Aliens?

[Dominare]

Ok so... I reinstalled AH yesterday. I lift off an airfield and notice what look to be holes in the ground. I climb up to around 10k, and start heading out over water. This is what those holes actually were:

(note the solid light blue water when I have the improved water setting checked)


As I flew the characters I saw on the water would actually change as well as follow me as I flew.
I am running at 1440x900 res with the graphics fully pumped up aside from shadows, they are on the 2048 setting.
This is soon to change, but current specs are:
Time of this report: 8/2/2011, 09:58:28
       Machine name: MJOLNIR
   Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.110408-1631)
           Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: OEM
       System Model: OEM
               BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
          Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU         940  @ 2.93GHz (8 CPUs), ~2.9GHz
             Memory: 6144MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 6136MB RAM
          Page File: 2809MB used, 9458MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\Windows
    DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
   User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
 System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
    DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
     DxDiag Version: 6.01.7601.17514 32bit Unicode

 Card name: ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series
       Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
          Chip type: ATI display adapter (0x6898)
           DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
         Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_6898&SUBSYS_29611682&REV_00
     Display Memory: 3824 MB
   Dedicated Memory: 1012 MB
      Shared Memory: 2811 MB
       Current Mode: 1440 x 900 (32 bit) (60Hz)

[oboe]

I look at that and I think of this:

Neo: Is that...

Cypher: The Matrix? Yeah.

Neo: Do you always look at it encoded?

Cypher: Well you have to. The image translators work for the construct program. But there's way too much information to decode the Matrix. You get used to it. I...I don't even see the code. All I see is blonde, brunette, red-head. Hey, you uh... want a drink?

[ImADot]

Looks like bad ram on the video card. Or perhaps you're trying to run at higher texture resolution than you have available video ram. I've seen posts like this before, but can't remember the exact cause.

[Skuzzy]

More often than not, this is a video RAM issue, or an overheating issue of a video RAM.

[Dominare]

Well, tbh I think my motherboard is faulty, and it's 3 yrs old now and I just ordered a new one as well as a new CPU. I have had some issues where video drivers 'stopped responding' and the screen blacks out for about 10 full seconds and then it kicks back on. I have even changed video cards to see if the issue was there, and I still get it. As a matter of fact I went from Nvidia to AMD and the only difference is that the AMD card will recover from the black screen, where as the Nvidia card would just lock up. I will see how it does when I overhaul this thing I guess. About the only other thing I can think of is a software issue with windows 7 and the video drivers but I have not found anyone else having the issues.
I am putting an ASUS P8P67 Deluxe (REV 3.0) in place of the old EVGA X58 board, and a core i5 2500k in place of the core i7 940. Plan to OC the new 2500k to get at least 4ghz out of it. Also going to run crossfireX on the new board with the same card as I have now.
As for the issue however I have been playing abit and I haven't seen it again.
Display Memory: 3824 MB
   Dedicated Memory: 1012 MB
      Shared Memory: 2811 MB
Texture res is at 2048, same as I run the shadow textures

[Skuzzy]

What you just described sounds like the power supply is not able to support the video card(s) you have tried.  Overloading a power supply can cause permanent damage to the electronics the supply is connected to.

[Dominare]

Hmmm.... researching right now.
----edit----
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371018
Thats is my PSU.
I should only need half of that power to run my system. I only have 1 video card right now, and my current CPU is not OC'd... unless my 4 case fans are drawing 100+ watts each I shouldnt have a problem there.
Unless this has something to do with my problem: +3.3V@25A, +5V@25A, +12V1@22A, +12V2@22A, +12V3@25A, +12V4@25A, -12V@0.5A, +5VSB@3.0A

[Skuzzy]

You have to be very careful of how a power supply is rated.  Antec has been playing the rating game for a couple of years now.

If you total all the maximum ratings for each rail of that power supply, you end up with 1356W.  This means the max ratings of the rails are shared and they cannot all hit max at one time.  The problem is, you have no idea what the percentage break down is between the rails as to which rail is going to suffer at the expense of the other rail.

My best guess is the 12V rails are all being shared.  2 of them @ 300W (the total of these two cannot exceed 300W), and the other 2 @ 225W (the total of these two rails cannot exceed 225W).

So, it can be down to which rails you are using on that supply.  If you happen to have all of your 12V power connected to the either bank of the shared 12V source, then you could easily overload the supply with a high end video card.


There are many companies playing the ratings game today with power supplies.  You just have to sweat the details to find ones that really supply what they are rated at.

[Dominare]

Ok... so, here's a thought. It's a modular PSU. So, if I swap the port on the PSU that my video card is connected to it may draw from the other set of rails. Therefore lightening the load on the set of rails I am currently drawing from. Or do you think I'm SOL and both of the vid card ports draw off of the same rails and it wouldnt make a difference...
I swear if this problem has been easy as swapping a connector over I'm gonna kick myself. 

[Rob52240]

Is anyone else excited about that Alien Prequel that Ridley Scott is making?

[Skuzzy]

Ok... so, here's a thought. It's a modular PSU. So, if I swap the port on the PSU that my video card is connected to it may draw from the other set of rails. Therefore lightening the load on the set of rails I am currently drawing from. Or do you think I'm SOL and both of the vid card ports draw off of the same rails and it wouldnt make a difference...
I swear if this problem has been easy as swapping a connector over I'm gonna kick myself.  

I think the challenge is going to be in finding the 2 groups of 12V outputs (this is another reason I really do not like modular power supply connectors).  If I am right, and you can find the separate two rails for all the 12V connectors, you might be able to get it all working.  However, the highest ouput 12V rail on that supply is only 300W.  Make sure that will support the video card, as many of the high end video cards are requiring upwards to 450W.

[Dominare]

I see, and you are correct in your assumption.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150476
500w PSU req'd for my card... Oh well I'll just go buy a new PSU... Dont really want to risk fryin my new mobo and CPU, not to mention the 2nd video card I have comming as well.
Well, thanks for all the help on that... And do you think that's what caused that deal with the characters showing on my terrain?

[Skuzzy]

Low power could cause graphic artifacts, but the more likely candidate is heat related RAM failure.

One step at a time.

[Dominare]

Well, lets assume I have a black screen. It recovers, and I have my screen back. AH closes due to a time-out, and I log back in, start flying, and bam, I got numbers on my terrain.
IMO sounds like you hit the nail on the head. The card draws power until it's unavailable, heats up, while it's down the heatsink fan on the card isnt going to be running correct? RAM is hot and probably damaged, which gives me the alien crop circles in AH.

[Skuzzy]

All quite possible.  One thing you know for sure is your power supply is not up to running that card, so correcting it is rather mandatory.  Once that is done, then go from there.