Graphics card diagnostics: How To Check If A GPU Is Working Properly (With Tests)

How To Check If A GPU Is Working Properly (With Tests)

Graphics cards are what contribute a great deal when it comes to gaming. Knowing how to check if your GPU is working properly makes your system more stable, especially when gaming.

We can conduct a few different graphics card tests to establish whether or not your GPU is up to the task. Additionally, there are some essential hardware inspections and maintenance procedures that you can do to contribute to your graphics card running with improved stability.

Important: I highly recommend disabling any overclocking that you may be running before proceeding.

I’m also assuming that you have the correct graphics card drivers installed and are up to date.

If not, download and install the latest drivers or update the existing ones before continuing.

Firstly, inspect the hardware

I prefer to look at the hardware first so that anything potentially damaging cannot harm the GPU any further. Cooling is paramount, so we must ensure that the GPU cooler is in proper working order.

To do this, we need to inspect a few things on the graphics card.

Important: Make sure your computer is turned off and no power is connected to it before proceeding.

Make sure the cooling fan(s) is in good condition

If the fan isn’t in good working order, your GPU won’t be reliable or be able to work at its best.

Remove the graphics card for inspection. Check that the fan(s) spin easily and freely. If it stops soon after giving a light flick with your finger, it’s a bad sign.

You also don’t want the fan to have any rocking in it when applying a small amount of pressure on the end of the blades. It means that the fan bearings are worn out if it does.

If in doubt, replace the thermal paste

If the card is more than a year old, or you have no idea about the card’s history, replacing the thermal paste on the GPU ensures that you are doing what you can to give the card a chance to perform at its best to find out whether it’s in good order or not in all tests.

You can read our article here on how to replace your GPU’s thermal paste if you need a step-by-step guide to help you do it.

Now that the hardware inspection is complete, you can continue to test while the GPU is operational.

Once you have everything reassembled and the machine powered back up, listen out for the graphics card fan(s) that they are quiet and spinning adequately enough to cool the heatsink surface.

Recommended Thermal Paste

Arctic Silver AS5

The very long-lasting and excellent thermal transfer performance makes this thermal paste a time-honored choice.

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Things to keep in mind when testing your GPU

When testing your GPU, there are a few things to keep in mind. Look over these points to make sure everything is good to go.

  • Securely seated in expansion slot: Ensure the graphics card is properly seated in the PCI-E expansion slot.
  • Using the correct expansion slot: Check that your graphics card has been plugged into the correct PCI-E slot. Some expansion slots on your motherboard might look the same but have fewer bi-directional lanes, meaning less performance. Your motherboard’s manual will have clear documentation on this.
  • Using the correct card: Look to see if your monitor’s display cable is plugged into the correct port associated with the graphics card you want to test.
  • Disable overclocking: Double-check to make sure that all overclocking has been disabled. This is true not only for overclocking software but also in your BIOS, which may affect the stability of the test run for the card.
  • Driver updates: Look to see that your graphics card drivers are up to date and the 3D management settings are set to default.
  • Power plugs are secured: Check that all the extra power supply cables are plugged into your card properly. Give them a firm press to make sure they are seated properly.
  • Check the heatsink: Have a look over it to ensure that your graphics card’s heatsink is seated properly to avoid overheating catastrophes.
  • Check that the fans are operational: Check again to see that all your graphics card’s fans are spinning and aren’t obstructed in any way before you run any tests.

Once these preliminary checks have been carried out, you can move on to the graphics card tests.

Keep in mind that resolution settings affect the performance of tests, and the same holds true when changing resolution settings for any game you want to play.

Now it’s time to perform some graphics card tests

Doing some load tests will put the GPU under stress while you check that the graphical output to your monitor is stable and without any artifacts.

Next, proceed to download MSI Afterburner and set it up with a fan curve using our article on speeding up your graphics card fans. This step is very important, as there are times when your GPU fan(s) won’t spin up as it should if you run a stress test with everything set up out of the box.

Download and run the Furmark GPU Stress Test tool. This is a very intensive test, and you will be happy that you inspected your hardware first, avoiding any drastic overheating issues.

To conduct a stress test with Furmark, click on the ‘GPU Stress Test’ button, then press the ‘Go’ button in the second window that pops up.

You should hear your fan(s) on your GPU cooler increase speed while the load test enters its first few seconds of the test. This means that your GPU cooling fan responds to the increase in temperature from your GPU itself because of the heavy workload.

