Artifacting in Bad Company 2

My GPU has NEVER EVER artifact'd, until I got BC2.

I'm using an Inspiron 1520, with the 8600m GT

Randomly, after maybe 20 mins of play, I get a huge artifact... static all over the screen. I would minimize the game, with the desktop having static, and look at my temps. All normal.

GPU ~61c
CPU ~65c

Could it be a driver issue? I'm using 195.62.

Also. If I continued to play and it artifact like that, could that potentially destroy my gpu?

 

The 8600M GT is well known be a defective GPU from Nvidia, how old is it?

 

It's 2 years old.

I read that they were defective for the XPS systems, but apparently they were okay for the Inspirons. I hope I'm right though...

And I just played TF2 for half an hour, and no artifacting whatsoever.

 

BC2 really pushes my GPU's to the limit. Only game I've played that's done that before BC2 did was Crysis at full settings :\

 

Reallly. Even if the temperatures are so low?

I put the setting to the lowest setting possible. Should I not play the game then? I mean, MW2 looks better than this and it ran perfectly fine.

 

Many gamers got artifacting in BFBC2 and it isn't necessarily due to a faulty GPU, although in your case the 8600m is notorious for those issues. Try a newer Driver, one of the 197.xxx ones.

Also minimising your screen to look at temps is unreliable because your GPU could have dropped over 10C by that time and your CPU would have also cooled. I recommend that you run HWMonitor during the game and then check that later on to see what the maximum was.

 

I was using Rivatuner, which provides a periodic temperature graph.

I'll update it to 197, see how that goes. ><

 

i'm using 195.62 drivers and no issues here with any games and even crysis...

 

I've got it too with the 8600m gt, if other users are reporting it, i'm fairly certain its not down for the 8600m defects.

 

Try a driver beside the 19x.xx series, as they are causing several issues with the game in dx9 and dx10 modes.

189.xx are good place to start.

 

I updated to 197 and it worked perfectly. PLayed for 40 mins.

Hours later, tried it again, and within 5 minutes, I got a BSOD. :S

I probably shouldn't play this game. It's killing my card!

 

i used to own a 8600gs and although it is a defective card, it performs quite well as long as you keep its temps within limits.
the temps you posted are within limits, assuming they were taken correctly.
i think bc2 artifacting is more a driver issue. with your card im not sure if the 19x.xx drivers provide any benefit since they are made for more modern gpus actually.
i would suggest going back to the older drivers that worked so well with the 8600 gs. i know i stuck with the 169.xx drivers on my 8600gs till around oct last year when i replaced my laptop. they worked perfectly.

 

The only temp i can run my 8600m gt at the moment is 99C for most games like that haha, i can cool it a bit from underclocks but i also think ihave to stick with samsung prop drivers :/.

 

Alright, I'll give the older drivers a go.

Also, I got a BSOD yesterday.

http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/4396/bsod.jpg

Driver issue?

 

That's what it looks like to me. Hope your card isn't one of those affected by the eutectic solder debacle. But there's a decent chance it might be. You should contact your manufacturer... it's a problem that Nvidia should be liable for.

More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_8_Series#Technical_summary_2

 

Weird that it kils ur card at those low temps, mine doesn't show rainbow sparks or purple triangle lines under 90 celcius, so it looks more like a software problem if u'd ask me.