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Do all 8790s have artifacts?

post #1 of 30
2/12/05 at 8:30am
Thread Starter 
Hi. My computer yesterday started to have some problems in graphics.THE FAMOUS artifacts.I requested rma and they should come to take it on monday. I am jus worried that after a motherboard replacment is it possible to have the artifacts again? or some other common problems that all of the old 8790 owners have?
Can you answer my questions?
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post #2 of 30
2/12/05 at 1:16pm
what do you guys mean by artifacts? I havne't seen anything but a gorgeous glossy screen so far.
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post #3 of 30
2/12/05 at 1:37pm
Thread Starter 
yea so far!!
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post #4 of 30
2/12/05 at 2:22pm
No artifacts for me - are you overclocking anything?
Which drivers are you using?
When does the artifacting happen?
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post #5 of 30
2/12/05 at 3:13pm
Thread Starter 
hi. no have NEVER overclocked. first time that i saw them was when i installed the omega ones. and when i re installed the sager ones all returned to normal.
but when i payed the doom it started again (with the sager drivers) .
it is strange it doesent happen when benchmarkin with 3d mark 2003 with the sager ones.but with the omegas happens from the first test to the end.
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post #6 of 30
2/12/05 at 5:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by gevo
hi Gary. I have already wrote answers to you about the drivers etc. but i am wondering if the omega drivers or any moded drivers cause the gpu to overheat and broke and start to give artifacts.
I think there are serious problems with the omega drivers or other moded ones because maybe they have some values set to work with the desktop computer or some other notebooks that have a lowe gpu heating. what do you tink about my problem and the reason of articats caused by omega divers ????????????????????
I only use the drivers that are provided by Sager. As such, I can not speculate on the soundness of those available by other entities.
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post #7 of 30
2/12/05 at 6:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by gevo
Hi. My computer yesterday started to have some problems in graphics.THE FAMOUS artifacts.I requested rma and they should come to take it on monday. I am jus worried that after a motherboard replacment is it possible to have the artifacts again? or some other common problems that all of the old 8790 owners have?
Can you answer my questions?
I had the famous artifact problem too. Maybe heat does contribute to it, but it's so common, I suspect the Radeon 9700 was clocked a little past the bleeding edge at the factory.

If you can live with your GPU at about 90% of the factory settings, the following suggestion (courtesy of GSFerrari back in November) might save you an unnecessary RMA:

Search and download the free utility "ATITool". Use it to UNDERCLOCK your GPU to Core=370 and Memory=230, or whatever speed is stable for you. It was the only way I could run HL2 without artifacts at 1680x1050 and high video settings. I set ATITool to load the 370/230 profile at startup because I also got artifacts while NOT gaming. Now everything displays fast and clean.

Sure beats being without a rig for weeks and praying for good results.
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post #8 of 30
2/12/05 at 7:19pm
I am using only the sager ones (8.04's).
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post #9 of 30
2/12/05 at 7:38pm
Thread Starter 
the ati tool show my settings > core 405 and the me 270 is this normal????
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post #10 of 30
2/13/05 at 6:16am
Quote:
Originally Posted by gevo
the ati tool show my settings > core 405 and the me 270 is this normal????
Sounds normal to me. I don't know how much variation there is between GPUs. Default on mine was Core=410 and Mem=270.
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post #11 of 30
2/13/05 at 3:37pm
I have had my 8790 down clocked to 390 435 for a couple of months... it was the only way I could play games without it giving me artifacts. But, it gradually got worse and now that doesnt even help. I have the original 8790 bought in the beginning of march last year, I have had the bios updated and use the latest drivers off of the Sager site.
I sent mine in for an RMA just the other day.
This is my fourth RMA, two hard drive replacements and a powersupply.
The machine just runs hot, and heat kills electronics over time.
If I can get another year out of the machine, I will be very happy.
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post #12 of 30
2/14/05 at 12:51am
Same experiences here as Spin. Tired of sending this thing in. It is finally stable, I hope. If it lasts to the end of this year, I'll be happy. The only difference is I've had all of the internals replaced. Basically the only original part left from last march is the wifi card and the shell. No artifacts so far in CS: Source (finally).

