ga-m52l-s3p Artifacts issues

[phadom]

Current System
MotherBoard : GigaByte M52L-S3p rev 1.2
CPU : AMD Athlon II X3 440
PSU : CoolerMaster PSU 650W, 12v  50amps
RAM: Kingston 2gb DDR2
HD: WD2500JS
GPU : Gainward GTS250 1g DDR3

Started having artifacts and game crashes with my old gpu(ati 4850) and having good temperatures i thought that either the card or the psu(antec 500w) was going bad. So i switched to the new GPU and PSU and still getting some annoying artifacts on the desktop and in some games..
I must mention all the parts work perfect on other pcs, and i have run a memtest on my pc.Current Bios is F6A Beta. Can this be the culprit?

Any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated

[Dark Mantis]

Hi and welcome to the Gigabyte Forum.

I think it is far more likely to be your graphics card drivers that are at fault.
What version are you running?

[phadom]

Hey tnx for the reply.. Currently im using nvidia 260.99. I forgot to mention that all those changes in hardware were accompanied with a clean install... so no driver conflicts

[absic]

Hi there,

Did the problem start after you updated the BIOS or did you update the BIOS because you were having a problem?

If things started to go wrong after the BIOS update then you can try going back to F5 and see if that cures it.

If you were having the issue before the BIOS update then the problem could be due to other factors.
The fact that both the ATI and NVidia card are showing the same problems would suggest that the problem isn't with the cards themselves but possibly with something else on your PC.
What OS are you running?
What other hardware do you have attached to your system either USB or PCI, PCI-E?

[Dark Mantis]

It does seem funny that both cards seem to be having the same problems. Especially as they are two different makes with different drivers.

The PSU should be powerful enough as long as it isn't oo old.
Is it a single rail 12V output?

[phadom]

Thats what i just did and switched back to F4, however running some preliminary stress tests i still get artifacts and erros. Because its been some time i dont remember the reason i switched the bios.
Currently running win7 proffesional.
Nothing on PCI or PCI-E and the only USB is my wireless mouse...

@Dark Mantis The PSU is brand new... It is a single rail output...checked the voltages by hand with a meter...its rock solid.

Can it be some kind of incompatability of the MB with the cards?
I also checked the revision of the PCIE its 1.1

[absic]

There shouldn't be a compatibility problem and I haven't come across one yet.

Are you Overclocking at all?
Is your CPU being cooled properly? Sometimes, if the CPU gets too hot, you can get these strange effects appear on the monitor.
Is there a good air flow through your PC Chassis? If the GPU or other components on the motherboard are getting cooled enough you can also get these issues.
Is the Graphics Card seated firmly in the PCI-E slot? I have discovered on my own system that the weight of these large Graphics Cards can sometimes cause them to "slip" over a period of time so they are not in as firmly as when first installed.

[phadom]

No OC at all..although CPUZ reports a 0.5% overclock.. In bios everything is set at auto.. As for the temps currently running at
33C CPU
50 GPU and all voltages are steady. The case is a ThermalTake Armor with 2 12'' fans and 2 8'' giving it a good airflow.
The Graphics card is securely sitted as i placed it this morning and screwed it in place and forgot to mention that i have checked all the power cables to be in place...
Also tried with a second monitor in case that was the problem which unfortunately it is not.

When i start a game(Arma2, Star Wars, BF2) i get green glitches and cutoffs and after awhile the game crashes...
I have been running GPUZ to records temps and the higher the GPU gets its 80C under any stress

This is driving me crazy...

[absic]

The only time I had issues of this kind it turned out to be the speed of my RAM, which I had running at stock settings. It all passed memtest with flying colours but caused glitches until I pulled it back a little.

The only other thing that springs to mind is the fact that you are running Windows 7 with only 2 Gig of RAM. This is really a bare minimum for this OS and it might help if you were able to increase it.

Double checking the BIOS versions for your motherboard and F6A does address VGA Compatibility & Memory issues so it might be worthwhile going back to this version. When you update BIOS do you use QFlash? If not, I would recommend that you do as there are often problems when using @BIOS to update.

[phadom]

ok ill try to drop the frequency to see if anything changes.
The OS is not a problem because i also tried with windows xp SP3.
As for the BIOS the changes were made with @BIOS. I will give Qflash a try and switch to F6A again to see if anything changes...
I will report back

[phadom]

Ok flashed the MB with Qflash and BIOS F6A, dropped the frequency of the ram, clean formated with Win XP SP3, clean install of latest drivers and still the same problems... Run a memtest86 and all is fine...
Disabled onboard sound card in case it was interfering, changed the vga cable in case that was the problem and still no luck and no solution...

Any other idea is more than welcome...
Only thing left i can think is changing the mb but currently i dont have any spare one to try and my budget is dry at the moment...

[absic]

Hi,

I have to admit to being puzzled by this problem and am at a loss to provide an answer.
Have you contacted Gigabyte Tech Support: http://www.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/technical-support.aspx and asked them if they can help? If not it would be a good idea to do so as they may be aware of a problem that we don't know about or they might be able to provide a BIOS update to resolve it.

[phadom]

as i tried every possible combination except changing the motherboard i decided to give it back to the retail store i bought it for warranty..
I will see what will they have to say...

[absic]

Hi,
Thanks for the update and I'm sorry that I couldn't find the cause of the problem, I might have been able to if I had your kit in front of me but it is always difficult in these situations to find the root cause when you can't get hands on.

Let us know how you get on and what problems, if any, your supplier finds with the motherboard.

[jolphil]

OK I will admit that I am out in left field but have you tried another display?" I can hear the laughter from here"
Look Like you tried about everything else..It would be easy to try..
Goodluck,
jolphil