Faint horizontal lines while playing games

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perilomo

New Member
Hello everyone, i really hope i can get some help here as i have no idea where to look no more.

I have bought a new GPU 9 month ago, it is nVidia GeForce 760. I have been using an ATI Radeon 5570 HD before this one and have had no issues what so ever. After swapping to the nVidia card i am having major issues while playing games.
There are white horizontal flickering lights across the screen, specially in dark areas. Only in Diablo 3 when i turn on VSync it solves the problem, but even games like "The Witcher: Enhanced edition" i still have it.

Other games with VSync still have the same issue, and even after forcing VSync on games that do not support it still do not solve the issue.

At first i thought that it might be due to my cable to the monitor. I were using a VGA cable via a DVI adapter to connect to the GPU. I have swapped to another VGA cable as well as the adapter and the problem persisted. Since i have bought a DVI cable to go directly from the VGA port on my display into the DVI slot on the card. The issue still persisted.

I have swapped to my wifes monitor which is a built in TV monitor - And the issue persisted.

I have tried to update drivers to EVERYTHING on my PC as well as windows updates and still with no results.
I have started to suspect my PSU because my PSU was only 500W at the time (Even though that 500W is the minimum recommended by nVidia themselves :
Link)

I have swapped my PSU to 700W and the issue persists.
By that time i have contacted Palit (As they are the ones that have manufactured the GPU) and asked about it. The only thing they have given me was a benchmark test, which have replicated the issue on my desktop with no game running, and the representative have sent me for RMA.
I have contacted the shop i bought the card from and the card have been exchanged, however the issue still persists!

I literally am out of ideas and i have no leads as where to look now.
Can anyone please help or suggest me?

Thanks in advance
 
I were using
OCZ - OCZ500SXS (500W)

Now i am using Alpine 750w (Cannot confirm the model from the box)

Both PSU's didn't have a PCI 6 PIN cable so i am using an adapter from 2 4 PIN cable to PCI 6 pin cable
 
Both of them do have a 6pin pci express power connector for the video card. However the Alpine is piece of garbage. I highly recommend to stop using the Alpine and get something better.

I'm posting links to your existing power supply and one that you should be using. See the price difference? The corsair is a lower wattage but is more expensive than the alpine you have which means the alpine is garbage. The gtx 760 requires 2 -6pin power connectors which the Corsair cx600 has. Discontinue use of the alpine and get at least the cx600. Try the video card and a good power supply in another system to verify the video card is not damaged.

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/750w...-modular-uncertified-1x120mm-fan-atx-v203-psu

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/600w...on-modular-80-plus-bronze-1x120mm-fan-atx-psu
 
Well as of right now i do not have any other power supply, nor the means to buy one unfortunately.

Could it be still the PSU problem? I've had a really good 500W PSU beforehand and this Alpin was the best i can get at the moment.

The GPU was exchanged before and i have same issue =/ so i don't think it is damaged, but could a bad PSU really damage a graphics card?
 
You will have to diagnose to find out what exactly is wrong. Like I said, try the video card in another system. Are you overclocking at all? If so, remove all overclocks. If you continue to use your system using the alpine power supply you will risk destroying it. In face, I wouldn't use it until you can figure out what the issue is. It's possible its the motherboard. Try a different video card. Do you have friends that can help you diagnose the issue?
 
Unfortunately i cannot diagnose it and all of my friends are not with me. I've moved to live in the UK only not too long ago, and yet to find new friends around.

I am not overclocking the card or have changed any default settings since i bought all the PC parts.

I don't have a different card because my old card (ATI 5570 HD from Gigabyte) stopped working after 4 years of service, the only other PC i can put my card into is my wifes PC whith a way better motherboard then mine (It's an Asus Sabertooth Z77) with a similar PSU to mine (Her GPU however is a very old nVidia, it's GeForce 9600 GT)
 
Check temperatures. This sounds like overheating VRAM to me. Use MSI Afterburner to manually crank fans to 100% and see if that helps. ALso ensure you have the latest drivers and DirectX.

Restart after installing those three programs.

Then run MSI Afterburner and slide the fan speed to 100%, hit Apply and then game, see if you still get issues.

ttHWKVD.png
 
Hello again people,

As regards to the question to my power supply, i have used this website to roughly calculate my system power usage. And with the estimate sitting at 380 watt, even if it is wrong by a 100 watt a 750W PSU should be sufficient even if it doesn't get to it's 100% potential.

