@gandalf3 yeah, what i posted was in cycles. but it wasn't in render mode. let me try again. it seems enough to post a gif, no?

With cycles doing the rendering is what I meant

@kimholder Sure, though I would be curious to see what's different about your setup if you indeed aren't getting any artifacts

yeah, when the viewport is set to render shading, there they are. and rather nasty too

well, i don't know if it would come up practically for me. this huge file i keep working on is just a master scene for demonstration.

also i just keep waiting for Eevee now and assume i'll be switching everything over.