AMD 5870 & Witcher 2 gfx problems

[SpartanGlory]

here are my systems specs to get started:

cpu: Intel E8400 3.0

motherboard: DFI lanparty dark t2rs

Video card: HIS HD 5870 1gb stock clocks (underclocking/overclocking didn't help my issue) 12.3 drivers

Ram: 4 GB mushkin 4-4-4-12

Power supply: Corsair HX620w

Operating system: windows 7 64 all current updates

Display: 2 asus monitors 1900x1200

here is the idle temps of my GPU right now:
http://i596.photobucket.com/albums/t...12gpuzinfo.jpg

I've tried to get help from the witcher 2 forums and HIS tech support an none of them could tell me what I problem or how to fix it. so here I am, my last stop before I give up. btw, my card is past its warranty so rma is out of the question.

The weird thing about this problem is that it only happens with The witcher 2 and no other game. Im getting what appear to be flashing white spec ONLY on the NPC and protagonists skin.

here is a few examples:

http://i596.photobucket.com/albums/t...-34-53-78-.jpg

http://i596.photobucket.com/albums/t...-40-02-71-.jpg

http://i596.photobucket.com/albums/t...1-35-06-64.jpg

and here is the album with the rest:

http://s596.photobucket.com/albums/tt46/Neothief/

I happen to find 1 similar thread on the steam forums that said it might be bad vram but he had a amd 4890.
linky to the post:
http://forums.steampowered.com/forum....php?t=1893215

I tried reformatting, installing gpu drivers and reinstalling The Witcher 2 and nothing has helped.

I ran heaven, OCCT, Furmark benchmarks and no artifacts of any kind. I even ran video memory stress test and it found no errors. I played Crysis and no gfx errors at all.

[DarkTower87]

Go into the ccc control panel and turn off the catalyst ai. See if that helps. If you have aa forced on in ccc disable it.

[SpartanGlory]

thanks for responding. I think I disabled ai, I made a preset and then edited it in notepad and disabled all the cat ai parts. It didn't help, didn't seem to lessen it either.

[DarkTower87]

Originally Posted by SpartanGlory

thanks for responding. I think I disabled ai, I made a preset and then edited it in notepad and disabled all the cat ai parts. It didn't help, didn't seem to lessen it either.

Have you tried any old drivers?

[SpartanGlory]

yes, i went back to the drivers when this game was released and it didn't make any difference. That's when the bad vram might come into play, but the problem with that is all the benchmarks show that my card is fine.

DarkTower, have you seen this before? does this look like bad vram, and why is it only effecting this ONE game. Crysis is fine, skyrim is fine, Dues ex HR is fine, Batman AC as well as Saints row: The Third. I know that each game stresses the gpu in different ways.

so if it is not the gpu or the game, could it be my other components?



Its just frustrating that cant figure this out and I don't have the funds to buy a new card.

If I cant solve it, then can someone help me understand it?

[DarkTower87]

Originally Posted by SpartanGlory

yes, i went back to the drivers when this game was released and it didn't make any difference. That's when the bad vram might come into play, but the problem with that is all the benchmarks show that my card is fine.

DarkTower, have you seen this before? does this look like bad vram, and why is it only effecting this ONE game. Crysis is fine, skyrim is fine, Dues ex HR is fine, Batman AC as well as Saints row: The Third. I know that each game stresses the gpu in different ways.

so if it is not the gpu or the game, could it be my other components?



Its just frustrating that cant figure this out and I don't have the funds to buy a new card.

If I cant solve it, then can someone help me understand it?

I have seen something similar but yellow not white. If the artifacting happened in all 3D applications then I could see it being the card. Since it is happening only in the witcher 2 I would think its a setting. Put all of your overclocks back to stock (cpu,gpu,etc) also try changing in game settings to the lowest and see if it gets rid of it. I suppose it could be faulty hardware. Maybe the gpu is getting dirty power? Do you have another psu to try just incase?

Does the artifacting happen immediately or after playing for a while?

Additional Comment:

The yellow artifacting was caused by a dying video card btw...but it happened in EVERY game.

[SpartanGlory]

It happens as soon as a human body appears, all in the same area and same shape. My gpu is at stock clocks, my computer is at stock aswell and I don't have a different psu to check.

[DarkTower87]

Originally Posted by SpartanGlory

It happens as soon as a human body appears, all in the same area and same shape. My gpu is at stock clocks, my computer is at stock aswell and I don't have a different psu to check.

Have you tried running the game in a different resolution? Have you tried turning the graphics all the way down?

[SpartanGlory]

Originally Posted by DarkTower87

Have you tried running the game in a different resolution? Have you tried turning the graphics all the way down?

I've tried it, didn't diminish the glitches.

Edit: forgot to mention in my first post, I formatted, changed the hard drive that both the game and the OS run and that didn't help.

Just a moment ago I changed cables, I am using hdmi to miniport adaptor and I am still having the same problem. In the Bios I enabled the default setting with no luck their.

Edit #2: this was not an issue on the release of this game. Since reformatting didn't help and changing drivers didn't either, what else does that leave?

[DarkTower87]

When it started happening did you add any new hardware or software? You certainly have a very odd issue.