If your test is successful, we can move on to checking the temperature of the GPU when it’s working hard. This will quickly tell you if your GPU cooling is sufficient or not.

Combine the stress test with a temperature test

Making sure that the GPU is running at the desired temperature range is of utmost importance when it comes to a GPU being able to work properly.

If you press the GPU-Z and GPU Shark buttons, some extra panels will open alongside Furmark with more information about your GPU. For example, you will see the temperature of your GPU amongst the information.

Suppose your overall GPU temperature exceeds the recommended maximum at any time. In that case, you will need to either replace the GPU cooler or find out what is wrong with the existing cooler and if it’s capable enough to keep your GPU cool after you have done everything you can.

If you are replacing your GPU cooler, don’t run the graphics card until it’s replaced. This will help avoid any further damage to the GPU.

Once you have an artifact-free load test, combined with a healthy temperature range, you can test the GPU for a more extended period.

How to test your graphics card using built-in tools on Windows 10

Windows 10 includes a few built-in tools that can help you test your graphics card and ensure it’s functioning correctly.

To start, open the DirectX Diagnostic Tool by pressing the Windows key + R, then typing dxdiag and pressing Enter.

This will open a window with information about your graphics card, including the name and model number.

Under the Display tab, you’ll see a list of all the graphics features your card supports. If any of these are listed as Not Available, then there’s a problem with your graphics card.

You can also use the Windows Display Settings to test your graphics card.

  1. First, open the Settings app by pressing the Windows key + I, then click on System.
  2. Next, select Display, then scroll down to the Advanced display settings section.
  3. Here, you should see information about your graphics card, including the name and model number. If you don’t see this information, or if the graphics settings are set to Low, there may be a problem with your graphics card. In that case, start by ensuring that you have the correct drivers for the graphics card installed.

Run some GPU performance tests or play some games for a few hours

If you have made it this far, things are looking promising. All that needs to be done now are more extended tests to ensure that the GPU’s stability can be sustained after being used for a few hours.

If you don’t have a favorite game you love playing on hand, get the free version of Benchmark Heaven.

Keep running it for a minimum of about 2 hours. After that, keep an eye out for any anomalies or artifacts that could indicate a faulty GPU.

Sometimes with a faulty GPU, you may experience the computer spontaneously restarting, freezing, or shutting down.

Examples of artifacts would be weird colors breaking up in some frames while the testing is being carried out. Also, be on the lookout for massive frame drops, which could indicate a cooling problem.

If you encounter any strange images within the test, it might mean that there is something defective with the video card.

Another possibility is a faulty or old power supply. Because the graphics card uses more power when it’s under load, the extra power consumption from the power supply puts extra load on the power supply, thus resulting in a possible fault.

If you have another graphics card or power supply, you could swap either of them out and rerun some tests to see if the fault clears.

Conclusion

While a stress test with a temperature test can indicate whether a GPU is working properly, it is only a surface-level test.

Performing more extended tests is of equal importance. If you don’t know the history of the graphics card, absolutely anything could have been inflicted that it had to endure to damage it in a way that cannot be obvious at first glance.

Adding an aftermarket cooler to an older card is not a bad idea at all. It will not only improve the cooling of the GPU but will also ensure that it won’t overheat and cause damage.

Testing is your friend and always take your time when trying to establish the condition of a GPU.

If you are in the market for a graphics card, I cover more about whether or not you should buy a graphics card from eBay in case you are interested.

How to Speed Up Graphics Card Fan (Prevent Overheating)

If you are noticing that your GPU fan doesn’t spin faster, or your GPU is getting hot when you play a game, here’s how to speed up your graphics card fan when it’s needed most.

Keeping the components in your computer cool is essential to preserve the overall longevity of your system.

One component running too hot can cause the internal temperature of your computer (in an enclosed case) to rise higher than it should.

Your graphics card will perform at its best when it’s running nice and cool. So making sure the fan is spinning up to an adequate amount of RPMs will help with losing those precious frames per second.

How graphics card fans should work

When playing games, or doing anything else that increases your graphics card’s workload, the GPU heats up.

The heatsink on the graphics card can only do so much on its own.

That’s why graphics card manufacturers have included a fan on the models that require some extra cooling.

These fans usually idle along when the GPU temperatures are low.

As the heat increases, so should the fan(s). Sometimes, this doesn’t happen.

You will notice immediately if your fans don’t spin any faster when playing a game. Fans make quite a noise when they are running at higher RPMs.

