G73 graphic "artifacts", help!

I kinda regret that i didnt just send back this G73 right away in September last year when i got it. But was hard to notice the problem in "older" games.

I got artifacts all over my games, specially noticed now in BF3 when the graphic is so "advanced".
I did notice them a little bit in Starcraft2 but i didnt care (?) due to just turning of AA made them dissapear. But in BF3 i cant get them away.

This screenshots shows the green artifacts all over. Open it in "full" size.
Imageshack - g731.jpg

If i turn of the AA things completly, the artifacts atleast go away in the menu, but i can still see them ingame in certain areas, like smoke, sky, fire etc.
Just different types of them, and i havent really figure out how to find the ingame screenshots yet so ill show you the menu one just to give a clue.
PrintScreen + Paint didnt work in BF3 when in fullscreen.

Anyway, what ive done? Ive installed the new vBios long ago, tried every driver possible up to 11.10 and ofcourse reinstalled windows and all that.

And you know what? If i have a game running, like BF3, and alttab, i can even see the artifacs in certain windows programs and videos!

Is there anything i can do? Any use to contact Asus?

 

Are you overclocking? If so how high? lower the clocks.

What are you temps like across the board? I assume this is a G73JH run HWINFO.

 

I havent overclocked anything at all, never even touched those kind of things.
Temps on the GPU is 90-95C when i got BF3 running. (GPU-Z)

 

Which G73 do you have? In any case, sounds like an overheating and/or faulty video card.

 

Running 101C right now after playing for awhile.
The modell i have is "G73JH TY171V", bought in Sweden.
HD5870, i5 etc etc.

 

Artifacts are caused by heat and if you are running at 100oC that is going to be your problem especially as you are running at stock. Compare to my model which is practically the same after cleaning and a repaste I do not see above 79oC on any part of the GPU with 800/1100 overclock under a stress test.

1. Get some compressed air and clean out the vents as the radiators could be clogged full of dust which can effect the cooling from anything from 5oC to 20oC.

2. Check that everything is working as it should both fans are running and speed up. If you have the latest BIOS/Vbios and drivers this is unlikely unless a fan is broken.

3. Consider repasting as a common problem with the JH is degraded paste or poor application, not necessarily the compound itself. See my sig should you need more info.

 

Im pretty sure all my fans are working, never heard or "seen" any problem with them.
You got a nice repasteguide there for sure. Problem in my case is that im not "smart /experienced" enough to do all those things.
Ive never opened up a laptop in my life... And i would be scared to death about destroying anything if i do.

Is there any use of me contacting Asus? Do they help with overheat problems?

 

First things first step 1 solves the majority of peoples problems its cheap and easy a couple of $ get a can of compressed air and blast the vents with short bursts of air when the laptop is off and if its a blockage you should get covered in dust. If you have had the laptop for a while its most likely the problem.

Post back if it does not drop below 90oC at full load.

 

Probably a dumb question but i assume a vacumcleaner wont be good enough?

 

No that dust can build up pretty thick into the radiator and once it blocks you need to force it out, the temps might be fine at idle but once you put load on the board and the fans cannot force the excess heat out that is why your temps keep rising.

Compressed air fella

 

Yeah. Thanks! Will go buy one tomorrow and get back to you with hopefully some good results.

 

Goodmorning. I must add that the temp on the GPU right now is ~74C.
And then its automaticly downclocked to 405 MHz and been on idle all night...

A little high?

 

If it's idling at 74C then that's too high. Some people idle in the low 40s. Mine idles in the low 50s. Anything over 60C at idle means clogged radiators which I doubt or failed thermal compound which is where I would bet my money.

 

Your problem is Heat. ITs strange that your whole system hasnt locked up or shut down. I guess its the new fermi power limiter merit.

Anyway, yes 74c on idle at 51mhz of clocks is extremely hot considering the well designed cooling system.

Mind you, at idle your clock speed should be 51mhz, not 405. If you saw downclocking to 405, then it was running fullspeed all night.

Still 101c is insane, its like having the laptop melting from the inner side.

Get an air compressor, or a compressed air can for electronics, they sell them everywhere. Gently shoot at the vents on the back while having the screen lid opened.

Located above the keyboard, where the three buttons are, are the intake fans. Dust should come out from it if something is clogging the system.

 

Thanks for the comments.

It should be 51Mhz at idle? Really?
Strange, always been 405Mhz at idle and ofcourse 700Mhz ingame for me.
Must be some auto option cause i havent touched anything.

And yes frankly my computer has pretty much NEVER crashed during a game, atleast not what i can remember, which is indeed odd considering the temps.

I have bought one bottle of compressed air today.
Going to the movies now so will turn off my computer and try it out when i come home and get back to you.

 

The game will switch between profiles for when you are not running 3D Performance (700mhz) it will drop to 405mhz it should drop further but the Vbios settings Asus use are wack.

Hope it works otherwise repaste is the way to go

 

Hi again. Had som fun with the comressed air and now my idle is jumping carefully between 51 and 54C.

However my computer has only been on for like 15min and i havent dared to turn on a game yet.

Should i do another round of "air fun" tomorrow? Noticed some dust coming out and im sure there is some left. Was just affraid of overdoing it.

 

If there is dust left give it a quick blast before you go to bed when you switch it off short bursts wont harm it

But if your idle has gone down from 70oC to 50oC then that is pretty much spot on and it appears that dust was indeed your problem to drop by 20oC lol

Dont wait fire up HWINFO in the background and run an intensive game for a few minutes and check your temps..

