Is my 6970 dying? Spike artifacts?

Hi, I've just finished up Origins where I had a little graphical issue(warped texture in drakes fall),but didn't think much of it, and now I've booted up Dragon Age II, and am getting a much bigger problem. I've been seeing what I believe are called artifact spikes, but only if I have the settings on very high.

I actually played this game on this exact computer when this game came out, which was about around the time I built this computer.

http://imgur.com/kszKCns

http://imgur.com/UOPKPkB

http://imgur.com/7NgmcPe

http://imgur.com/BfqHeW2

The "spikes" move haphazardly, but only seem to be effected by the rocks, I've only played the very start, before you even get to design your character.

Here it is on high, no spikes just a clean image

http://imgur.com/rcvGqZi

Thanks for any help.

How are your temps?

Have you cleaned your fans recently?

Happened to me a while ago with my 4850,had to RMA it

under load after about 5 hours of DAO it was at 74 degrees nothing to worry about much.

Actually I felt my cpu was running a bit hot so I cleaned its heatsink, and my gpu's fan out just last week. now my cpu underload is usually 55-60 degrees.

That sucks, I hope I wont have to do that, but I have had it for about 3 years now. I still have my 4870 so I do have a backup if it does burn out.

I also recall I was having problems with Tomb Raider with Tressfx enabled, which produced something similar to these images from her hair, but I didn't worry too much about it because lots of people were having problems with it.

Try turning up the voltage in the settings to 20% to see if they go away. It might not be getting enough juice and causing artifacts. I've had this issue with my 6950 flashed to a 6970 on some high end games, cranking the voltage in the amd settings fixed it.

Under catalyst control center that would be just the power control settings right?

@t1striker: yup.

Tried it. Same problem.

Thanks though.

@t1striker: Try the latest beta drivers, also try down clocking the gpu a little.

http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop?os=Windows%207%20-%2064

Also try turning on Vsync.

Sorry should have mentioned that was the first thing I tried to do. I've tried both the newest beta driver, and I reverted to 12.10 drivers didn't make a difference.

Now how little is little in downclocking, 50mhz at a time?

Using MSI afterburner I tried memory at 1300mhz(originally 1375), and core at 800(originally 880). No difference what so ever. Still spiking.

@t1striker:

Does it just do it in that game? Also have you tried turning on Vsync in game? If all else fails you can always bake the card, this has worked for me on some cards.

http://www.addictivetips.com/hardware/fix-your-graphics-card-by-baking-in-oven/

Yeah I've tried vsync on and off(usually like it on with triple buffer). I remember seeing something similar in Tomb Raider with TressFX on, but I just brushed it off as a problem with TressFX since there were so many problems with it.

I've also seen it in a ps2 emulator(legally own the disc, and also have the ps2, was just trying it out(mainly because I couldn't stand the low res look on my LED TV)) while running in dx11, and opengl mode, but had no problem in dx9.

I actually just ran OCCT, and while everything looked fine, and ran smoothly, and cool, the small text that shosw the temps on the left started spiking(stretching) upward.

I've come to the conclusion that I think my card is dying. Maybe I'll try baking my card(sounds insane though, but I have heard about it before).

Thanks for the help.