This is where you need to take action in order to prevent damage to your graphics card.

Steps to speed up your graphics card fan(s)

To solve the issue of your fans not spinning up to the speed you need, we are going to install a free program called MSI Afterburner.

Don’t worry if your graphics card isn’t manufactured by MSI. This software will work for most cards.

1. Download MSI Afterburner

Click here to download MSI Afterburner.

2. Install MSI Afterburner

Now that you have downloaded the installation file, it should be in your Downloads folder.

If it’s a Zip file, right-click on it, then left-click on the ‘Extract All…’ option in the contextual menu. Follow the prompts to complete the extraction process.

If the downloaded file isn’t a Zip file, right-click on it and left-click on ‘Run as administrator’ in the contextual menu. This will run the setup file as an administrator.

Once you have extracted the contents of the Zip file, right-click on the setup exe and left-click on Run as administrator.

Follow the prompts to complete the installation. It should be straightforward and easy to complete. If you are in doubt as to which options to choose, simply leave it as default and continue the process.

3. Setup a fan speed control profile

Click on the gear icon, then click on the fan tab.

Make sure ‘Enable user-defined software automatic fan control’ is checked.

Recreate the curve of my fan settings and click on ‘OK’ to finish. If you find that your fan is too noisy with little or no workload, click and drag the 40 and 50-degree marker a bit lower.

Make small adjustments at a time until you are happy with the noise levels. The crucial thing is to have a maximum fan speed from 65-degrees upward.

Info Nibble: Left click on the plain white line to create another temperature reference point. You will only be able to add a certain amount of them in total.

Relaunch the game or program which puts a heavier workload onto your graphics card.

You should notice an increase in fan speed after a few minutes.

After you exit the game or program, look at MSI Afterburner. You will be able to see a history of the last few minutes of temperatures and fan speeds.

I personally don’t like to see GPU temperatures over 176 degrees Fahrenheit or 80 degrees Celcius.

Most graphics card’s maximum temperatures are somewhere around 190.4 to 212 degrees Fahrenheit and 88 to 100 degrees Celcius.

Signs your graphics card is overheating

1. Your computer is stable when performing low-intensity tasks

If your computer runs perfectly fine when you are checking emails or browsing the internet, but starts to play up when gaming, you may very well have an overheating component.

It may be the case that your CPU is the culprit. To make sure, install HWMonitor to have look at which component is overheating.

2. Graphical artifacts

If you notice that some artifacts are making their way onto your screen during gameplay, it’s very likely that your graphics card is overheating.

And by artifacts, I mean anything that you wouldn’t see normally. Like extra lines, blocks of graphics that look like they don’t belong in the scene, or patches of various colors.

3. Crash to desktop (CTD)

When you are playing your game you may find yourself back on your desktop with an error message to do with NVidia, AMD, or graphics card. I have seen occurrences with no error message appear. And apart from that, maybe the game itself reporting a crash.

4. Your computer reboots or powers off

In cases where it’s a little more serious, your computer could reboot during gaming, freeze, or shut down completely. When you experience the latter, it’s usually not good. Further damage could have occurred. If your computer won’t start aftward try these steps:

  1. Unplug the computer from the mains power.
  2. Remove the graphics card.
  3. Plug the computer back into the mains supply and try to start it up.

If it starts up without the graphics card, it’s time to replace it. If your computer still doesn’t want to power up, you will have to do some further diagnosing. It will be from damaged components like the power supply, CPU, or motherboard.

Things to try when your graphics card is overheating

Check to see if your fans are able to spin freely. Sometimes a cable inside your case can find its way to the GPU fan jamming it in place.

Power off your computer. Use your finger to flick the fan in order to produce a few revolutions on its own. If the fan stops immediately after you spin it, the fan needs replacing.

It’s also important that your heatsink and fan area is clean. To clean it, remove the card and give it a blow with some compressed air in a can.

Wear something over your nose and mouth so you don’t inhale any dust blown off the card. And safety glasses won’t do you any harm either.

Be careful not to touch the copper contacts on the edge of the card where it plugs into the motherboard.

If you experience overheating even with a clean card and good fan speeds, try replacing your thermal compound between the GPU and the heatsink.

If all that fails to produce results, try the following:

  1. Check your computer case’s cooling.
  2. Reset your motherboard’s BIOS to default, just in case anything has been set incorrectly.
  3. Replace your power supply, especially if it’s around five years old or more.