Hopefully you should now see between 80-85oC max and you should be able to look at overclocking your GPU once its stable below 90oC.

 

Yeah i will give it another blast. Working this entire weekend (sad face) but will run some game testing as soon as possible. Keeping you updated.

 

Finally my workweekend is over and i got an update.

Been playing BF3 now for 30min and the temps have been between 70 and 85C. So basicly my temp seems to be much better now.

BUT, the artifacts are still here.
If i play everything on low and all specialeffects off, then its decent.
Still getting some artifacts in certain situations like smoke, air, fire etc.
And who on earth want to play on lowest possible settings?

And same as before, if i put my graphic up and turn on stuff, specially AA, then the atifacts are everywhere.

Should i contact Asus? My graphiccard must be faulty or something.

 

Sounds like your MeM(IO) is still running hot then If you are under warranty it would be best if you are not a repaste should fix the problem. Could have degraded only on one part of the DIE which is most likely the top section which has the memory controllers.

 

The computer is about 16months old. Asus do have 2 years warranty dont they?

Another screenshot here:
Imageshack - g732.jpg

Nice air ye?

 

Yeah that is definetely something wrong. You will need to check what warranty you bought the laptop with as it varies.

You do have the latest drivers?

 

Yeah i got 11.10 atm. Ive tested every single driver the last 1 year without any change. I just regret i didnt contact Asus direcly last year.
Was hoping that a future driver would fix it or possibly the newVbios, which it didnt.
There were really not much problems when the games wasent so demanding, but BF3 really brings it out. Not enjoying the game at all...

 

You could just go for a GPU repaste if you confident and happy to do a bit of digging, read through the guide in my sig I cover the entire procedure.

If you only repaste the GPU and not the CPU your warranty will still be intact.

 

Hey again!
Got an update. Just got my computer back from repair.
Gonna start BF3 anytime soon to see if my problem is solved.
They did replace a few things.

Firstly:
Part: 90R-NY8MB1300Y - Desc: G73JH_Main_BD._0M/AS (WO/TV)
What is this? Im not smart enough to figure it out. And google didnt help, unless i was blind, which is very much possible.

Secondly they replace 2x G73 Thermal Fan.
I assume this is both CPU and GPU fan?

Anyway my computer is having a idle temp of ~43C atm so thats very good.
However, the fans seems to run at high speed even in windows, cause my laptop is sounding like a small airplane right now. Something i can do about it?
GPU-Z claims its only 30% fanspeed but i dont trust that...

 

Main BD I would assume stands for Main board so its sound like they did a complete overhaul and replaced your mobo. New fans as well you should be running nice and clean now then

43oC is very good. Check the speed of the RPM not the fan speed use HWINFO32. If your fans are running flat out turn it off whip the battery and AC power out and hold the power button down for 20 seconds and then put it back together and see if that sorts it out. If its a new motherboard this is probably common but could be BIOS related otherwise.

 

Well. Just tried BF3. Temps was fine, round 70C. But my problem is still there. Fact is, there is even more artifacts than before, great!
It was the same amount of artifacts in the start but after doing a alttab out to windows and back in the game, it completly flipped out.

Pictures:
http://i40.tinypic.com/lkwtv.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/2ezhg9j.jpg
http://i43.tinypic.com/14so9yg.jpg

 

That is not right, any idea why they changed the mobo and fans when your problem is clearly the GPU. Did you explain this to them?

70oC are fine for temps but can you check the MEM(IO) temps on HWINFO sensors.

Did you conduct a repaste yourself at any point? I am wondering if your heatsink is not covering the memory controllers causing this problem. My heatsink was not staight and I had to use half and half thickness of thermal pads to get it to sit over the Die correctly.

 

I sent them tons of screenshots which showed all the graphicerrors during the games ive played and wrote an essay with detailed explaination.

They are payed to fix these things so they should for sure be smarter than me and realise what the problem is?.

Guess i have to contact Asus again...

 

Did you manage to get hold of Chastity at all or have you tried messaging her>? be good to get her involved because that is P Poor even a dweeb with no common sense could tell that the problem is graphical related if they have just changed the mobo and used your old GPU then it is a waste of time.

The meaning of why artifacts occur is:

'Artifacts are caused by errors in the graphics pipeline'

The main reason is normally overheating so unless a section of your GPU is overheating something is bad on the card itself so it needs replacing. Along with the heatsink just to be sure.

Make sure you tell them that when you are speaking to them in case their overpaid tech's were not aware of it.

 

Yes i will for sure make them aware in my next message...
Thanks for your help, i will be back.

 

Sent an angry email to Asus last friday and got reply today to make another RMA. Gonna be interesting to see what the "repairplace" will do this time...

 

Idiots I dont think they realise what being without a gaming laptop is like because I have not had mine for 10 days after it got nicked and I have nearly chewed the inside of my mouth out without Skyrim hahahah.

When you send it in put a document telling exactly what needs doing and tell them you want a brand new GPU as well because its clearly related.

 

I printed out my "angry" email i sent Asus, put it together with the computer so its sure they get to read it, and write a little extra that it HAS to be the GPU.

Also put alot of screenshots on the errors on the desktop.
If they miss i might start to cry, haha.
UPS picked up the laptop today, ill keep you posted.
Im actually a little curious what they will do this time. Luckly i got a decent computer beside my G73 so i can still play BF3 and Skyrim!

 

Lucky for some I am suffering without Skyrim. My new model entered stage 3 of the production today hoping it arrives sometime next week