problem seems to occur with any 3D stuff, and Windows Aero. The desktop is fine with Aero disabled, and videos seem to play ok as well.

I got the card a year ago and had no trouble up until now, however I only got a new monitor (1920x1080 120 Hz) a few weeks ago so was stuck with much lower resolutions (usually 1280x1024) until then so probably wasn't pushing it as much. Temperatures and voltages look fine.

I tried updating drivers and it made no difference (I was on 12.11 until now).

Any ideas? Should I try returning the card? I believe Sapphire do two year warranties. I'll try it on a different PC if I get a chance tomorrow.

I've attached a screenshot.

zilog_jones

For some reason it's not letting me do more than one attachment per post, so here's another.

ED E

First port of call is read your temps (idle and then load with furmark). Let furmark run for 20 mins and see if it crashes(blue screen or black screen).

zilog_jones

I don't think the problem is temperature related as it's permanently happening since it started. It happens on the desktop with Aero enabled, and idle temps are around 38-40 degrees. Under load it goes up to about 60-65 degrees. I never had any issues with overheating.

EDIT: Ran FurMark there for 15 minutes, temperature maxed out at 72 degrees with fans at 100%.

ED E

Any artifacts during the furmark run?


I'd pull it, dust it thoroughly and reseat for one, but I'd start worrying that its on the way out alright.

zilog_jones

Yeah there some artefacts present, not as pronounced as in games but I guess the polygons are smaller or whatever. I already reseated it earlier today.

Wossack

just out of interest, do you get the artifacts in tf2, if you run it windowed?

zilog_jones

Yes, I get the same artefacts in any game windowed, and even after turning off Aero the Catalyst Control Center still looks all glitchy. I didn't get a chance to try it in another PC but hopefully will on Monday.

TerrorFirmer

Have you tried underclocking the memory? Doesn't sound good though.

zilog_jones

When the GPU is idle the memory is running at 150 MHz and the problem is still there, e.g. viewing the desktop with Aero turned on.

zilog_jones

I tried it on another PC earlier today (running WinXP 32-bit to make things as different as possible ) and I'm seeing the same problem, so I'm going to return it.

I contacted Sapphire and they said to do the RMA request through my reseller who was Komplett - would they deal with the issue themselves or send it off to the distributors or someone else for RMA?

zilog_jones

Just got an email back from Komplett yesterday, and they're sending me a replacement Radeon HD 7850

Wossack

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