You can read more about solving overheating problems with your graphics card by reading our other article discussing why your GPU is overheating and how to fix it.

Conclusion

I’ve used MSI Afterburner for years. It’s a program that has been around since 2009 or maybe even earlier. It’s a very hassle-free method how to speed up your graphics card fan in a few steps.

After trying these suggestions, your GPU shouldn’t overheat and gaming should be more stable.

While it is slightly annoying having a bit of noise from your GPU fans while playing a game, it is vital.

After all, you do want longer lasting components and a reliable computer, don’t you?

What is a Monitor? Types of Computer Monitors Explained

Computer monitors have evolved over the years, and image quality has followed suit. This article will explain what a monitor is and the different types you can get.

We will also explain more about the various types and how they connect to a computer. The connectors also evolve to keep up with the demands of newer display technology.

What is a monitor?

A monitor is a display device like a TV screen that interprets and displays the graphical output signal from your computer’s graphics card and displays it on the screen.

This enables you to view the display interface to interact with the computer using various peripherals like a mouse or keyboard from output devices like graphics cards.

Different types of monitors and how they work

Knowing about the different types is beneficial to have a better understanding of what a monitor is.

Display technology in various applications has evolved, sharing the same base technology.

Both the television and computer screen started using the vacuum CRT (Cathode Ray Tube).

CRT Monitors

This type of monitor required more power and electronics to operate. A lot of the analog circuitry was cumbersome and took up a lot of space with a small screen by today’s standards.

How they work depends on the type of CRT components and how they work together to deliver a similar result.

For the sake of this article, I’ll stick to explaining the most common types of CRT monitor components and how they work.

The complete outline of how a CRT monitor works would in itself be a full article, so I will try to keep this as brief as possible.

A CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) monitor works by taking the information from the various electronics PCBs that have processed the incoming signal from the computer’s display card.

From there, processing and splitting up the colors with a signal sent to the CRT tube base board connected to the back of the CRT tube.

Electron guns for each color fire electrons onto a phosphorous area for the specific color related to it.

The shadow mask

A shadow mask is a protective layer with holes in it aligned to the specific phosphorous areas where electrons are meant to strike, preventing the electrons from landing in the wrong location.

You could say then that the shadow mask essentially prevents color purity issues.

The shadow mask is constructed from metal and, because of this, is influenced by magnetic fields.

That’s why a degaussing coil is fitted around the front area of the CRT where the shadow mask is located and is fired up for a short moment each time the monitor is turned on to degauss the shadow mask, thus preventing color purity issues.

Deflection coils

If it wasn’t for a set of deflection coils located at the neck of the CRT, electron beams would simply fire in a single dot in the center of the screen from the electron guns’ original firing trajectory.

Deflection coils are powered by the CRT’s electronics circuits to get the electronics to be pulled in the proper direction.

The vertical deflection aspect of CRTs is referred to as the frame, and the horizontal is referred to as the line.

The beams are directed from top left to right in successive lines until the bottom of the screen to complete one total frame.

The final anode

An extra high voltage anode called a final anode is attached to the side of the CRT to help accelerate the electrons toward the phosphorous coatings inside the display area’s glass.

The line output transformer

This voltage of around 55 to 60 kV is produced from a line output transformer located on the main chassis circuit board.

This transformer also provides a high voltage, up to 600 volts, to assist with the focus, which is connected via the tube base board and supplied to the G3 control grid.

It also produces the voltages for the G1 (brightness) and G2 (flyback voltage) control grids, which affect image brightness or prevent flyback lines or brightness cut-off, respectively.

A voltage to the cathode heater is also supplied from the transformer.

Impractical aspects

The CRT requires a certain distance between the screen area and the electron guns at the end of the neck, leading to a part of the heavy space requirements.

So apart from being heavy, bulky, and harsh on your eyes, they actually have a decent viewing angle.

The other obvious downfall is the obvious fact that it couldn’t be used for a laptop monitor.

Common CRT resolutions

Here are some of the common resolutions for CRT monitors based on display size:

CRT Monitor Size Common Resolution in Pixels
17 Inch (4:3 Aspect Ratio) 800 x 600
19 Inch (4:3 Aspect Ratio) 1280 x 1024
20 Inch (4:3 Aspect Ratio) 1600 x 1200
20 – 22 Inch Widescreen (16:10 Aspect Ratio) 1680 x 1050
24 Inch Widescreen (16:10 Aspect Ratio) 1920 x 1200

LCD Monitors

LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) Monitors replaced the CRT. Initially, they had performance issues to do with response times, but eventually, those problems were solved.

