First off, thanks in advance for any feedback you provide on this issue. I'm not quite at my wit's end, but I'm getting very, very frustrated. Here's the background: I ordered parts for a new PC right after Thanksgiving, and everything was assembled by the following week. The parts list (not looking for criticism, got some really good deals on some components, otherwise things would probably be different):
Gigabyte G1 Sniper mATX motherboard
Intel 3770k (not overclocking until I get the below issues fixed)
EVGA GeForce GTX660 Superclocked
2x8GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3
Corsair H80 cooling loop
Samsung 840 250GB SSD
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB (carried over from previous PC)
Asus Xonar D2X (carried over from previous PC)
Seasonic 620W modular PSU
Upon assembly, the H80 didn't work at all and the GTX660 was creating random blue artifacts on several surfaces (usually under 10 pixels in length and a few wide, they would almost twinkle in and out, if that makes any sense). I tried several drivers for the GTX660 with no change. I also tried underclocking the card to see if the slight overclock was causing the issue using EVGA's software, but that didn't resolve it either. I RMA'd the GTX660 and the H80 for replacements.
I received the replacement parts Friday. I tested the H80 before I installed it, and it powered up. After it was installed, it would not turn on. I reset the firmware following the instructions posted several places online, and the unit still would not turn on. After examining the molex power connector (poor design by Corsair, imho), I noticed one of the two power pins was incorrectly attached and probably caused a problem. Regardless, this unit is being returned for a refund, I've seen too many issues with the H80 online since I ordered.
I put the stock Intel heat sink back on and restarted the computer to test the replacement 660. It seems to work alright most of the time, but for at least the first couple minutes that the system is on, it still creates the same artifacts. After usually 2-5 minutes of running, the artifacts appear to clear up. I'm going to do some in-game testing shortly to see if they occur when the system is stressed.
My question is this: what else could be causing the artifacts? While the system was down I had an old Radeon HD 4670 installed, and I saw no errors whatsoever. Could there be something wrong with my power supply, that it's not supplying enough juice to the GTX660 and it's causing some artifacts? If so, why would they go away after the system runs for a few minutes? I'm really confused by this, and the only components I can think of that would be causing a problem at this point are either the motherboard or the PSU.
I will add that all video card drivers were removed completely in between switching cards (uninstalled, removed in safe mode, etc).
Gigabyte G1 Sniper mATX motherboard
Intel 3770k (not overclocking until I get the below issues fixed)
EVGA GeForce GTX660 Superclocked
2x8GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3
Corsair H80 cooling loop
Samsung 840 250GB SSD
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB (carried over from previous PC)
Asus Xonar D2X (carried over from previous PC)
Seasonic 620W modular PSU
Upon assembly, the H80 didn't work at all and the GTX660 was creating random blue artifacts on several surfaces (usually under 10 pixels in length and a few wide, they would almost twinkle in and out, if that makes any sense). I tried several drivers for the GTX660 with no change. I also tried underclocking the card to see if the slight overclock was causing the issue using EVGA's software, but that didn't resolve it either. I RMA'd the GTX660 and the H80 for replacements.
I received the replacement parts Friday. I tested the H80 before I installed it, and it powered up. After it was installed, it would not turn on. I reset the firmware following the instructions posted several places online, and the unit still would not turn on. After examining the molex power connector (poor design by Corsair, imho), I noticed one of the two power pins was incorrectly attached and probably caused a problem. Regardless, this unit is being returned for a refund, I've seen too many issues with the H80 online since I ordered.
I put the stock Intel heat sink back on and restarted the computer to test the replacement 660. It seems to work alright most of the time, but for at least the first couple minutes that the system is on, it still creates the same artifacts. After usually 2-5 minutes of running, the artifacts appear to clear up. I'm going to do some in-game testing shortly to see if they occur when the system is stressed.
My question is this: what else could be causing the artifacts? While the system was down I had an old Radeon HD 4670 installed, and I saw no errors whatsoever. Could there be something wrong with my power supply, that it's not supplying enough juice to the GTX660 and it's causing some artifacts? If so, why would they go away after the system runs for a few minutes? I'm really confused by this, and the only components I can think of that would be causing a problem at this point are either the motherboard or the PSU.
I will add that all video card drivers were removed completely in between switching cards (uninstalled, removed in safe mode, etc).