Asus GTX 680 DCII problems...

So I have one of these cards installed in an overclocked i5-2500K based system. The old GPU was an overclocked (and water cooled) GTX460 that's been running stable for over 2 years (since Oct 2010).

I started noticing, after about 20 minutes of gaming (in Battlefield 3 or Anno 2070) that artifacts start appearing on screen. Initially, I assumed it was the drivers since I had the same issue on the GTX460 and BF Bad Company 2 about two years previously, so I waited a bit and tried a few other driver versions.

Having seen artifacts on any driver version I tried, and returning back to the latest WHQL drivers, I set about testing a bit more in Unigine Heaven.

It turns out that if I leave the fans on AUTO - artifacts start appearing on Unigine after a few minutes when the GPU reaches 65?C or so.
After setting the fan to 50% (which ensures the max temps stay around 60?C) I get absolutely no artifacts in Unigine, even after 40 minutes of running it.
Returning the fan back to auto and testing Unigine again shows artifacts once the GPU reaches around 65?C.



I am guessing it's some boost-related throttling going on but I don't really have enough knowledge about this new BOOST technology to deduce what the issue might be. From what I gathered, 70C is the first limit at which the firmware starts throttling, not 65C?

I plan on water cooling the card but I'm hesitant to install the water block on a card that might be faulty only to have to take it all apart once more when it turns out the card is definitely faulty.


Any advice or suggestions are welcome.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jumper2high

So I have one of these cards installed in an overclocked i5-2500K based system. The old GPU was an overclocked (and water cooled) GTX460 that's been running stable for over 2 years (since Oct 2010).

I started noticing, after about 20 minutes of gaming (in Battlefield 3 or Anno 2070) that artifacts start appearing on screen. Initially, I assumed it was the drivers since I had the same issue on the GTX460 and BF Bad Company 2 about two years previously, so I waited a bit and tried a few other driver versions.

Having seen artifacts on any driver version I tried, and returning back to the latest WHQL drivers, I set about testing a bit more in Unigine Heaven.

It turns out that if I leave the fans on AUTO - artifacts start appearing on Unigine after a few minutes when the GPU reaches 65?C or so.
After setting the fan to 50% (which ensures the max temps stay around 60?C) I get absolutely no artifacts in Unigine, even after 40 minutes of running it.
Returning the fan back to auto and testing Unigine again shows artifacts once the GPU reaches around 65?C.



I am guessing it's some boost-related throttling going on but I don't really have enough knowledge about this new BOOST technology to deduce what the issue might be. From what I gathered, 70C is the first limit at which the firmware starts throttling, not 65C?

I plan on water cooling the card but I'm hesitant to install the water block on a card that might be faulty only to have to take it all apart once more when it turns out the card is definitely faulty.


Any advice or suggestions are welcome.

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Sorry to hear the buddy
Since the gtx570 sli that i had then 580 and now tri sli of gtx680 i NEVER had artifacts even with high OC and modded bioses...i guess the issue comes from ur memory but u can try to unlock kore volts on the bios with KGB editor

I u dont know just open gpuz and dump the bios will be gk104.rom send me a link to it and i will be glad to mod it frok u ;)

Cheers !
Sergio

Thanks for the reply.
I'm not sure if modding the bios is the first thing I should do :)

Doesn't that void the warranty? Also, isn't there a chance one could brick the card messing with bios flashing?

So this is at 100% stock?

If so I would RMA it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CrazyNutz

So this is at 100% stock?

If so I would RMA it.

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hey mate how are you ?

my both GALAXY GTX680 SOC are 1267 boost stock and they boost alone 1280 but they cant handle that unless i use your amazing program...and 1280 its stock...

I would also RMA cauz artifacts are no good at all
Cheers !
Sergio

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CrazyNutz

So this is at 100% stock?

If so I would RMA it.

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Yes, the issue persists @ stock clocks, out of the box.

This looks like the most likely route I'll end up having to take.

EDIT: Although, it's turning out to only be an issue with the temps go above 65?C. Since I will water cool the card anyway, it might not even be worth the hassle having it replaced.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jumper2high

Yes, the issue persists @ stock clocks, out of the box.

This looks like the most likely route I'll end up having to take.

EDIT: Although, it's turning out to only be an issue with the temps go above 65?C. Since I will water cool the card anyway, it might not even be worth the hassle having it replaced.

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No.mate my top card runs at 77 to 81C and not an artifact...card ain ok for me its a must to rma it or biosmod it to try...some days ago a friend bought a evga 680 same problem as u and i gave only a bit more volts and now it runs amazing...before he has to run at 900 MHZ.....

This isn't how it's supposed to look like, is it? :D

Code:

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Kepler Golden BIOS Tool (Beta v0.6.2) by CrazyNutz @ XtremeSystems
WARNING: Use at your own risk!
BIOS start found 0400
BIOS end found 2c80b
Checksum: Bad (In ROM: 00  Calculated: 63)
Oh no, Bad checksum.

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Interesting... Even after bumping the clock to +100 and running fans slightly higher (to ensure it doesn't go above 60C) there are no artifacts anywhere to be found. I've been running Unigine Heaven for about 30 minutes and nothing bad happened.

Once I bumped it to +200 though, video driver crashed and recovered 5 minutes into the test. :) It wasn't showing artifacts at all.

So I slapped on the water block on Monday and played around 20 hours of Battlefield 3 since then. Not a single artifact in sight.

Whatever the issue was - I guess I can ignore it for now.