Graphic artifacts with new video card?

I recently got a new video card: HIS Radeon X1950 Pro IceQ3 Turbo 512MB/256MB AGP for my computer and i am getting screen artifacts when i am playing 3d games (e.g. little colored dots all over the screen and polygons stretching and tearing...) and the only way to get rid of them is to reboot. I've tried both drivers from the ATI website and hisdigital and it still happens. According to the software tool, the temperature runs pretty low (it usually stays below 50 C), so maybe it isnt an overheating problem? Keeping my case open with a room fan blowing into it seems to reduce the occurance though. Also, my power supply is 350W, a bit lower than recommanded i believe - maybe that is the problem? If so, will underclocking my card help? If so, how?|||i would try a new power supply ... especially if its a generic 350w .. a generic 350w is more like 150w in my opinion ..|||it sounds like you are overclocking your video card (ATI Tools?) Set it back to normal. Not all video cards respond to overclocking techniques. Or under display, reduce your video acceleration slider down just a bit.|||It's 1 of 2 things...



1) Not enough power



2) Bad onboard video memory



I had the exact same problem when I installed my 8800GTS, I installed a new 500W Enermax PSU and it runs perfect now!



BTW - just because a power supply is generic doesn't necessarily mean it's bad! The thing to check is how many amps it has on the 12V rail. 3.3V and 5V were used a LOT more back in the old AMD days and by AGP, 5V and 12V are used by hard drives and optical drives, and video cards use only 12V...



Take the total amount of amperage on the 12V rail(s) say 12V1 = 14A and 12V2 = 14A then you would take 28*12=336W on your 12V rail! So... not all power supplies are built alike and just because it's "generic" doesn't mean it's bad. Just make sure that the one you have or get has a good 12V output!!



Enermax, Antec and OCZ are by far the best power supplies you can buy right now!



Anyways, hope this helps - you might want to try unplugging any additional CD/DVD/Hard Drives and see what happens, otherwise if you install a new PSU and you have the same problems, you know it's the onboard ram - send it back!







Update...



Where does he imply anywhere that he's overclocking the card!?



Artifacting during normal use is caused by not enough power or a bad memory sector - period, nothing else can do it!!