DRD Team

I'm having some issues with my video cards - a pair of GeForce 7900 GS's, 256 MB each, running in SLI mode. In most games, it's fine, but in a few select others, I get extremely intrusive graphical errors - most notably in GZDoom. I've taken a screenshot to demonstrate:

This also happens in Call of Duty 2 and the Lost Planet: Extreme Condition DirectX 9 demo.

What's the problem? Is it drivers, or are my video cards overheating? (Shouldn't be - the control panel says they're at 65 degrees Fahrenheit as of this writing, only two minutes off of getting that screenshot.)

I'm running the nVidia drivers that came with my Dell computer, version 84.40 - upgrading to the newer 97.xx versions only makes the errors worse, from my experience.

Other pertinent system info:
Pentium D 3.0 GHz
2 GB of RAM
Windows XP Home SP2
DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
Sound Blaster X-Fi

I have had bizarre issues in some games with my previous graphics card, a Geforce MX 440, and my current Geforce 6600 LE unless I use certain drivers. Generally, I only had this problem with newer drivers. This is especially true with my 6600, as I have to use very specific beta drivers. Newer ones cause the problem, but older drivers aren't compatible. I think it's related to my motherboard, which is a ViA chipset. Not sure if this helps in anyway, but I thought I would throw that out. :/

What is exactly the error? I can't see it... is the f_sky texture?

The sky texture is appearing in places where it shouldn't, in a tear pattern. That's actually the inside of the first room of Map16 - that shouldn't happen!

Update: the effect is still happening, and it's getting worse (or at least seems to be getting worse). To better show you what exactly is happening, I've created an animated GIF comprised of several consecutive screenshots taken from the same position.

What happens when you run with each videocard installed individually?

I cannot switch off SLI mode without rebooting my computer, and this computer has trouble booting on occasion (at times it takes almost 20 tries to get it to boot). Dell tech support is no help whatsoever.

wildweasel wrote:this computer has trouble booting on occasion (at times it takes almost 20 tries to get it to boot).

Doesn't that strike you as an issue that needs addressed first? I think I'd be running some hardware tests on everything. My friend had some bad RAM once and the effects it had on his system were pretty diverse.

I tested everything using the Dell utility partition. Memory is fine, CPU fans are working okay, and I'm sure everything's connected to where it should be, because I haven't ever opened this thing.

wildweasel wrote:... I'm sure everything's connected to where it should be, because I haven't ever opened this thing.

You still might want to open it and reseat a few things. I once had a Dell arrive with several loose connections inside, and that caused some havoc before I put them in properly.

Just double-checked everything today. I was positive that perhaps something on the video cards (like the SLI bridge) was not seated properly. I pressed it in just to make sure, but I haven't gotten around to testing it yet.

I also noticed: it was DUSTY in there. I took an electric desk fan and blew it into the thing, and sure enough, a pile of dustballs began accumulating on my floor.

I'll see what happens and see if everything's in order. Haven't had any rebooting problems today, which is surprising, because I've locked this thing a couple times already trying to play Trackmania United (I want my money back).

wildweasel wrote:I also noticed: it was DUSTY in there.

Well, I guess you found your problem.

Speaking of which, I need to open my case and clean it up soon, 'cause I haven't done so in years and I'm pretty sure it's very dusty in there, too.

Is it better to suck or to blow? Dust that is...

I've just cleaned my PC out, stripped it down to the bare bones like a cheap hooker. Used a vaccum nozzle to suck most of the dustball and dead flies then took it outside and wiped every part down with a small paint brush then finished off with some dettol anti-bacterial wipes.

God it looks so clean. I felt cleansed too.

Is it better to suck or to blow? Dust that is...

It's better to blow the dust away with a can of Dust-Off if you have one.

Using Dettol on the other hand...

Now that's just insane.

Thanks for helping me nip this "cleanliness obsession" I have in the bud.

*wipes mouse with a det...*

STOP IT!