Nevanis

Just got a new Asus EAX850XT after my AX8A00XT got screwed. The graphics look great in games such as WoW and GTA, however they tend to flicker and get distorted sometimes, which is not a major problem but fairly annoying. I would like some advice on where the problem lies, most probably its the drivers, I have tried using Omega, but the problem persists, right now I am using the official Asus drivers which are outdated (but they work better than Omega). I havent yet tried the official ATI, but I will. The POINT is that I suspect that it might be my powersupply, I got an Enermax 600W, which also broke down a month ago or so, and I just recently got it back from service, could that be the problem: That it isent top shape anymore, they say they fixed it but my 3.3V is slightly off (3.28 or so), but I am no expert on power so dont know if that matters or not but I know the card requires alot of juice.

I have formatted my disk and done a clean installation so no 'ghosts' linger about so to say.

Would be grateful for any tips or advice. Thanks!

Nevanis

I have now tried the new official ATI drivers and still graphics flickers. I really think its the power supply not supplying enough juice. Gonna try a few other games just to be sure, only tried out with WoW, might be a game bug. Any opinions?

Tipstaff

I know it may sound a bit odd, but have you tried underclocking the card, or keeping the side of the case off to allow for more air circulation? The reason I mention this is that it could be a heat related issue. I've seen postings like this one by a number of people (including some here) that have complained about wierd heat issues with Asus ATI cards (X8xx series), and the cause of the problem being related to the poor heatsink/fan Asus uses. If the issue goes away after underclocking the card then I would suggest replacing the stock Asus fan/heatsink with a better one such as the Artic Cooling ATI Silencer 5, or one from Zalman.

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Nevanis

Thank you for your reply. Actually I have been using an open case ever since the fan on my x800xt broke due to overuse(I then replaced it with a Zalman cooler which was great btw) so the airflow shouldnt be a problem, whats weird is that during game time the fanspeed on the graphic card hardly goes up, and I know the fan is supposed to be very noisy, so its pretty obvious that it doesen't. I will try to underclock it and reduce video settings. I dont know if it is worth mentioning but I have a stable FPS on max settings and everything flows like a dream except those damn annoying flickerings(they are just in the blink of an eye but the longer I play the more constant they become).

H3X4D3C1M4L

Have you tried putting your refresh rate up?

Nevanis

I increased the refresh rate ingame as you said (since I use a LCD monitor it should be kept native which is 60hz I believe) and it actually helped quite alot, but as soon as the harddrive or the graphic card have to work harder (for example when loading a new area) it flickers anew, but when the computer 'calms' down again the flickering graphics stop (more or less). I havent got a clue where to problem lie, since increasing the refresh rate obviously worked, is there a problem with the monitor, drivers, or is it just bad game support(the graphics only flicker when playing World of Warcraft, not anymore in GTA or Battlefield 2 since I started using catalyst 5.8)? Would it be worth changing the powersupply ? I have a budget 520W lying around somewhere, which atleast would prove the point, but perhaps it is not the problem after all as I suspected in the beginning.

daedal

w.onI've got an ATI X850XT and getting the same tearing in World of WarCraft.

http://www.onusart.org/Temp/WOW1.jpg
http://www.onusart.org/Temp/WOW2.jpg
http://www.onusart.org/Temp/WOW3.jpg
http://www.onusart.org/Temp/WOW4.jpg
http://www.onusart.org/Temp/WOW5.jpg

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Nevanis

Does your graphics also flicker from time to time? I dont seem to have same problem as you do tho. That looks awful. What PSU do you use? Blizzard suggested it might be due to overheating or insufficient power. Heard more ppl having same problem with WoW and x850xt though.


edit: nvm answering what PSU you use, it said in your sig :P

daedal

Sure isn't caused by overheating, that's for sure. World of WarCraft and 3DMark 2005 are the only games/applications having the issue. Nothing else has those. Temps are around 50c under load.
And I tried the "insufficient power" solution by unplugging extra devices which didn't help. The problem only seems to appear in certain regions in WoW, however.

As far as the "flickers" you're describing, I believe it may be the same issue as I am seeing as those glitches only appear in what seems to be a very specific place.Say for example I'm running around, those glitches would appear and diseppear very fast which makes it look like they're flickering. Try it out. Get in a location where you see allot of those and stop. Very slowly look around and try to get them to appear solid.

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H3X4D3C1M4L

It could be the LCD itself, maybe move it off of a power bar if its on one or try out a power filter thing (you can always return at Best Buy if it doesn't help, without loosing any cash)

Tipstaff

I've been talking with a few friends, and they had this same issue pop up before with their 9500/9700s. There are 2 possible solutions: 1) use an older version of Catalyst drivers (5.3 or lower), and don't use the ones that have the Catalyst Control Center, and 2) turn of pixel shaders. For the 2nd solution they pointed me to this posting on WoWs website:

Game textures shimmer, flicker, or are distorted:

Some video cards may experience problems displaying certain texturing effects while you are playing. Graphic issues may include the following: shimmering colors across static textures, solid green or white blocky textures, missing geometry, or missing textures.

To resolve these problems, turn Specularity and Pixel Shaders to 0

- Open the World of Warcraft folder on your hard drive.
- Open the WTF folder.
- Open the Config.wtf file using a text editor, like Notepad.
- Change SET specular "1" to SET specular "0"
- Change SET pixelShaders "1" to SET pixelShaders "0"
- Save the file and start World of Warcraft again.

Unfortunatly I don't have access to my gaming rig for a week, otherwise I would be able to help you guys out more.. sorry.

BTW: Everytime I see the name of the folder/files you have to change I can't stop laughing.. WTF!

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Nevanis

Great naming a folder to WTF, especially for an online game where those terms are used frequently. The second point you mentioned I have already tried however, to no avail. I will give older drivers ashot I guess. Tomorrow a new patch will come, perhaps it will fix it, will see after that. I dont think its any problem with the LCD however, since I played the game fine with my x800xt on the same screen. I am using a d-sub to dvi connector, but again I used a converter on my x800xt card aswell and had no problems.

daedal: I tried what you said but seems we got different graphical problems, or I am doing something wrong. My graphics flicker more like an old black and white movie, though not the whole screen just a little here and there.

On another note I changed my power supply today, didnt help shit. Of course.

Thanks for all the help btw.

daedal

Hmm. That makes sense. My issues only started coming back with Cat. 5.8.

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