Is occasional artifacting normal on the 5760?

Recently, I have had artifacting on my laptop, but it appears only occasionally (like once a day on average). Although it is not hurting my computer, it does get annoying after a while. Here is a picture:
http://img73.imageshack.us/my.php?image=zazazazazawk7.jpg

My question is: Is this artifacting normal? And if it is not, what should I do to my video card to prevent artifacting?

My video card (7900 Go GTX) is using stock drivers and is not overclocked. I play Oblivion on full settings, CS, and Halo on this notebook.

 

ive gotten that once or twice, it usually goes away right away with a restart or even closing the lid and reopening. if it happens a lot, i'd be concerned if i were you

 

That is really odd. Closing and reopening browser won't help?

Btw, browing ytmnd,eh? XD!

 

you have a 7900gtx in an acer 5670? is that normal?

 

Does closing the web browser cause it to go away?

 

Uhh he's talking about his Sager 5760, which does have a 7900GTX.

 

Dude, I was wondering the same thing. I get those exact same squiggly lines. Usually, in several places around the screen at a time. They seem to come and go as I change the window focus. I was going to write a post with some screenshots this weekend when I had the time. It usually happens to mine when it's been on a couple of hours, so I'm thinking it might be heat related. I did have a lapcool2 or 3 underneath it and I wasn't sure if the fans were pulling air against those of the laptop itself and if that was causing some minor over heating. I turned the cooler off, and haven't noticed the lines, but I haven't used the laptop for more than an hour or so the last few nights. I have the 512mb 7900gtx. I'm going to test it all out more extensively tonight to see if I have more issues with the squigglies.

Anybody else?

 

I've not noticed this on mine, and I usually have it running for several hours at a time. But not gaming the whole time.

 

I had that problem and I changed the video drivers and it went away. Maybe try using different video drivers?

vetrun

 

I agree. artifacting like this is usually a result of corruption in the video drivers.

 

What drivers did you use? I thought the most up-to-date ones shipped with the laptop?

 

Can't help here, but I wanted to throw in my 2-cents: no artifacts of that or any other kind on my 5760 with the same configuration. I agree that it does seem driver-related. Good luck.

C.

 

I'm using Forceware 84.26. I tried the latest ones from the nvidia site which worked well but for some reason tv out was messed up so I rolled back to the 84.26 ones that came on the laptop driver cd and haven't had any problems since.

vetrun

 

I'm using the 84.26 that came on my CD also, and have had no problems.

Sager does have an updated driver on their website. I have not loaded it yet. Although nVidia does have very good drivers, it is recommended that you get driver updates from the manufacturer, as they will have tested them extensively with the hardware that you have before releasing them.

 

I'd like to bump this thread, as I am experiencing those "squiggly lines" too, now (see attachment), as well as other issues.

I experience sudden frame rate drops in nearly all games: Far Cry, CoD2, HL2, Prey, etc. It is especially noticeable in FC: starts great at around 70 fps (1920x1200, all max, patched to 1.33) and then, for no reason at all, it freezes for a second (image and sound) and then drops to around 30-ish fps. Same with Half-Life 2 Lost Coast, but it happens at the menu, after a few seconds. This happens with Forceware 84.78 (that came with the laptop) as well as with 92.91 downloaded from LaptopVideo2Go.

The squiggly lines in Windows go away with a simple refresh, but I've also experienced artifacting in games (blue/yellow/green Matrix-like code in Far Cry and HL2, for example).

Needless to say, no overclocking here. I did launch RivaTuner, but just so I could check the core/mem speeds. Didn't change one thing. Now I'm starting to worry...

C.

 

Just a thought, did you try the older Forceware 84.26?

I know you got newer ones with your notebook but maybe try these first to make sure it is a driver problem.

vetrun

 

I tried, but they won't even install: says the drivers cannot support the hardware...

C.

 

If you can do an xp reinstall and try installing the 84.26 drivers instead of the newer ones as from the sounds of it something is mangled because those drivers should install and support your hardware.

vetrun

 

When you reinstall video drivers, make sure you use DriverCleaner to clean out all the files.
http://www.drivercleaner.net/

 

Well, I've just finished doing all of that: re-installing Win XP (deleting partition, repartioning, reinstalling) and using 84.26.

