Odd Graphical Issues

[daanji]

Lately, I've been getting some graphics abberations while multiboxing.

It only happens when I multibox, but even though it does so sporadically.

Some days, it doesn't happen. Other days it happens so much I rage quit.


Typically, it starts off by one of windows (main window or the x4 slaves) starts flickering. It appears as though the game text and UI elements flicker. It slowly gets worse until I see completely garbage on that window. Mean while, the other windows are just fine. To fix it, I usually go into the video settings and simply hit apply (I don't even change anything).

Oddly, a /reload in WoW doesn't fix the problem.

The window it happens to is random. Sometimes it will be one, sometimes two or 3. I've never actually seen all of them go crazy at the same time though.

Do you think it could be a graphics card issue? This is a brand new Gigabyte Nvidia 560 TI.

My graphics drivers are update to the latest and I did not overlock. Temperates seem normal to me, so don't think its overheating.

Think I should RMA this card? Any type of burn in software or checker software that I could use to diagnose the problem?

The issue was fixed and the OP followed up here (http://www.dual-boxing.com/showpost.php?p=339145&postcount=8).
-Fenril

[alcattle]

might try re-tightening the cables, if it is new there should not be a dust issue. also try a different monitor if possible.
I do not know of the TI model, what make?

[Sam DeathWalker]

Random errors usually indicate ram.

More likely video ram but could also be system ram.

Errors that occur after a period of time ususally indicate over heating.

Errors that occur only mutiboxing indicates ram that is not used when single boxing ...


Swap your system ram so that the ram sticks are in different slots they were in and see what happens; i.e. ones that were a low address range swap to the high address range and visa versa.

If you start getting errors in characters that you log in first (I would guess that you are now getting errors in characters you log in last) instead of those you log in last then its system ram. Well that might not be right if the video ram is in a high range not sure.

Or just run a system memtest program. Let me try and find a video ram test program sec.

I have no idea if this is ligit but;

http://www.technibble.com/repair-tool-of-the-week-video-memory-stress-test/

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Important note: bad thermal paste/glue on your graphics adapter can cause overheating issues that happen almost instantaneously. Flickering/artifacting can be graphics drivers but it is usually, as Sam said, memory problems (a few bad gates in the RAM) or thermal issues.

Two things you can do to check for thermal issues:
A quick check for longer term thermal problems (that start happening after you've been playing for a while) is to take the case off and point a high-velocity fan at the system.
A quick check for loose thermal paste/glue or other transient issues is to wait until you see the problem start happening, then get one of those canned air dusters, turn it upside down and spray the cold liquid onto the board (might be hard if you have one that's enclosed in plastic shrouds). We did this at Compaq for years when we had new/overheating graphics chips and it usually works like a charm to diagnose thermal problems.

[RSM72]

Random interface flickering of one single client (out of five I run) is an issue I have too with my current gtx 580. See my post in that topic: http://www.dual-boxing.com/showthread.php?t=34512
/console gxRestart on the flickering client (just hotkey the macro) will fix the problem as will hitting apply on the graphic settings window.

I'm still not sure about the cause of that flickering but I replaced almost every single component in my box (except the CPU and HDDs) but the flickering still happens.

[d0z3rr]

Does it happen in any other games?

[RSM72]

If its the same flickering I experience then no - its exclusive to WoW running with InnerSpace.

[daanji]

Just wanted to post a follow up to my weird graphical issues mentioned above.

The issue went away on its own...for a while.

It came back with a Vengeance! For the last several weeks, it started by up again, slowly at first then full scan crazy graphical issues with excessive load times, picture swaps, and WoW crashes.

I did some research and read reviews on newegg

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125363


When I bought the card on February 2nd, 2011 it had great reviews and excellent performance charts. Now, several months later all the reviewers are posting about the same exact problems I am having and regret ever buying it. So, I'm pissed off.
Since the 30-day RMA has expired with newegg, I am sending it back to the manufacturer to get a replacement, which I intend to sell (assuming it works).

Because of this, I bought the EVGA Nvidia GTX 580 3GB card for $560. I absolutely love it! I can run all clients at "good" settings and the GPU load is only 50% (5 clients). I'll try out max settings later.

[Scelesti]

Random interface flickering of one single client (out of five I run) is an issue I have too with my current gtx 580. See my post in that topic: http://www.dual-boxing.com/showthread.php?t=34512
/console gxRestart on the flickering client (just hotkey the macro) will fix the problem as will hitting apply on the graphic settings window.

I'm still not sure about the cause of that flickering but I replaced almost every single component in my box (except the CPU and HDDs) but the flickering still happens.

I get this every now and then, thanks for the script.

I used to 5 box and never get this, and it maybe happens once a day. Usually happens when I'm overloading my computer more than usual. And it only happens on one client.

Not really worried about it, although i should probably look into buying a can of air and swapping out some RAM.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125363


When I bought the card on February 2nd, 2011 it had great reviews and excellent performance charts. Now, several months later all the reviewers are posting about the same exact problems I am having and regret ever buying it. So, I'm pissed off.
Since the 30-day RMA has expired with newegg, I am sending it back to the manufacturer to get a replacement, which I intend to sell (assuming it works).


