Gaming Is my video card dying?

[MarioBrotha]

I have a GeForce 9500 GT, and this morning I noticed that there are green pixels on my screen everywhere. Well, not everywhere, but its pretty severe on youtube videos and while I'm gaming. They're not dead pixels, they are always bouncing around.
Is there anything I can do to fix that, or should I start looking at some new video cards?

 

[Rydian]

It's called "artifacting"... and it's not good.

Does it happen when not gaming or watching videos?
Does it happen in safe mode?

 

[twiztidsinz]

As Rydian said, it's called Artifacting. And yes, typically means that your video card is dying.
Artifacting COULD also be caused by an overclocked GPU running too high, in which case returning it to factory default or lowering/"recalibrating" the overclock could fix it. Some cards come overclocked either intentionally and noted somewhere in the box/model number or unintentionally but this is usually only by a few MHz.

You can use a diagnostic tool, I recommend PassMark's BurnInTest, to verify if there is an actual problem or not.

If you do find that your card is going bad, you can possibly squeeze a bit more life out of it by underclocking the card.
I had an older overclocked Radeon x1600XT that started to artifact in games after about 45 minutes of play. Reducing the clocks back to default gave me less artifacts and errors in BurnInTest, and underclocking it by like 25~30MHz all but got rid of it (BIT gave errors but no more artifacting ingame).

 

[Originality]

Sometimes artifacting occurs from the drivers simply mishandling the tasks, but I've never heard of that being the case when it's YouTube that experiences it (just in certain 3D games).

Anyway, follow twiz's advice.

 

[Frederica Bernkastel]

Sometimes artifacting occurs from the drivers simply mishandling the tasks, but I've never heard of that being the case when it's YouTube that experiences it (just in certain 3D games).

Anyway, follow twiz's advice.

Artifacting can be caused by flash when it's using hardware acceleration, and is actually quite a common problem. The same goes for any kind of flash animation that renders multiple frames quickly, so basically any flash video player will experience it to an extent.
And also, I second following twiztidsinz's advice.

 

[myuusmeow]

Install a program like MSI Afterburner to see what temperatures and fan speed your card is running at.

Graphics cards usually should be under 80C, preferably much much under that. I have a 9800GT that idles at 30C and loads at about 45C.

Often times artifacting like this is because its reaching too high temperatures, which can usually be fixed by upping the fan speed and or removing dust from the card.

 

[MarioBrotha]

Just tried the BIT, tested on 2D and 3D graphics, but I got no errors at all. However, there was some green pixels on those test screens that showed the 2D and 3D graphics.
Rydian, I DO have green pixels on my desktop, with nothing open.
How can I underclock my card?

 

[Originality]

Just a thought... could it be signal corruption between the video card and the monitor? From damaged pins/wires in the VGA/DVI cable?

 

[twiztidsinz]

Just tried the BIT, tested on 2D and 3D graphics, but I got no errors at all. However, there was some green pixels on those test screens that showed the 2D and 3D graphics.
Rydian, I DO have green pixels on my desktop, with nothing open.
How can I underclock my card?

I recommend using RivaTuner to change your clock settings.
Overclocking and Underclocking are the exact same thing, just in different directions, so finding a decent guide for your specific card shouldn't be too hard. I think this is the guide I used when I was overclocking my x1600XT:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/overcl...ard,1916-3.html
You usually want to increase in small increments because going too high can damage your card, and while I don't think there would be an issue underclocking I'd suggest you follow the same rules: change in small increments and then test your settings.


However, given that BIT didn't detect any issues, there might not be anything wrong with your card, it could possibly be the cable to the monitor like Originality mentioned or a software issue like Antoligy said. The easiest of the two to check would be the cable, so make sure that it's not touching/wrapped around other cables -- hang it up some how with a hook or string and see if you still get the green blotches.