Massive issues with graphics after system upgrade

Freemad · 07 Oct 2015

Hello everyone and thanks for your time!

I just installed a few hardware upgrades to my PC and reinstalled all my software ( I'll list the specs bellow )

OS, programs and games are all legit.

I'm mostly using my PC as a workstation, running software such as: 3ds Max, Photoshop, After Effects, Quixel, etc. etc., and currently heavily using real-time rendering tools such as Quixel 3do, Marmoset and Unreal Engine 4.

After the upgrade I am experiencing troubles with my graphic performance: White-ish, big think lines, mixed with numerous thinner ones, are flickering throughout the length of both my monitors. This is barely to no visible on Windows start up and then quickly disappears completely ( or at least I can't see any). If I do nothing or just stick to web browsing, watching a movie or listening to music there's no sign of the lines, BUT as soon as I launch a game ( at the moment I've got only GTA 4 installed ) the lines come back, BIG TIME. This is the case when I launch software like Quixel Suite or Unreal Engine 4 as well. Here's an image of what happened last time I tried to open a project in UE4:

http://s22.postimg.org/64ukiq781/Capture.jpg

Also here you can see a photo of the lines - I'm sorry the quality is quite poor.
Surrounded with red is what is visible from the lines on the photo and the yellow represents where the rest are. Please note that both monitors are covered in very visible lines, just on the photo is very difficult to see.

http://s22.postimg.org/g3fj57gnl/Lines.jpg

My OS and all drivers are up to date. Also I've got the latest BIOS installed. I tried a few different versions of NVIDIA drivers and to eliminate the possibility of faulty GPU I tried with 3 different cards - EVGA GTX 460 and EVGA GTX 560 Ti ( both with the latest drivers ). I also tried with what I had before the upgrade ASUS HD 5770, but I didn't even bother installing drivers as the lines were showing as soon as Windows loaded and I've already tried the other two cards before that.

I don't know if it's worth mentioning that GTA 4 takes ages to load and then is completely impossible to play as the lagging is brutal. Also when opening a work project it will take awhile to load as well and most of the time it will give me "Not Responding" which get itself sorted if I leave it and wait.

Here's my system specs. I'll add *** to the current components installed as an upgrade.

OS Windows 7 Pro x64

Two 1080p, 60Hz monitors

CPU FX 8350

PSU XFX Pro 550W

Motherboard Asus M5A97 R2.0 - BIOS 0906 / 2603 ***

GPU HD 5770 / GTX 560 Ti ***

Separate HDD for OS and programs / SSD 850 EVO 250GB ***

Retail CPU cooler / Noctua D-14 ***

I installed everything in a brand new high performance PC case as well.

I would very much appreciate any help with resolving the issue. Hope you don't have much bad news for me

Thanks!

Freemad · 07 Oct 2015

OK, just a quick update.

I've been testing different things and one that probably worth mentioning is that the lines still appear on idle in Windows Safe Mode.

Is there some sort of diagnostics I could run and see if it's going to pick up any problems? I couldn't find any decent info on that matter.

Thanks

Mellon Head · 16 Oct 2015

It's not exactly clear, but are you running an HD 5770 and a GTX 560 Ti at the same time? (sorry, I'm confused)

Also, when you did your upgrades, did you plug the required power connector(s) into the graphics card?

It's odd that it's happening to both monitors with two separate graphics cards. Does it happen in safe mode?

How old is your power supply? It should be strong enough to power the system, but FX-8350's are power hogs (I know. I have one), so it may be that the power supply isn't providing enough power to the system. That may not be the case, but it is a common component that can definitely cause issues like this.