Even my previous 500W PSU should have done the job no problem.
Over the course of the week I will try to install the GPU on my wifes PC which has a bran new asus motherboard and see the results.

Till then - Anyone has any other ideas? Please share, this issue is haunting me since i bought this new nVidia card and i cannot seem to find answers anywhere

Thanks in advance
 
perilomo said:
Hello again people,

As regards to the question to my power supply, i have used this website to roughly calculate my system power usage. And with the estimate sitting at 380 watt, even if it is wrong by a 100 watt a 750W PSU should be sufficient even if it doesn't get to it's 100% potential.

Even my previous 500W PSU should have done the job no problem.
Over the course of the week I will try to install the GPU on my wifes PC which has a bran new asus motherboard and see the results.

Till then - Anyone has any other ideas? Please share, this issue is haunting me since i bought this new nVidia card and i cannot seem to find answers anywhere

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

Even nvidia recommend a 500W minimum for that card, so don't believe those stupid calculators, they're usually very incorrect.

Have you tried any of my suggestions??

Now here is the thing about PSU's and people's lack of understanding.

Almost all of a modern computer's power runs on 12V these days, including your CPU, GPU, motherboard etc etc.

Your 'upgraded' 750W PSU can provide a total of 38A on the 12V rail = 456W. Sounds plenty doesn't it. Well its not too bad generally but atrocious for a 750W PSU. Why? Because thats its max at 25oC. Thats means at 25oC if you tried to pull 456W from the PSU it would shut-down. Now inside your average PC, its rarely if ever 25oC. Its more closer to say 40oC or 50oC with a mid/higher end graphics card running like yours.

All of that means you need to 'derate' the PSU. Reduce its REAL output ability. The derated curves range from 1W - 4W per oC above 25oC. For very good quality, you use the 1W, and conversely for garbage PSUs you use 4W. Im sorry to say, that 750W is in the garbage zone as John pointed out. That means now, that your 12V rail when running, will can only provide around 356W on the 12V rail, which is equivalent to 29A. This is its MAX.

To give your some perspective, the Corsair 450W PSU can provide 32A on the 12V rail at 50oC continuous (not max) - it will keep running.

Whats worse, is your original OCZ 500W PSU can provide 430W (35A) even when derated, so actually, your new PSU can provide LESS power than your old one, even though its 750W and your old one is 500W.

Please try my above suggestions, if that doesn't work please download PC Wizard from my sig, install it, go to FILE, SAVE AS and click OK. Copy the text out of that file into this thread.
 
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Sorry Okedokey, i didn't even see your post before replying =O
I will do the checks in your previous post right now. As to the math and knowledge and terminology you have just posted i have no idea about anything you've just said and it is quiet hard to understand, but at the same time it points out that my new PSU is bad XD That's all i need really.

As to the PC Wizard thingy - Here it is:
Code: 
<<< System Summary >>>

  > Mainboard : Gigabyte P55-US3L

  > Chipset : Intel P55

  > Processor : Intel Core i5 750 @ 2666   MHz  (max : 3192)

  > Physical Memory : 16384  MB  (2 x 8192 DDR3-SDRAM )

  > Video Card : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760

  > Hard Disk : SAMSUNG HD502HJ ATA Device (500GB)

  > DVD-Rom Drive : Optiarc DVD RW AD-7240S

  > CD-Rom Drive : DTSOFT Virtual CdRom Device

  > Monitor Type : BenQ BenQ T902HDA - 19 inches

  > Network Card : Realtek Semiconductor RTL8168/8111 PCIe Gigabit Ethernet Adapter

  > Network Card : VIA Technologies VT6105 Rhine III Fast Ethernet Controller

  > Operating System : Windows 7 Ultimate Professional Media Center 6.01.7601 Service Pack 1 (64-bit)

  > DirectX : Version 11.00

  > Windows Performance Index : 5.9 on 7.9
         Help : Example of usage
         

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
***** End of report *****

I have my wife's PC which has a 700W PSU from Alpha Power model : ATX -700L
But i cannot find it nowhere anymore as it is really old PSU. It is just that now when her University year is over, i cannot get her off of the PC and start swapping parts about.

