Strange Graphical Errors

[jakkatubes]

Hi Guys,

So, where do I begin with this one? I am an avid gamer, and I have a budget gaming pc built for me by a friend that is around three years old now. The specs are below:

AMD Phenom II X4 965 processor (quad core)
AMD Radeon HD7850 graphics card
1600x900 samsung monitor.

Any other specs can be provided upon request. I would not describe myself as particularly excellent with computers, however neither would I be a complete novice. Now, to the problem at hand:

Playing certain games seems to cause a major issue with the graphics on my pc. During play, the screen will go blank, and the message saying the exe has crashed will appear. Fine. But if I then use the computer to do anything else, like browse the internet, all many of wierd and wonderful things occur. Certain parts of the page will go blank, and reappear seconds later having been inflated to twice their normal size. Or green. Or fuzzy. If I try to run the game again, it will crash instantly. Videos become unwatchable and the only thing the pc would be good for is staring at my desktop. Rebooting solves the issue, and all appears well again. However, when I start the game up again, the problem will occur again. Sometimes it will be seconds after starting the game, other times it can be anywhere up to an hour.

Now for the strange part: This problem only occurs on certain games, with seemingly no real correlation between which ones. Dying Light, for example, can be run at a very good spec and is perfectly stable with a good framerate. However, an indie game, Sunless Sea, which is a top-down 2D affair, will run fine, but then it crashes, and we're back to this issue of the graphics going mad. Similarly, Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon will run for a few minutes, with a smooth framerate and no other issues at all, then inexplicably stop and screw around with the graphics again.

I can sort of guess that there is a fault with my graphics card, however, what perplexes me is there is seemingly no link with the games that will work and the games that won't, at least graphically. In addition, it is worth pointing out that I have tried rolling back drivers, installing new ones, taking the graphics settings down to the bare minimum, all to no avail.

Any thoughts? Any input you guys can give me would be much appreciated. Any other information you need I can provide with no problems whatsoever.

[hiyayhi]

I would be intrigued to see what would happen if you were to run a game that crashes in a Linux distro to see if it still happens, if it doesn't then something is wrong with the windows install, if it does then something is wrong with the GPU and you will probably need to get a new one out of pocket unless it still is under warranty.

[jakkatubes]

I wouldn't be able to do that, I haven't the faintest idea where to even begin

[JpB]

The first would be to reinstall the graphics card driver, just enter safe mode and cleant it with "driver display uninstaller" from Guru3D, after reboot install the latest drivers. 

If that doesn't work, try open cmd and type "sfc /scannow" to see and resolve windows issues- 

If that doesn't work download any stressing GPU software and torture you graphics and see what happens. 

 

Keep us posted. 

[jakkatubes]

Ill get on to that and get back to you.

[jakkatubes]

Drivers are reinstalling as I type. Currently looking in 1152 x 864. also I ran sfc scannow and it came and said some errors have been fixed upon next reboot, so will post with results oncethese drivers are done and I have rebooted

[jakkatubes]

No joy on those steps im afraid. The graphics drivers are working, but im still having the same problems with the same games. I'm going to get a stressing program and get back

[jakkatubes]

Stress testing, even at max settings, does nothing. Sure, I only get 10 fps but other than that it seemed happy for 10 minutes+. In-game however, it is still unpredictable and quits for seemingly no reason.

[JpB]

It needs more stressing time ~30 minutes if you are in a hurry. 

Run the SFC command again.

Run "systeminfo" and search for "original install date" and posted here. 

[jcbiddulph]

What are the tempuratures of the card when stress testing?

[JpB]

You download a program called GPU-Z http://bit.ly/1zViYX9 install it, select the tab "Sensors" and look for GPU Temperature.

[SkilledRebuilds]

Your card could just be on its way out...esp if temps are good and it's not a dirty dust+heat issue.

@jakkatubes

 

I'd remove it from your system and give it a blowjob to remove dust buildup.

Some games are more demanding than others, hence no doubt why some fail faster than others...

But the fact it happens when watching video's and web browsing,.. leads me to the conclusion it's dead from heat exhaustion, and the core/memory has been permanently affected.

Cleaning may fix it, running a fan near it to cool it better or upping the fanspeed may help.