Bought a Gigabyte GTX560 Ti 1Gb video card last December from the USA. Previously had a EVGA GTX460 Ti 760Mb in my system which never gave any problems.

 

Now, as can be seen from the attached photograph, for no apparent reason, I will get this strange pattern, which remains frozen for about 50-60 seconds, then disappears. Have the latest Nvidia drivers, so any one any idea what could be causing this? Same PSU powering this card as the EVGA.

 

Thanks

Was this happening in the previous drivers as well? If not, I'd recommend you to roll back. 

 

Stable version > latest version.

Thank you Diego, for your answer. Yes, it happened with the previous driver as well, which is why I updated to the latest Nvidia drivers. Odd thing about it, is that it only happens once or twice a day, lasts for around the time I stated in my earlier post, and that after I've left the Dell 24-inch  U2412M on HD resolution on for a good few hours. The only hardware that I have changed on my system is that new Gigabyte card as I'd heard some good things about the GTX560 Ti, and asked my sister in NV to pick one up for me.

Thank you Diego, for your answer. Yes, it happened with the previous driver as well, which is why I updated to the latest Nvidia drivers. Odd thing about it, is that it only happens once or twice a day, lasts for around the time I stated in my earlier post, and that after I've left the Dell 24-inch  U2412M on HD resolution on for a good few hours. The only hardware that I have changed on my system is that new Gigabyte card as I'd heard some good things about the GTX560 Ti, and asked my sister in NV to pick one up for me.

Okay judging from the artifacts it looks like your card may be defect. It might be a little hard for you to get an RMA in England with a US card, but I'd suggest you call Gigabyte UK directly, or sending them an email. 

 

I researched this card a bit. Have you overclocked yours? Could you try another PCI slot?

Hi Diego

 

No o/c, but will try another slot as you have suggested. As regards the RMA, as I'm heading to NV in June, and the card was bought in December last year, I may see if I can get it changed there if it still proves to be duff. So annoying when it happens and of all the graphics cards that I've bought over the years when the VRAM was a mere 2Mb(Matrox), this is the very first time I've seen this happen,

Maybe it's silly but "this strange pattern" looks a bit like leftovers from a screensaver (Aquarium?). Isn't that a fish swimming there at the upper right side?

 

You said "after I've left the Dell 24-inch  U2412M on HD resolution on for a good few hours".

 

Do you have/had a screensaver like that?

 

Andreas

Hello Andreas

 

I can see where you are going with this. Yes, I do have an Aquarium screensaver, but these artifacts do not just happen when the screensaver is running. It has happened when in a long distance flight here in FSX and as I could not grab the screen as it was when this square pattern appeared, I had to resort to taking a digital shot because the whole system freezes, i.e. Ctrl-Alt-Del does nothing to release this momentary freeze.

 

Hope I've made things a bit clearer.

Artifacts suggest a memory problem, screen freezing suggets a GPU problem, both could be heat related or down to the fact that the card is not seated properly. As suggested try another slot for the card, check the gold contact points on the card and maybe give them a going over with a non abrasive pencil rubber in case theres some dirt preventing proper contact. I'd download MSI Afterburner or GPU-z to check what your GPU temperature is doing.

Hello Rick,

Do you always have these "Aquarium" artefacts?

When you disable or deinstall this screensaver do other artefacts show up?

Andreas

PieEater, on 24 Mar 2013 - 20:33, said:

Artifacts suggest a memory problem, screen freezing suggets a GPU problem, both could be heat related or down to the fact that the card is not seated properly. As suggested try another slot for the card, check the gold contact points on the card and maybe give them a going over with a non abrasive pencil rubber in case theres some dirt preventing proper contact. I'd download MSI Afterburner or GPU-z to check what your GPU temperature is doing.

Thank you for. That pencil trick I've used before, and I do have MSI Afterburner, but never thought of checking there. Will do.

 

agutz, on 24 Mar 2013 - 20:56, said:

Hello Rick,

Do you always have these "Aquarium" artefacts?

When you disable or deinstall this screensaver do other artefacts show up?

Andreas

Hello Andreas

 

No, it does not just happen with that Aquarium screensaver solely. It can happen when running an Office application, or when flying in FSX. Sometimes I can and often do leave that Aquarium screensaver running overnight and there will not be a single artifact/freezing issue. Just happens randomly which drives me nuts.

 

Edit:MSI Afterburner GPU temperature running at 21C with FSX running

I guess that you have checked or changed the psu power leads to the card (2)?  What is the rating of the PSU?

Andreas asked - do you get this effect if you uninstall the screensaver software or disable it.  We need to see if the screensaver app is not interfering with the video memory ie becoming resident and not released when not being used.

Modern LCD monitors are not as prone to color burn as older CRT monitors and maybe choose the default blank screen might be the way to go?

PeterH

I had a similar problem in the past - in my case the Graphics card was dying, turned out one of the RAM blocks on it was going south.

 

I agree with Diego, think you may have got a defective card.

 

EDIT:

If your problem starts to get progressively worse as time passes then its likely you're having a similar issue. First it happens every once in a while - completely random, then more often before finally the card will die completely. In my case took a couple of months for it to go totally dead. I ended up using the integrated Intel graphics on the motherboard temporarily until I got a new card.

I guess that you have checked or changed the psu power leads to the card (2)?  What is the rating of the PSU?

Andreas asked - do you get this effect if you uninstall the screensaver software or disable it.  We need to see if the screensaver app is not interfering with the video memory ie becoming resident and not released when not being used.

Modern LCD monitors are not as prone to color burn as older CRT monitors and maybe choose the default blank screen might be the way to go?

PeterH

PSU is a rock steady 700W BeQuiet! that took the Custom PC award. But, once I've finished my current PHNL-KLAX flight, will check as suggested.

 

As regards the s/s will try that route too and report back. Thanks.

 

I had a similar problem in the past - in my case the Graphics card was dying, turned out one of the RAM blocks on it was going south.

 

I agree with Diego, think you may have got a defective card.

Thanks for that. Just asked my sis in NV to check if she still has the receipt.

I've seen this before,  I think Andreas was on the right track, and you should try to turn off the screen saver in display properties,   or at least change it to not come on for a long time.  Some of these Aquarium screensavers are actual 3D programs and use a lot of graphic card power.

 Maybe, during long flight or relative inactivity, the screen saver is kicking in and causing the issue.

 

I would first try uninstalling the Aquarium, then reinstall.  The new card and/or driver change may have changed something.

 

just a thought,

 

Ron.

I've seen this before,  I think Andreas was on the right track, and you should try to turn off the screen saver in display properties,   or at least change it to not come on for a long time.  Some of these Aquarium screensavers are actual 3D programs and use a lot of graphic card power.

 Maybe, during long flight or relative inactivity, the screen saver is kicking in and causing the issue.

 

I would first try uninstalling the Aquarium, then reinstall.  The new card and/or driver change may have changed something.

 

just a thought,

 

Ron.

Thanks for that. As soon as I have landed night time with the PMDG 744 into KLAX,  as I'm in descent, will do just that.