Can someone explain 'artifacting'?

[haGGard]

Hi,

Now, i know what artifacting is and what it looks like when you OC a video card, but i heard someone say the otherday that it is dangerous for your video card if it is artifacting. Is it dangerous? If so why?

Also, why do video cards artifact?

Cheers

 

[woot7800GT]

Well, I guess it's dangerous because it means your card is overheating. I've never really seen artifacts aside from some wierd shadowing and colors in CSS when I OC too much.

 

[haGGard]

I sometimes get it after playing a while. For me its like bright green flashes in most games, but in farcry its like dark red blobs in the screen that only appear for a split second...

 

[Nubius]

if you know what it is, and what it looks like and is a result from OC'ing your card, then how can't you figure out why it's not good for your card?

Isn't the simple fact 'its doing something its not supposed to' reason enough to assume that it's not good for the card.

 

[haGGard]

Yeah i know its not a good thing, but is it physicaly damaging the card badly?

 

[dhw200]

it can. Think of artifacting as a warning. Its overheating, which means things can burn up. Things like memory, circuit connections, etc etc

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

The danger level depends on the card

My mx440 runs 24 hours withotu crashing while artifacting, since I attempted to fry it...

6600GT runs for 5 seconds