So I tossed my old 1680x1050 monitor and replaced it with a new Asus PB278Q. I have an ATI (OK..AMD) 5970. 

I've been using the DVI (duel link) cable that came with the monitor to plug it into my 5970. using windows 7-64bit.

1920x1080 resolution works fine. But when I try to increase it past that, to its native resolution of 2560x1440, the screen gets corrupted by lots of red dots and lines. Its very strange. Otherwise, it is alright. 

I tried to take a screen shot to post here, but of course when I went back to 1920x1080 to look at the screen shot, the red dots were not visible. 

I tried both DVI ports on the 5970 just in case. 

I also tried to use the displayport. But I couldn't get that working at all. I couldn't get any signal. I tried it with just the displayport cable and a reboot. Also tried booting it up in DVI and switching over to the displayport.  No go.  Nothing is detected.  This should be just plug and play yes? There isn't some hidden toggle I am missing to get the Displayport to work right? 

I tried reinstalling the latest AMD drivers. No help. I turned off my over minor overclock. So it is running at default. Also boosted the fan a bit to fix at 40% to keep the GPU at around 52 degrees.

I also tried messing around with the properties section of the Catalyst Control center. the DVI settings. Turning off and on Reduce DVI frequencey and Alternate DVI operational mode... since they both talked about fixing display corruption at High Resolutions.. but no dice.

Note.. when I go into Device Manager, the Monitor shows up as a Generic PnP Monitor.  But if I go to Devices and Printers from the start menu, it shows up correctly as an Asus PB278.  Not sure what that means? Why is it Generic in one, and  not the other. 

I dont know. I am at my wits end. I don't see anyone else talking about this. So Either:

1) I am a compete moron. (A distinct possiblity). The answer is so blindingly obvious that no one else is having a problem with it. I'm sure ill be calling tech support about using my DVD tray as a cup-holder any day now.

2)There is something wrong with my 5970? Either the settings somewhere in the control centre, maybe a problem with the card itself.

3) My new monitor is defective. Or the cables (Both of them!?). 

I am at a lost. Help Please!

Graphics Card - ATI 5970 - not overclocked.

AMD Catalyst 12.10

Windows 7 64-bit. 

Intel Core i7-3770K - Not overclocked

8 GB of RAM 

Corsair tx750w Power Supply

My monitor- Asus PB278Q

Gigabyte G1. Sniper 3 ~ motherboard.

SSD as my boot HD --240GB. 

Hey hey....so for this the quick and dirty way to find the answer would be to plug your new monitor into another computer (it would be a good idea to know that the test computer supports your resolution first) and see if the issue presents itself still.  If it does, then it is the monitor.....if it doesn't, it is something on your computer....the card, software, etc...

The opinions expressed above do not represent those of Advanced Micro Devices or any of their affiliates.
Requiescat In Pace AMD Processor Forums | Member since: 1/19/2009 | Post count: 4142
Please don't PM me with questions, instead create a thread so that everyone can assist and benefit from the knowledge provided. Thanks in advance!

So... you took the screenshot at 2560x1440 while it was freaking out on you, but when viewing that same image at 1920x1080 the artifacts are gone?  If that's the case, then I would think it a monitor problem since the image produced by your video card(saved in that screenshot) was normal.  I'm not sure at exactly what point the image is grabbed, but the monitor is probably where I would start.

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Troll Hunter

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Okay. So I brought my new monitor (PB278Q) down to my local computer store and they hooked it up to one of their high-end machines. They used my own duel link DVI cable that I brought. 

and..

It worked perfectly in 2560x1440!! Yay!

So it has to be my ATI 5970.

Is there some setting I may have screwed up, or is this a symptom of bad video card?

The employee at the store speculated that the memory on the video card might be failing. Is there some way to test for this?

Here are a couple of screen shots that I took of the defect.

Before (in 1080P) -

After in 2560x1440 -

I really hope it isn't a defective card. Yes it is 3 years old, but it was $700 3 years ago....

The good news is you don't have to pay $700 for a card that will outperform it.  That should help... sort of... just don't think about it too much. 

Do not meddle in the affairs of archers, for they are subtle and quick to anger.
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Troll Hunter

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When you switch to the higher res (the one that shows the issue) have you noted at what Hz that is running at?  Is it same/different from the 1080p?

The opinions expressed above do not represent those of Advanced Micro Devices or any of their affiliates.
Requiescat In Pace AMD Processor Forums | Member since: 1/19/2009 | Post count: 4142
Please don't PM me with questions, instead create a thread so that everyone can assist and benefit from the knowledge provided. Thanks in advance!

Thanks! 

Both 1080P at 60Hz, and 2560x1440 at 60Hz. That is what this monitor supports. So its ok in that department... 

Is it possible that it could be bad video card memory? I sometimes have this machine running on my TV at 1080p, and play games.

I had an issue resently- games freezing up and me having to hard boot. But that turned out to be a heat issue. But was solved when I cranked the fan up on my video card. Any other problems I have had turned out to be ATI driver issues (darn duel GPUs!). 

Can it be a bad memory on the 5970, but all this time it hasn't been an issue? It only shows up at 2560x1440?

Games should use more memory at 1080P than your desktop at the higher res, so that doesn't make sense to me as playing the game should show memory issues as well.

Have you ever taken the heatsink off of the card and cleaned it out really good......also replace the TIM and thermal pads?

The opinions expressed above do not represent those of Advanced Micro Devices or any of their affiliates.
Requiescat In Pace AMD Processor Forums | Member since: 1/19/2009 | Post count: 4142
Please don't PM me with questions, instead create a thread so that everyone can assist and benefit from the knowledge provided. Thanks in advance!

Yeah it could be bad memory.  It could be that a chip in the upper address range is wiggy, which is why it appears fine at lower resolutions.  At lower resolutions those upper address ranges are less likely to be used as heavily, and having issues with heat can often reduce the lifespan of the hardware a bit.  Could be that adding the bigger monitor started stressing a part of the system which up till now hadn't had much stress.

Cleaning out dust and stuff is a good idea.  Artifacts often can go away if they're taken care of before they have a chance to get "baked in". 

For the memory... maybe something like GPU-Z could tell you that, although I'm not sure exactly how it collects data.  Couldn't hurt to install it and see if it reports funky memory sizes for your card.  Otherwise, you'll have to go about it more experimentally.

Do not meddle in the affairs of archers, for they are subtle and quick to anger.
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Troll Hunter

The opinions expressed above do not represent those of Advanced Micro Devices or any of their affiliates.