ATI artifacts - Solved with new drivers

[ejl10]

Just thought I'd let people know about this experience. When I first got my AIW 9600 Pro I installed a Zalman HP cooler. I bore down pretty hard on the screws, and ended up pulling the heatsink off of the chip (I think the card was slightly bowed, too). I started getting artifacts all over the screen, so I reverted to the oem fan. Nothing doing, the damage was done. Luckily, Newegg replaced it for me (it goes without saying that they are the best). I was much more careful with the new one, and got the Zalman on and working just fine. Then a few weeks later I started to notice some flickering horizontal white artifacts... just occasionally (for some reason they popped up whenever I played Microsoft's Spider Solitaire game). I was convinced that it was the heatsink again. I just hoped that the card would last until the VGA Silencer 3 became available.

Well, last night I realized that ATI had released new Catalyst drivers this month. I installed them, and guess what? Problem solved! So, if you're seeing something similar with your ATI card, I'd suggest you get the latest drivers before putting down any money on a new heatsink. Of course, I wish I had a smaller heasink for it anyhow (it runs so cool), but at least its working.

Good luck,
Emmett Lyman