Welp...I have an Artifacting problem...

My problem appeared during a game of overwatch. What happened is everything went dark on the screen and then immediately started showing squared green colors on the screen. After 10 seconds or so...my game minimizes-to-desktop. My game is still open but I cannot see anything appearing when trying to maximize it.

I tried playing games like TF2 and CS:GO but the problem never appeared. I tried games that are higher demand of performance and they seem to get the issue appearing. None of them crashes my PC but some of the games crashes-to-desktop (doesn't minimize itself like overwatch). Which means this problem appears only on Games that hog a lot of power.

I had a similar issue like this a year ago when these Artifacts appeared during booting but it is extremely rare to happen. I thought it was just a simple hiccup.

I tried to investigate this issue so here is what I know so far:
- My laptop has not experienced any artifacts during regular use.

- Artifacts can usually be the cause of Overclocking from what I read, however I never overclocked my system at all.

- I had few cases where my PC would immediately shut off without warning like a power failure. This problem was solved in another thread I created: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/figure-out-the-issue-of-my-computer.830207/

- I am getting fan noise from the CPU side of my Laptop. I am getting a fan replacement but its taking a while to get there. (possibly related to the issue?)

- Temperature is around 70-87 degrees Celsius on some demanding games.

- My Computer's Battery doesn't fully charge anymore. My AC Adapter's cable is a bit damaged by the cable but it is still able to charge. I tried playing games with battery/AC adapter and Adapter Only. The issues appears on both. I haven't tried battery only.

What might be the cause of my issues?
[The Laptop is a Sager NP8173]

Side-note: This problem is making me nervous. I hope it isn't the GPU dying again. This time I have no warranty, and Sager told me that these following issues can cost me more than $1500 which is way pricier than my Laptop.

 

Green squares/rectangles makes me think VRAM is involved.

 

If you updated nvidia driver recently, revert back to the driver which worked for you and re-run OW. If it happens again, it might bad GPU VRAM like @Support.3@XOTIC PC suggested!

 

I did update my nvidia driver recently but only because the Artifacts appeared. This possibly means that what @Support.3@XOTIC PC said might be right. Ugh...I'm screwed. Unless there is some form of solution to this, It was a good gift while it lasted. ;_:7

 

Down clock the vram and see if it changes.

 

Agreed. In the short term also, since you know lower impact games don't cause the problem, turn down some of the settings on Overwatch, especially shadows and AA if they're on. It's not a terribly demanding game at lower settings, and while the 1070 can play it at epic, on a smaller screen you should be able to get away with some lower details without too much pain.

 

Actually I kept the game around normal settings. Cartoonish looking games like Overwatch i would prefer to keep them normal settings since I hardly see any difference sometimes and rather not make my PC work too hard. I just replaced my CPU fan and hopefully this can be a game changer. In addition, I added fresh new thermal paste and made sure the thermal pads are properly placed between the heatsink and the VRAM.

Forgive my noob question since I never overclocked or underclocked before, but how do I do that exactly? I remember that I had that option in the Sager Control Center but is there another way?

 

MSI afterburner or the like.

 

I've been doing regular testing without underclocking. The reason is because I added a new fan in addition to putting fresh new thermal pads on the heatsink and thermal paste on the CPU and GPU. Been playing some games for hours and so far I haven't had any form of artifacting. I might have resolved my issue but I'm not fully confident yet. We shall see...


In regards to the thermal pads, I notice that one of them had small little burnt marks on it....hmmmm?
As I said, replaced the pads as well.

 

Burn marks? Hmm. Can you take some pictures of the old pads and the pcb?

 

It would certainly be worth replacing that pad at the very least but yes share pictures.

 

A good choice. Hopefully the reduced temps from the repaste/repad will also help.

 

Forgive my late replys everyone. I'm currently sick at the moment. I'll try to take pics when I get the chance...

Getting better is my top priority right now (darn sickness!)

 

I wish you a fast recovery! Take care of yourself.

 

I'm still sick but I am better enough to work with my PC again.Anyways here are some pics:
This is with the heatsink on (NOTE: This is an old pic of my laptop so you might notices some changes like a different drive or RAM)
Here are the pics:
https://imgur.com/a/HVNrhfM

(pic #2): There are two pads that are had a ripped mark as well as a burnt spots on them, they were both replaced after I noticed this:

(pic #4) I notice something very concerning on the motherboard and took a pic specifically located on top of the GPU area and next to the RAM:

(pic #5) This pic is basically what I use to replace the thermal pad (blue pad is from arctic). The other little bags are the ones provided by Sager or XoticPC that came with my laptop (never used them because they are pretty darn thick):

Hopefully these pics help. Also I tested some of my games further and I still haven't got a single artifact. Honestly don't know how I fixed it really. Temperature related?

It just works ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

That does indeed look burned.

@Meaker@Sager that looks like some capacitors have blown, not sure if the nearby mosfet has failed. What do you see?

 

Those are for the M.2 drives

 

I would speak to an expert about getting that repaired, it does look like the SMDs around the VRMs have burned, hard to say why. I thought that section was VRAM power.

 

Thanks everyone, I'm getting to know more about my laptop than ever.

Oooohh...

 

You should have it looked at, if you're still under warranty I'd contact the reseller. You might not see any issues right now, but that might change sooner than later.

 

I left a side note on the beginning of my post:

"Side-note: This problem is making me nervous. I hope it isn't the GPU dying again. This time I have no warranty, and Sager told me that these following issues can cost me more than $1500 which is way pricier than my Laptop."

 

If the damage is superficial a good shop in the same vein as louis rossman would be able to get it cleaned up and ensure no more bbq for a lot less than a board replacement.