I will try to use the MSI program and post results here

Edit:
At the same time, why would it be an overheating VRAM? Isn't the card built to be able to endure the graphic strain? Not to speak about me switching the card to a brand new one. How can it be overheating VRAM for both the cards? What can cause an overheating VRAM to begin with?
 
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I have un-installed the games that usually are giving the best visibility to the issue. However when i use a "Video Card Stability Test" and set to test the "Benchmark" i can recreate the problem even on my desktop without any game running (Which never happens on my wife's PC with the same test).

Even when using the MSI program and having my fans at 100% speed, the issue persists
 
Ok, so re-reading through this thread, this is the second card GTX 760 that expresses this problem on both machines? And im assuming you've tried another cable (preferably a different technology e.g. DVI instead of HDMI or the other way around - if not, try that first if you can).

In terms of your question, underpowered graphics cards tend to overheat, and go out of spec due to voltage instability, causing issues such as the one you're having. However since 2 different cards are doing the same thing, it would seem very unlikely you got two broken video cards (unless they simply tested it, and sent the same one back to you hoping you would just go away).

Lets try ensuring everything is up to date (i know you said you have, but lets try again). These instructions are for the machine that you linked from PC Wizard.

  1. Download and install your chipset drivers again from here.
  2. Restart.
  3. Download your latest motherboard BIOS and run it from here You will need something like WinRAR to unzip it if you don't already have that.
  4. Update Java (required for next step)
  5. Update everything [URL="https://www.java.com/en/download/"]Intel from here[/URL]
  6. Restart
  7. Download (but don't install yet) nvidia drivers here
  8. Download and install (but don't run) Display Driver Uninstaller
  9. Uninstall nvidia drivers via the standard Windows Uninstall Programs option
  10. Restart
  11. Run Display Driver Uninstaller (downloaded at 8) for nvidia ensuring you select the remove C:/nvidia folder check box (see below) and select "uninstall current and previous drivers and restart computer (highly recommended)" option
  12. Back in Windows, install the nvidia display driver downloaded at 7
  13. Restart
  14. Back in Windows, type cmd in the search bar and right click on cmd and run as administrator
  15. Type (with spaces) sfc /scannow
  16. Let it run and finish
  17. Restart
  18. Update Windows
  19. Restart
  20. Update DirectX
  21. Restart

If that doesn't fix, we need to look at memory, heat issues on other components, and power supply 12V rails.

index.php
 
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Sorry for the late reply, I still haven't managed to do the parts swapping with my wife's PC as of yet (Mainly because she is using it) but I have managed to follow these 21 steps posted by Okedokey (Thank you very much). Unfortunately it did not fix the issue and I still have the same stripes, specially in dark places and they become more visible the longer I play. I have opened my PC and I have tried to check the wind that is being blown by the GPU fans but it feels cold.

I would like Okedokey to expand on the heat problems you have mentioned and how to troubleshoot it.
 
So you've replaced the cable and conducted the steps all the way through? Have you tried a different monitor and still get the issues?

If yes, then if you can try with a different graphics card, or onboard. If the issue goes away then the graphics card is damaged and needs replacing.
 
Thank you for the reply. Yes I have tried it with a different cable and a different monitor. The issue stays. I am yet to try to place the GPU into my wife's PC to see if it might be related to motherboard or PSU issue but I will probably do so soon.
Unfortunately I do not have another GPU nor I can buy 1 anytime soon to test it with a different card, however I've never experienced nothing like that with my previous card (ATI Radeon 5570 HD). The issue have started ever since I've bought this nVidia card. The thing is that the card has been exchanged shortly after I've started using it. I've sent it back to the store where I bought it and they've sent me a new one (I know that it has been exchanged because the SN and other identifying numbers were different on the one I got back from them)

Edit:
I've double checked the temperature of my GPU while playing. It ranges between 39 and 42 during game time (Playing Witcher 2) while stripes are all over the place. I place my hand periodically to check the air the fans are blowing out and it is quiet cold.
I guess I will do the parts swapping tomorrow first thing at the morning while wife is asleep
 
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I would try and test with a new PSU if I were you. Take it into a shop and see if they'll test the 12V rail for you, or do it with a multimeter by testing the yellow and black wires on a molex connector on 12V DC. It cannot go outside of +-10% from 12V. If it does, you need a new PSU. I wouldn't game on that machine until you fix it. You'll damage components if you do.
 
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