GTX 650 artifacts / freezing in 10.8.5

[AeonicEclipse]

I'm having a consistent issue using the GTX 650 in ML. Upon heavier graphics use (the only cause I can reasonably assume, though there's probably another), it often glitches the screen ([see pic] window in use or some times entire monitor) and freezes the system (sometimes oddly not the mouse), needing a hardware reboot. I've tried disabling the AppleGraphicsPowerManagement.kext, changed to PCIRootUID=0, GraphicsEnabler=0, and have no other ideas. At the moment, I've disabled internal graphics, in an attempt to use the card only, but I did try internal once and it seemed to run without issue, however didn't do thorough testing as I would highly prefer to get the card working. Everything else system-wise has been [to my knowledge] in good working order, this is the last bump.
Attached pic shows the green pixelating (if that's the correct way to describe that). The rainbow beach-ball of doom (mouse) is frozen, as is the system. Chess has been [unfortunately] reliable in reproducing this failure. One failure was on youtube, no actual video (album cover only), and it froze the system, however no screen pixelating.
Many builds have used similar [if not the same] hardware with no issues and it's a highly compatible piece. Ideas as to the cause of this failure / fixes?

Build:
ML 10.8.5
i7-3770K
Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H
Gigabyte GTX 650 1 Gb

UPDATE: The pixelating hasn't been happening for the most recent tests, now is only freezing.

 

[mucksavage]

I've seen that kind of pixelation before, turned out to be a bad graphics card. Can you see it during boot up or on the bios screen?

 

[AeonicEclipse]

I've seen that kind of pixelation before, turned out to be a bad graphics card. Can you see it during boot up or on the bios screen?

No, I've only had it happen when the OS is booted and under a certain amount of load (graphics or CPU) that is unknown to me.

 

[mucksavage]

Maybe a heat issue then? Are the fans working correctly? Not sure other than that.

 

[AeonicEclipse]

Maybe a heat issue then? Are the fans working correctly? Not sure other than that.

Aye, they're doing their business, plus it's not on long enough to generate any heat really =(

 

[AeonicEclipse]

UPDATE: Reluctantly, switched to internal graphics (hadn't worked on them, preferring to get the 650 working) and it's been running all right so far.

Issue has not been solved, using the 650 I still get system crashes from basic tasks. Might be a defective card?
First setup based on ultrazone's golden audio build (same build almost entirely, but 2gb gpu) and another on slugnet's golden video build. I've tried the following things in different combinations, many re-installs, BIOS stayed the same (internal disabled, gpu primary).
Installed the mac CUDA drivers
Graphicsenabler=no
Igpenabler=no/yes
Pcirootuid=0/1
Edited SSDT
OpenCL drivers

If anyone has ideas/solutions, feel free to mention.

 

[mucksavage]

Must be defective. I used that card for over a year and it has been flawless

 

[AeonicEclipse]

Aye, seems to be that way. Thanks for the input, for sure.

I am attempting an RMA with Gigabyte, which there are many bad reviews for, but already been approved so, worth a shot I suppose. Question however; has anyone done an RMA with them? Also, they asked for system specs which would be all right except it's "known as" a Windows card (Windows drivers disc and whatnot). As I only tested in Mac (though with a defective card, that doesn't matter), I don't want to put that down and they immediately say "Oh well, there's your problem" and decide to decline coverage. Ideas for that?

 

[mucksavage]

I can't imagine that being an issue. What would they say if you ran Linux?

 

[AeonicEclipse]

Not sure, only Windows is listed. Well, there's an "other" category, it just seems like they could be touchy about it, even though warranty should cover it, and I'm sure they're aware of hacks. Might as well just say it's OSX, if they get touchy I'll push the warranty.