It should be noted that 3 weeks after getting it back in January, the overheat warning siren and lights have been going off at random. Sager sent me a "new" BIOS (old one actually from last Sept), only this time they told me to install it differently than normal. Something about canceling the update, then at the DOS prompt typing h8-(something) and it flashes using another .bat file than the auto flashing sequence was using. I don't know what the differnece is, but so far I haven't had the siren go off yet given the same activity patterns as before.
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post #13 of 30
2/14/05 at 1:14am
Quote:
Originally Posted by gevo
Do all 8790s have artifacts?
Not all, but a good number have had artifacting problems. Like was mentioned earlier, it's a matter of heat build-up and lack of proper heat dissipation (at least, IMO).

If you search around, I had a poll for 8790 users in regards to who was having artifacting issues. It wasn't everyone, but a large enough number in my opinion to be slightly shocked.

I haven't played any games hardly at all since I got my machine back from Clevo (motherboard replacement) at the end of last year. Almost scared to, really.
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post #14 of 30
2/14/05 at 5:17am
Let me say this. My 8790 plays 2003 games really well. Also, as a multimedia platform it is surpurb. It can do HL2, Doom 3, and Far Cry, just turn down the settings a bit and don't try to play them at max resolution. I'm getting a Targus chillpad or the usb version for it soon to prevent the heat damage that I suspect caused the internal components to fail one-by-one. Even elevating it wasn't enough. When gaming turn the fans on full. Great machine, but the thermals are just poorly done and people didn't realize it until too late.
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post #15 of 30
2/14/05 at 5:21am
But to be honest to Sager and Clevo. I don't think anyone could have known reguardless of the testing done during design. These machines just get hot and the insides just can't handle it. Its time and heat, and the long term testing needed to discover this would have resulted in the machine being obsolete before even released. Look at the posts here. People didn't start having serious issues in enough numbers for a pattern to be seen until months after the launch. My machine didn't components failing until August. I got it in March.
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post #16 of 30
2/14/05 at 9:32am
I also purchased in March, and have been getting artifacts with HL2, doom3 even in low settings and fan running high. I also am using a targus chill pad.
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post #17 of 30
2/14/05 at 4:13pm
Thread Starter 
i think the problem is that we play all of our games with the maximum high settings for long time and that causes the overheat issue. and there is a lot of stuff on the internet about the omega drivers that cause the mobility radeons to overheat . if you search the issue you will find it .
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post #18 of 30
2/14/05 at 6:54pm
The Omega drivers might be a problem, but aren't the only problem. Some of us have never used anything other than the stock drivers and still came up with overheating issues.

I, for one, have never OC'd or used 3rd party drivers. I do believe Boogieman117 was the same and his machine died the fantastic death, too.
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post #19 of 30
2/14/05 at 6:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by SEMC
People didn't start having serious issues in enough numbers for a pattern to be seen until months after the launch. My machine didn't components failing until August. I got it in March.
I tend to think this is the way it went, too, although there were a number of people who had bad units right out of the gate. GSFerrari's was the first to go South I do believe (or at least, most visibly) and then G's first unit also went fairly quickly if I remember correctly. Mine went ~August and I also purchased mine at the beginning of March.
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post #20 of 30
2/14/05 at 8:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by FriedToast
I tend to think this is the way it went, too, although there were a number of people who had bad units right out of the gate. GSFerrari's was the first to go South I do believe (or at least, most visibly) and then G's first unit also went fairly quickly if I remember correctly. Mine went ~August and I also purchased mine at the beginning of March.
My first unit was a bummer from the "get go". It was CPU temps more than GPU temps that was problematic. The graphics tests generally look OK.
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