Tried Far Cry... perfect (85-90 fps) for a variable time (usually 20 secs to a minute), then momentary freeze, sound distortion, and drop at 25-30 fps no matter the settings. Everything else seems to be normal: CPU works at 2GHz, Dx9c August are installed, game is patched (but tried unpatched too)... [important edit: nothing else is installed on the computer, not even an antivirus].

This is insane. This laptop is performing like one half its price and specs, if that; I got better framerates on my Go7400. I will contact technical support tomorrow. I'm really fearing the card is fried or something at this point, because this is not normal NP5760 behavior (unless Elminst, Kilim, p_boucher and others can prove me wrong).

C.

 

Well, the problem seems solved for now... by turning up the fans @ full blast with Fn+F2 before launching a game. Gaming is just fine like that--but the moment I turn the fans back off, instant fps drop and artifacts once back in Windows. Definitely overheating. Will contact Sager for tech help.

Thanks for the help

C.

 

I'm having a guess here, but maybe the card clocks down when it releases that the fan has lowered it RPM, in fear of overheating.

It really does seem wired. Good luck with a fix.

 

Yes, that's my hunch as well: gets too hot, fan doesn't kick in for some weird reason, and it underclocks. I'm also very peeved that CPU and GPU don't have a sensor (or that no benching software can pick it up); I'd really like to monitor what's going on in there.

C.

 

I finally got my hands on a Clevo M570U for review. It has stayed very cool so far and I am most impressed with the cooling. I have a lot of games at full resolution & settings with no problems, and I haven't noticed any artifacting at all. I'm using the Nvidia 84.26 stock drivers.

When are you supposed to get yours back C.?

 

It will reach Sager tomorrow or Thursday, so I'm not expecting it back any time before... uh... 10 days? Depends on how quick they are.

I experienced pretty severe artifacting and especially framerate drops (into the 20's) with 84.26 as well as 84.78, and in both cases the underside of the laptop got so hot I could barely stand to touch it. Fn+F2 takes away the artifacts/fps drop and some heat, but it's still quite hot.

I'm assuming that isn't the case with your unit?

C.

 

It does get warm on the bottom, but nowhere close to being dangerous. Even the air coming out of the back of this isn't that warm.

I have gamed with this for around an hour-hour and a half at a time, and it has gotten remotely warm on the surface, but never felt hot. There was definitely an issue with yours . .

 

Yes, it does sound like it. I hope Sager is able to solve it or give me a replacement.

C.

 

claudione, I'm having the same problem. I'll be interested to hear what Sager says. Please keep us updated.

 

Are any M570U owners having this issue with the 7950GTX?

 

we went over this already, it was 1 out of a million that this occurred. This was an isolated incident from what we discussed.

If it happens again, then it would be pretty rare.

As long as you are using a notebook cooler and use the Clevo maximum fan speed feature (Fn+F2) while gaming, no graphical problems should arise.

 

On my unit it was solved by replacing the video card.

C.

 

I think there are some drivers that have problems with the 5760 and cause artifacting. I was running fine for around 3 weeks or so with 84.26 and then it started artifacting randomly every day even when it was cool. Then I installed 86.14 from the clevo site a few weeks ago and it hasn't happened since. I'm 99.9% sure it's not hardware based as the new driver installation fixed the problem and it hasn't happened since.

Has anyone else had these experiences with drivers?

vetrun

 

i think that occurred with the 7900 GTX cards, the 7800 GTX runs fine with the 84.26... i know, i have been using them since they came out.

Definitely one should update drivers when running into such graphical problems.

 

Your probably right as it's a 7900GTX

vetrun

 

So does this artifacting happen with the 7950 gtx cards as well? or is it just the 7900gtx cards?

-gp

 

i believe it was isolated to the 7900 GTX using drivers that just supported it, remember to use the stock drivers first for your 7950 GTX, if there are any issues, then update them.