[kwiksilver]

Perhaps you have a weak power supply? I haven't seen it listed in the specs.

[DarkTower87]

Originally Posted by kwiksilver

Perhaps you have a weak power supply? I haven't seen it listed in the specs.

He doesn't have another psu to test but he never said the brand...

[SpartanGlory]

i knew i forgot something, i got a corsair hx620w.


Additional Comment:

Originally Posted by DarkTower87

When it started happening did you add any new hardware or software? You certainly have a very odd issue.

I did add 4 more gigs of the same ram, but i took those when my system seemed unstable and an extra monitor, so I had 3 total. I tried testing it with 1 connected and on different ports and no dice.

its so odd, that formatting and downgrading the drivers don't fix it

Originally Posted by kwiksilver

Perhaps you have a weak power supply? I haven't seen it listed in the specs.

I have OCCT installed, I can do the power-supply test. what should I be looking for, I've never done that test before.

Additional Comment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6Dor3Y9jIw

here is a video of my problem I just made.

[DarkTower87]

That is how my old dying video card looked. Mine were yellow though. Almost the same thing. I am leaning toward a bad video card or a faulty PSU now seeing it in action. Still doesnt explain why it only happens in the Witcher 2 though. Check your motherboard and make sure you dont have any swollen/bursted caps.

[SpartanGlory]

Ill check my motherboard out and see what I find. Thanks for the help Darktower but after this long and a lot of troubleshooting I realized that It might never be fixed unless I get new hardware(but I thought I would give this place a try and you gave me a lot more help then the other two places I tried) . Also, I think the game engine might be partly to blame since this game is only giving me problems, but that's just a guess.

[kwiksilver]

Originally Posted by SpartanGlory

i knew i forgot something, i got a corsair hx620w.



I have OCCT installed, I can do the power-supply test. what should I be looking for, I've never done that test before.

I'd be surpised if it was the power supply. If you have a multi meter that's the best way to check the voltages on your PSU.

[SpartanGlory]

well I checked my motherboard out and none of the caps have gone bad. I really don't understand what is going on, the other textures look amazing no artifacts or white flashy things. Their has to be some way to fix this, I just got Risen 2 and no artifacts.

Additional Comment:

I just ran into something interesting, someones suggest that baking the card in the oven at 350c for 8 minutes might fix it, has anyone ever do this? it seems like a really bad idea but I am willing to try almost anything to fix this or at least make it less noticable

[Drewmeister]

Looks like you're not alone with this problem. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyjraPhCN8U I saw the wedge like spikes in another video too. It almost seems to be a vram issue but then again it's just happening with this game.

Just a few things I would try. Roll back drivers to one the earliest possible. Try running game in dx9.. or xp if possible. I keep an xp install for older games and some benching. In w7 maybe update dx9 files. Check the dram for errors with memtest96+. Try dram in other slots. Try video card in another pci-e slot.. 8x is fine.

Baking... try 380F for 9 minutes. http://www.overclock.net/t/1076731/b...-great-success

[SpartanGlory]

Originally Posted by Drewmeister

Looks like you're not alone with this problem. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyjraPhCN8U I saw the wedge like spikes in another video too. It almost seems to be a vram issue but then again it's just happening with this game.

Just a few things I would try. Roll back drivers to one the earliest possible. Try running game in dx9.. or xp if possible. I keep an xp install for older games and some benching. In w7 maybe update dx9 files. Check the dram for errors with memtest96+. Try dram in other slots. Try video card in another pci-e slot.. 8x is fine.

Baking... try 380F for 9 minutes. http://www.overclock.net/t/1076731/b...-great-success

I wish he had a longer video and different areas, it does look a bit similar to mine. My texture corruption is only on the skin, and in the same area and same pattern/shape which I find really weird.

Witcher 2 is only DX9, and I know my DX is updated. I've already tried running it any xp mode and nothing changed.

I had a couple spare ram stick and tried those in different slots no change their. I have no pci 8x slots on my motherboard just 1 PCI 16x 2 PCI 1x and 3 PCI slots.

I baked 380 for 9 mins and it didn't do a thing. I guess I could bake my motherboard .

I am out of idea's, I don't know what is causing this, my card is not overheating, and my computer has not crashed in over a year, my ram is fine. I really don't think it is my PSU.

[DarkTower87]

Originally Posted by SpartanGlory

I wish he had a longer video and different areas, it does look a bit similar to mine. My texture corruption is only on the skin, and in the same area and same pattern/shape which I find really weird.

Witcher 2 is only DX9, and I know my DX is updated. I've already tried running it any xp mode and nothing changed.

I had a couple spare ram stick and tried those in different slots no change their. I have no pci 8x slots on my motherboard just 1 PCI 16x 2 PCI 1x and 3 PCI slots.

I baked 380 for 9 mins and it didn't do a thing. I guess I could bake my motherboard .

I am out of idea's, I don't know what is causing this, my card is not overheating, and my computer has not crashed in over a year, my ram is fine. I really don't think it is my PSU.

Do you hvae any onboard video? If you do remove your video card and try running witcher with your onboard (if it will even run).