Weird graphics glitches in WoW

shadowane

I'm seeing some weird graphics glitches while playing WoW and I have no idea what causes them. If anyone has any suggestions on tests I could run to diagnose the problem or if you just know what causes something like what's in the following pictures, I'd be really appreciative. The really odd thing is that they don't occur constantly and if I reset a graphics option that causes the screen to repaint, they go away for a time. Which makes this more worrisome and slightly annoying than anything else.

Madpanda

Without actually seeing the glitches it's hard to say. This could be a number of things
A) over heating due to bad case ventilation, high room temps, your video card fan not working due to spider webs getting all up in there cause you haven't cleaned it since clinton was in office.
old video drivers (you have updated right)
C) monitor issues, I only put this out there as I can't see the pictures at work.

Does it happen at any certain time or place? I know shattrath and the new Lich king starting zones could be killer.

shadowane

Nope, it's completely random. It's possible it's my video card overheating though. Is there any tool that could test that? I have a 8800 GTS.

edit: And no I haven't upgraded my video card drivers. I guess it's possible the new shadows are causing this although I remember seeing it before this. I guess that'll be step number 1.

Fig-D

When that was happening to a guildie, all he had to do was update his drivers.

When that happened to me my GPU was overheating because the fan wasn't coming on anymore.

DeShadowC

Looks like artifacting. Check your temps. Right click on the desktop and go to the nvidia control panel. There's an option somewhere in there for temps.

shadowane

Okay. I'll update these numbers once I install all this stuff. Thanks guys.

Nogs

looks like when i overclocked too much.

i second all the heat related concerns.

Madpanda

After seeing the pictures I'm gonna go with heat. You can check out this thread about testing/monitoring your card

You can either use the nvidia temp monitor after running wow for a while with the glitches happening, or check the thread below. Keep in mind ati tool can be pretty mean on cards and I wouldn't run it for more than a few minutes.

http://www.hardforum.com/archive/index.php/t-1175296.html

Tav

Graphics card is overheating as a result of overclocking. Chances are that it's gonna crap out on you.

Crack open your case and clean the dust off with a can of compressed air. Move the tower to somewhere where it has better ventilation.

If that doesn't work, be ready to get a new card.

SnakeDoctor

Looks like video card RAM overheating and possibly damaged. I had a card that did that a few times during the summer and then i think became permanently damaged. Definitely look into getting Riva Tuner to monitor your temps. Anything above 80 degrees C should be a warning sign.

Endomatic

I had this exact thing happen with my 9800 pro (they run hot) and it was overheating of course.

shadowane

At my desktop with nothing running it seems to be idling at 63 degrees. I'll report later with a temperature when WoW is running.

Hevach

I had the same with an 8600, it was overheating too. Taking some canned air and getting the dust out cleared it up for me.

shadowane

It seems to idle around 63/64 degrees and jumps to about 80 or so when I'm playing WoW. I haven't seen any glitches in my last 2 play times after upgrading the drivers, but I'll still probably open up the case and spray it clean with some compressed air. Probably power up the machine with the side off and make sure the fan is running too. Thanks for the help.

DeShadowC

Yeah its running sorta hot, so you'll want to get it cooling better asap.