Laptop getting artifacts on screen

[Meatwad]

I have a Clevo/Sager laptop that gets artifacts on the screen after installing the Nvidia drivers for it, then eventually crashes to the BSOD. Running without the driver it is fine, but installing and trying different version of drivers still does it, but varies on severity. If it just sits, its fine, but if you type anything in a text box the screen will flash off and on and keep throwing an error along the lines of "your display driver has encountered an error and restarted". Last time it was used it was fine. Laptop hasnt been dropped or bumped in any way. Even went inside and removed the GPU cooling fan and reapplied heatsink compound since this model has the ability to remove and replace/upgrade the CPU card inside. Its seated tightly too, the screws are tight. Dont want to toss it since its a powerhouse of a laptop

[Bizman]

Artifacts are usually a sign of failing video memory - either because of overheating or just because. Unfortunately reapplying heatsink compound usually only helps keeping the core cooler.

There's several success stories about changing the fan profile with MSI Afterburner no matter who built the Nvidia card in question.

I used to have issues with my GTX970 in a Win7 system, only drivers made before the 10xx series worked properly. Any later drivers would bring the "stopped responding and reset" message every time an application started. The new owner was happy until next summer. The Afterburner trick solved his problem.

[mikeWe9a]

When you say you installed the nVidia drivers, what drivers were you using before?  It may be that, as a laptop, you need custom drivers from the manufacturer rather then the "normal" nVidia ones (note - this means that you are unlikely to get drivers updated nearly as often, or for as long).

Mike

[FLS]

If it works with the old driver why update to a new one? Was there a prior issue?

[Meatwad]

If it works with the old driver why update to a new one? Was there a prior issue?

The one that works fine is the default "vga video driver" that windows installs if it cannot find the proper one. Just when that is overridden with the nvidia ones then it crashes. Using the default from the clevo webpage still crashes. Leaving it the default vga driver instead of nvidia, it works fine.

It isnt powerful enough to run AH though. Replacement gpu is 60-100 if I choose to. Actually have another that needs upgraded too. Guess it depends on how much use I will get out of it to justify it

Each one to upgrade both CPU and GPU would be about $150 a pop per laptop.

[Bizman]

Sounds very much like the GPU is failing. As you say the Windows drivers aren't powerful enough, they're meant for very basic use like downloading the real drivers.

$150 for upgrading both the CPU and GPU on a laptop sounds much cheaper than a $1500 gaming laptop. That said, upgrading the CPU may not give you much oomph unless you're going from Celeron to i5/i7. For gaming there's no significant difference between the i-versions if the clock rate is in the same ballpark. The situation changes if you stream or record your games with third party software, or edit videos.

[Meatwad]

I have been using cpu comparison sites to see how much difference they make. Ill probably upgrade it at a later time, waiting on some parts to come in to upgrade and overhaul the 8 year old desktop

[Shuffler]

I have been using cpu comparison sites to see how much difference they make. Ill probably upgrade it at a later time, waiting on some parts to come in to upgrade and overhaul the 8 year old desktop

Your motherboard will be your limiting factor there.

[Bizman]

Your motherboard will be your limiting factor there.

^^ That ^^

[Meatwad]

Your motherboard will be your limiting factor there.

Already got the barebones system ready

Sabertooth X79,  I7-3820 and 32gb ram. Just waiting on the SSD to get here then move my gtx-1060 over