Artifacting 6970

[GrunkaLunka]

Took this card out of a rig I bought the other day and put it in a test rig to see how it goes.
As the title suggests, I'm getting artifacts - spikes and various long thin shapes flashing across the screen all over the show. The severity of the artifacting decreases as I increase the core voltage. At the max afterburner lets me go (1300) the artifacts are gone (in the two games I was testing with).
over or underclocking the core or memory makes no difference (from the brief testing and as far as my eyeometer can tell).
core temp is fine: levels out around 65deg with a pretty aggressive fan curve. couldn't say how hot the memory gets but with fresh thermal pads it shouldn't be a issue with the cooling.
latest legacy drivers from ati after ddu.
Other than the visual artifacts, it seems to be performing fine for what it is.
Is this simply the videos cards swansong or could there be hope for the old girl?
suggestions?

 

[Steinwerks]

First thing IMO would be to pull off the stock cooler and replace the thermal paste with something like Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut. That card is what, six years old now (I had one, replaced with RX 480). Have you monitored the GPU temperatures with something like GPU-Z or HWiNFO64?

 

[GrunkaLunka]

Its all fresh thermal pads and thermal paste. core temp levels off around 65deg. I dont think cooling is the issue. I think its just had a hard life. memory might have been way overclocked and damaged. Its just seemed weird to me that ramping the voltage up makes it better. or is that normal for deteriorating chip?

 

[Steinwerks]

Sorry, missed the bit about thermals in the first post.

Which games were you testing?

I couldn't say what most cards do when they fail (or begin to degrade), I haven't ever had a GPU failure/death that I can remember. Can you get some screenshots of the artifacts?

 

[GrunkaLunka]

L4D2, Dota2 and Far Cry Primal are the games I've tested it with. The artifacts can also be seen just in windows now an then but you'd barely catch em even if you are looking. Here's a couple screens. A short clip would be a better demonstration because these spikes are like rapid fire flickers. The screen shots actually appear slightly better than what is really experienced.

 

[Strawman]

Those aren't the usual artifacts that indicate a dying GPU. Have you tried a clean drivers install once more? I used to have the same exact problem with a brand new 6850 about 3-4 years ago. Although it didn't happen as often as you are describing, it still happened once in a while.

 

[GrunkaLunka]

Its been clean installed a few times now over a few different systems. though the same legacy drivers from amd are being used each time (I tried the beta drivers but the software wouldn't work and the artifacting was still occurring). I suppose I could try find some earlier drivers to try but from the brief googling I've done on these artifacts I'm now thinking it is permanently damaged memory.

 

[Steinwerks]

Its been clean installed a few times now over a few different systems. though the same legacy drivers from amd are being used each time (I tried the beta drivers but the software wouldn't work and the artifacting was still occurring). I suppose I could try find some earlier drivers to try but from the brief googling I've done on these artifacts I'm now thinking it is permanently damaged memory.

Have you checked what BIOS is installed? You might want to consider seeking out the original and flashing, if it was a modded BIOS for mining or a specific purpose it could be performing oddly in gaming. Just a thought. If you can't find it I might be able to source one from a friend who has my old Sapphire 6970.

Edit: https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios...l=HD+6970&interface=&memType=&memSize=&since=

 

[GrunkaLunka]

Thanks - that could be worth trying! Ill give it a go. I also had someone suggest to me today that it is faulty/worn/dying transistors (due to symptoms decreasing as voltage increased)

 

[Armen Abcarians]

Put your clocks at post or try on friends pc see what happens. gl

The fan might be busted. Try the card on another machine. gl