This is fairly common not only for Gigabyte GFX cards but their motherboards, too. I used Gigabyte for the features but after 5 years of sporadic "wierd shit" going on with their motherboards, I switched to Intel reference boards and EVGA mainboards and haven't had a single problem with them.

[Sam DeathWalker]

Iv use gigabyte cards and have no problems at all but Im back at the 9800's not the newer stuff.

Are you guys sure your CPU is not throttleing down to save power?

These kinds of problems are video or system ram 9 times out of 10.

Switch your system rams around so that the ones that are now in the high adress are in the low address and see if the same thing happens. If it gets better then you know one set of your rams is bads.

If it does not happen outside of games that is an indication your high adress rams might be bad.


Otherwise they just got a batch of bad video ram ....

[Sajuuk]

You speaking gibbish Sam. Type slower.

/mywonders.


...are shadows on?

[mikekim]

i used to have the same issue randomly on one client.

turns out it was a problem with a driver causing the issue (soundblaster audigy) - after i removed the soundcard i have had no problems since.

[daanji]

I usually use gigabyte as I've never had a problem with their cards. However, this card is just bad.

Based on my research and other reviews, seems like the card tends to fail after 3 months of usage.

So far the new EVGA 580 GTX is running like a champ and I haven't had any issues at all.


Also, I did memory and systems tests to debug the original issue (when it first appeared) and everything else in my system is fine.

So, if you are considering purchasing a Nvidia 560 Ti, be wary of the Gigabyte version.

[ctrolz]

Interesting Thread,

I have been having the very same issue lately and thought that I was having a directx issue. I have been running isboxer config using directx ver 9 and I am running a MSI N560GTX-TI Twin Frozr II/OC video card. The Flickering usually starts on window 2 or 3 and sometimes both. I will have to try some of the suggestions above. Thanks for the informative and helpful posts.

[Unded]

I have same card as Ctrolz and similar problems. The flickering window seems to be random and usually ends up with windows 7 64 bit going to black screen for a few seconds-then clearing up with a windows message about the video card recovering from a driver problem.I'm using newest driver from nvidia-275.33 I haven't tried to reverting to older drivers yet but will if it gets too bad. Edit:Isboxer also all updated running dx9 also.

[daanji]

I have same card as Ctrolz and similar problems. The flickering window seems to be random and usually ends up with windows 7 64 bit going to black screen for a few seconds-then clearing up with a windows message about the video card recovering from a driver problem.I'm using newest driver from nvidia-275.33 I haven't tried to reverting to older drivers yet but will if it gets too bad. Edit:Isboxer also all updated running dx9 also.

When my issue started to compound, I got these a lot as well. The driver would crash and restart.

So perhaps it is an issue with the GTX 560 TI chipset? Who knows.

Although I'm pissed I had to buy a new card already, I do not regret it at all. It is fantastic. The extra video ram really helps.

My only regret is cheaping out and getting the 560 TI instead of the GTX 580 to begin with.

[Unded]

When my issue started to compound, I got these a lot as well. The driver would crash and restart.

So perhaps it is an issue with the GTX 560 TI chipset? Who knows.

Although I'm pissed I had to buy a new card already, I do not regret it at all. It is fantastic. The extra video ram really helps.

My only regret is cheaping out and getting the 560 TI instead of the GTX 580 to begin with.

Daanji-have you tried the 560 TI in another comp to see if running other than multi-boxing stuff is a problem?I've had no problems with anything besides multi boxing.

[daanji]

Yes, I did try it in a different machine and the same symptoms did appear.

However, I only observed the issue while multiboxing. Other games did not give me issues, but I imagine with 5x WoW clients, the card is being pushed to the max.

[Unded]

I went to nvidia forums this morning and did a bit of reading about the video driver reset problem (which includes the tearing in random windows for us multi-boxers).This can occur on ANY nvidia 5xx video card and many ATI cards it seems.

It appears to be mostly a timing problem between windows,hardware,drivers etc. (Google windows tdr)


What fixed my problem was changing pci-e frequency in bios from the default of 100 to 110. I played a pretty full session today and didn't have any tearing in windows nor have the driver ever reset. Ran MSI Kombuster stress/stability test before and after changes to verify my problem is gone.


For those of you with Gigabyte factory OC cards it seems a bad factory OC for some systems is causing similar problems.Many could fix their problem by using MSI Afterburner (or other software)to increase the voltage and or drop other settings to near non overclocked settings.For most just setting the voltage higher worked. If you can get the settings tweaked early enough you may not have damaged components too badly.
The sad thing is that quite a few had sent their cards back(RMA'ed) only to find that the problems in many cases were somewhat system specific,ie.-manufacturer would not get any errors or crashes on test bed systems and send card back to you.One of the posters to nvidia forums posted about contacting Gigabyte support directly and setting it up so he could send his motherboard and video card to be tested together-of course they failed-and his video card passed on Gigabytes test bed-so they are aware,in some fashion anyway, of problems.

Hopefully for those of us who are/were having problems can get issues resolved by hardware and software vendors so we can play our games without any issues.
Yes a daunting task for them-but they all get paid good money by us to prevent problems and make useful products.