6800 GT Tearing problem

[PolarisTwin]

This problem is pervalent in all my games where in random intervals my graphics will seem to rip in small certain areas and textures, and while this is going on I get lots of random glitchy looking pixel looking things that flash here and there constantly.

My setup:

asus p4c800 deluxe mobo
Pentium 4c 2.6ghz HT cpu
1 gig pc3200 samsung ram
PNY Verto geforce 6800 GT

this only occurs in 3d rendered games, it doesn't happen on the desktop or while watching video or anything, it's only in games. What could I try to make this problem go away? Such as an overclocking utility I could use to underclock or something? I don't even know, thanks

edit - and I have tried the newest drivers as well as rolling back to older versions of drivers.

[|MaguS|]

Have you tried setting your 8xAGP motherboard to 4xAGP? There is no significant performance hit by doing so and it can fix alot of issues.

Also check your cards temp.

[PolarisTwin]

I'll try that now, and I'd like to try to underclock my card to see if that helps, but I don't know which program to use. Could you link me to an easy straight forward one?

[PolarisTwin]

ok, sorry, but how do I set the 8x to 4x? I looked in my bios and all I can find is a graphic aperture size. I tried setting it from 128 to 64 and the glitching actually stopped, but then as I was playing Half Life 2 to test it out, something seemed to set it off. It went from NO glitching to glitching out even worse than before when a camera was flashed in my player's face, causing the screen to light up white. When my vision came back the game was glitching out intensely with tearing and lots of grainy white boxes popping up all over the place along with the little pixelated looking sporadic glitches.

also, where is an overclocker utility so I can try underclocking? Thanks

[|MaguS|]

Ok, that sounds like your card is overheating... You probably will have to RMA it and if its out of warrenty then your SOL.

[PolarisTwin]

well I just looked at the temperature in my driver's control panel and it said it's operating safely at 58c so I don't know

edit - actually I just opened a game and let it sit with the game open for about 5 minutes and would alt tab to check the gpu temperature, and it was steadily rising. Is that normal? And it still wasn't near the threshold. It got to about 80 degrees

[snowmanwithahat]

well I just looked at the temperature in my driver's control panel and it said it's operating safely at 58c so I don't know

edit - actually I just opened a game and let it sit with the game open for about 5 minutes and would alt tab to check the gpu temperature, and it was steadily rising. Is that normal? And it still wasn't near the threshold. It got to about 80 degrees

download Rivatuner to tkae a look at your temps while in game, because as son as you exit temps will start to drop, rivatuner will provide a graph from like the last 5 or 10 minutes, so you get a much more detailed view of the temperatures....

when i had my stock heatsink, it would hit about 84C in game, and overclocked to Ultra speeds it would hit 89C in game.... that was way too hot for me, but apparently the cards are supposed to be able to take it, but given all the people with problems like yours, i highly doubt that it's safe anymore...... you could try an after-market cooler, but chances are if it gets artifacts that fast, then the damage is already done

[PolarisTwin]

lol I just fixed it... it was a power issue. After doing research someone mentioned needing a good PSU for higher end graphics cards. I installed a new 450 watt PSU and gave my card its own power line and it's running great now without any signs of tearing at all.