Windows 7 - GTX260 Video Artifacting/BSODs

Shook · 02-03-2010

Forgive me now, but this may be a long post because I am at my wit's end with this problem that has been occurring ever since my build (Oct09).

Im running:
AMD Athlon II x4 630 Propus 2.8Ghz Socket AM3 95W
BFG GTX260 "BFGEGTX260MC896OCDE"
Gigabyte MA790GPT-UD3H Mobo with AM3 socket
2x2GB G.Skill F3-10666CL8D-4GBHK
Rosewill Green Series RG630-2 630W PSU
Win 7 Ultimate 64bit on 1600x900 Resolution
Rest of system specs are in my sig

Note: I usually use EVGA precision to crank my video card fan up to about 80%

It started with video artifacting and this problem still occurs, as well as random BSODs.

A link to a youtube video of an example of the video artifacting in Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 YouTube - CoDMW2 Bugs.wmv

So, I'll be gaming it up, game will freeze, sometimes telling me the video driver has crashed and recovered, then if I Ctrl+Alt+Del to desktop then back into the game, it will work fine.... sometimes for a couple minutes but mostly for only a few seconds before I have to go back to desktop and back again. Most of the time after doing that over and over, the artifacting will get worse than whats in the my youtube video posted above, and look like its snowing on my screen. If i then restart my pc, it will work just fine, usually for a good amount of time, but eventually will do it again. Also this happens no matter what game I play. I also experience hangs and slight video corruption while playing full screen videos whether it be .avi files from my hard drive or streaming flash videos online.

Now for the BSODs which seem random(I can't find any pattern in them anyway).
I've gotten:
Cache Manager
Memory Management - quite a few times
PFN_List_Corrupt - a few times
And quite a few more which didn't point to any reason. I am attaching a rar file with only 1 minidump in it, because thats all that was in my folder

WHAT I'VE TRIED:
-Basically every nVidia drivers for Windows 7 with no avail
-Updated my BIOS to version F2 which gigabyte's website says is the correct one for my CPU
-Updated the Chipset drivers
-Checked temps while gaming and they stay below 60 degrees Celsius
-Called BFG tech and tried everything they said, but to no avail
-Tried using the other PCI-e 8x slot on my board, no difference
-I've ran memtest86 on the RAM with no errors
-I've also ran a memtest on the VRAM with no errors

According the G.Skill's website, the ram timings should be 8-8-8-21 but my mobo defaulted to 9-9-9-24 so i changed it to what G.Skill suggests.

Could anyone help me PLEASE or at least point me in the right direction. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: I have posted about this before, but had no luck in fixing the issue http://www.sevenforums.com/graphic-cards/40200-problems-my-new-gtx260.html

Frostmourne · 02-03-2010

Take out the card and try the integrated 3300 chipset. I have that board - have you tried the beta F4B BIOS or are at F3? Stick with F3 and try the integrated graphics. I would also run Prime 95 for a couple of hours to test the CPU and run chkdsk too.

Does your case have enough cooling? That PSU is also a bad choice in terms of quality, but try the above steps first.

**thefabe** · 02-03-2010

I also have a gtx 260 I don't know when you purchased it but I do know that their were a lot of chips that were released that were defective. In my case EVGA had pulled all the 260's off Newegg and replaced them with what they quoted as saying quality tested cards. My point being after all your testing an RMA maybe your only choice. Fabe

Shook · 02-03-2010

Quote: Originally Posted by Frostmourne

Take out the card and try the integrated 3300 chipset. I have that board - have you tried the beta F4B BIOS or are at F3? Stick with F3 and try the integrated graphics. I would also run Prime 95 for a couple of hours to test the CPU and run chkdsk too.

Does your case have enough cooling? That PSU is also a bad choice in terms of quality, but try the above steps first.

Thanks for replying. I havnt tried running the integrated gfx card... I don't want to run it either, but i guess i could test it. Also ill try and go up to the next BIOS but beta BIOS just scares me. I know the PSU isnt top of the line or anything but the guys at BFG Tech said should be more than enough power for my card. Also I'm running 7 tri-cool fans and nothing gets hot.

Shook · 02-03-2010

Quote: Originally Posted by thefabe

I also have a gtx 260 I don't know when you purchased it but I do know that their were a lot of chips that were released that were defective. In my case EVGA had pulled all the 260's off Newegg and replaced them with what they quoted as saying quality tested cards. My point being after all your testing an RMA maybe your only choice. Fabe

Yea I'm thinking it might come down to that Fabe, just dont want to go through the whole RMA process and that not fix anything and im out the cash for shipping.

Any ideas on the BSODs anyone?

Frostmourne · 02-03-2010

Quote: Originally Posted by Shook

Quote: Originally Posted by thefabe

I also have a gtx 260 I don't know when you purchased it but I do know that their were a lot of chips that were released that were defective. In my case EVGA had pulled all the 260's off Newegg and replaced them with what they quoted as saying quality tested cards. My point being after all your testing an RMA maybe your only choice. Fabe

Yea I'm thinking it might come down to that Fabe, just dont want to go through the whole RMA process and that not fix anything and im out the cash for shipping.

Any ideas on the BSODs anyone?

As above, uninstall Nvidia drivers, run Driver Sweeper in safe mode, reboot into safe mode, PC off, card out, PC on, BIOS up, integrated graphics set to UMA+Framebuffer, reboot.

Install latest drivers. No BSOD, its the card. Leave the F3 BIOS for now.

Shook · 02-03-2010

Quote: Originally Posted by Frostmourne

As above, uninstall Nvidia drivers, run Driver Sweeper in safe mode, reboot into safe mode, PC off, card out, PC on, BIOS up, integrated graphics set to UMA+Framebuffer, reboot.

Install latest drivers. No BSOD, its the card. Leave the F3 BIOS for now.

Yea i'll try that tomorrow on my day off. I'm running the F2 BIOS, because thats what gigabyte is telling me to run for the AMD 630 X4. Should i update to the F3?

**Konceptz804** · 02-03-2010

heat my friend, artifacting 9 times out of 10 is caused by heat.

Frostmourne · 02-03-2010

Quote: Originally Posted by Shook

Quote: Originally Posted by Frostmourne

As above, uninstall Nvidia drivers, run Driver Sweeper in safe mode, reboot into safe mode, PC off, card out, PC on, BIOS up, integrated graphics set to UMA+Framebuffer, reboot.

Install latest drivers. No BSOD, its the card. Leave the F3 BIOS for now.

Yea i'll try that tomorrow on my day off. I'm running the F2 BIOS, because thats what gigabyte is telling me to run for the AMD 630 X4. Should i update to the F3?

Yes, get the F3 BIOS and try out the integrated GPU option.

Shook · 02-04-2010

Okay, tomorrow I'll update to F3 bios and try it without my vid card. Tonight though I have gotten 3 blue screens and counting....
BAD_POOL_LIST
System_Service_Exception
PFN_List_Corrupt

For some odd reason the dump files are not showing up in Windows/minidump so i can't post them