Artifacts when crunching on GPU
17 Jul 2013 19:09:01 UTC
Topic 197068
(moderation:
I'm seeing artifacts when using Firefox browser and crunching on GPU. See black rectangles in center [picture below]. It does happen randomly, depending on website it can or can't be seen. When I suspend crunching on GPU then issue disappears. It can only be observed in Firefox, I didn't see it anywhere else and I was watching movies, playing games and so on.
My GPU: Radeon 7870 stock clocks, replaced cooler with Arctic Xtreme III, my temperature when crunching 1 WU at a time is averaging at 40-41C so it's very low and GPU usage is 70-75%. Drivers: 13.6.
Did anybody see similar issue? Is my GPU dying? I would say that memory could be overheating but strangely it can only be observed in Firefox so I don't think so.
Artifacts when crunching on GPU
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This is a well known problem. I have run boinc on 3 different ati cards, always had this issue. Never happened on any of my nvidia cards.
Your card is fine. I believe it's a problem with ati graphic drivers.
RE: I believe it's a
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No, actually it's a problem with the HD7000 range of GPUs. After I switched from a HD6850 to a HD7870 I started seeing this as well. It's to do with the speed at which the memory runs.
You will only see it in a browser, or text files, or anything else two dimensional. This is because the 2D clocks run at a way lower speed than the 3D clocks. When you run OpenCL you use the OpenGL (yes, not a typo, G instead of C) processors in the GPU, but not to calculate 3D OpenGL graphics, but just OpenCL data. This means that the 3D memory is activated and runs at 3D speeds. However, the desktop is still only showing 2D stuff. Thus using the 2D memory at the same time that the OpenCL is using the 3D memory.
Now, the 2D memory speeds are way lower than the 3D memory speeds, and this is where the problems start as below a certain value, the GPU will lack enough voltage to power larger displays (above 17 inch, if I am not mistaken). This can be solved by setting the idle memory speed of 2D memory from its low value of e.g. 150MHz to double, triple or even more than that.
You can use Asus GPU tweak, Sapphire TRIXX or MSI Afterburner to overclock your clocks. Or just live with it.
RE: No, actually it's a
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While I have a HD7970 now (and the artifacts) I also had the artifacts with my old HD5970 which I crunched Milkyway@home with. So I'm pretty sure the problem is not just with the HD7xxx series. But hey, maybe it's two different issues presenting the same way.
OK, it's any series that uses
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OK, it's any series that uses 3D memory clocked at or over 1,000MHz AND has its idle 2D clocks set to very low values (under 300MHz).
Does deselecting
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Does deselecting Tools-->Options-->Advanced-->Use hardware acceleration when available in firefox help??
RE: Does deselecting
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Have run firefox for an hour after doing this and no artifacts so far.
Looked around a little on the web and it seems you can narrow the problem down to:
Firefox
Windows DirectX (mozilla forums)
Both Nvidia and Amd
In other words, it could be anything :-)
Thank you for responses.
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Thank you for responses.