Liquid crystal molecules are placed between two electrodes. The amount of light that can pass through the liquid crystal molecules is determined by the amount of electrical charge applied to the electrodes.

LCD Monitors require backlighting to illuminate the image for us to see. This backlighting technology has also undergone some revolutionary changes.

In the beginning, CFL(Compact Fluorescent Lamps) were used. Inverters were used to step up the voltage to power them up and ended up being a common component that failed over time.

Thankfully, the CFLs were replaced with LEDs. This made LCD monitors way more reliable.

We will go into the various backlight technologies further down in this article.

Common types of Active Matrix LCD panels:
IPS Panels

In-Plane Switching panels were created to solve the poor viewing angles and low-quality color of the TN panels.

They are more commonly used in professional environments because the refresh rates aren’t the best for gaming.

But when it comes to image quality, it delivers great results. And, it comes with a little extra on the price.

The response times are faster than VA panels but slower than the TN panels.

TN Panels

Twisted Nematic panels are the most commonly purchased by consumers. They deliver reasonable response times at a reasonable price.

Common styles of LCD monitors

There are different styles of LCD computer monitors that are designed for use in different industries.

  • Rackmount: Designed to mount onto standard 19-inch racks, they can be done as fold away or fixed rackmount style, depending on your needs.
  • Desktop: A standard computer monitor that uses the default stand provided by the manufacturer.
  • VESA Mount: A standard mount of either 75mm x 75mm, 100mm x 100mm, or 200mm x 200mm for mounting to brackets for swiveling or wall mounts. Many standard computer monitors have these mounts built into the back of them.
  • Panel mount: A flat mounting style with a flange designed to be mounted in a cut-out of some kind like a wall, to mention one example.
  • Open frame: These monitors are designed with multiple mounting options created on a metal or aluminum frame. These monitors are ideal for products such as kiosks, arcade video games, or interactive music systems.

As you may have noted, computer monitors come in various designs for many applications.

Common LCD resolutions for desktops

Here is a list of common native resolutions for LCD panels of various sized and aspect ratios:

LCD Monitor Size and Aspect Ratio Common Native Resolution (Pixels)
15 Inch (4:3) 1024 x 768
17 Inch (5:4) 1280 x 1024
19 Inch (5:4) 1280 x 1024
20 Inch (4:3) 1600 x 1200
17 Inch Widescreen (15:9) 1280 x 768
19 Inch Widescreen (16:10) 1440 x 900
21 – 28 Inch Widescreens (16:9) 1920 x 1080
29 Inch Ultrawide (21:9) 2560 x 1080
30 Inch Widescreen (16:10) 2560 x 1600
32 Inch Widescreen (16:9) 3840 x 2160
34 Inch Ultrawide (21:9) 3440 x 1440
38 Inch Ultrawide (12:5) 3840 x 1600
49 Inch Ultrawide (32:9) 5120 x 1440

LED Monitors

Light Emitting Diode monitors are essentially LCD monitors with LED backlighting to illuminate the LCD image.

Personally, I’m not a fan of this name for this type of product. If it is truly an LED monitor, shouldn’t the pixels themselves be produced by an LED itself?

Although, that technology is on its way. Television manufacturers are putting their interest in micro-LEDs. This is where microscopic LEDs are placed in an array to form the pixel itself.

I have no doubt that this technology will make its way into computer monitors.

QLED Monitors

QLEDs or Quantum Dot Displays are used to convert the backlight to emit pure basic colors.

These semiconductor nanocrystals are placed in a Quantum Dot layer in order to help RGB color filters by reducing light losses and color crosstalk.

Electro-emissive versions are in their experimentation stages. This means that by applying an electric current to inorganic nano-particles, a pixel is formed by a Quantum-Dot Light Emitting Diode (QD-LED).

This would allow for great color ranges and near-perfect black levels on the display.

Recommended Monitor

Samsung Odyssey G7 32 Inch

I like it for the curved display and the well-rounded features. Once you experience the 240Hz, the 1ms response time, GSYNC and FreeSync compatible, HDR 600, and QLED technology, all packed into one solid monitor.

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Different types of video connectors

Here are some typical video input connectors you will find on the back of computer monitors.

These connections allow your monitor to connect to your computer’s graphics card to display information.

VGA

Video Graphics Array is a technology that is obsolete. It has been around for a long time, but an analog video signal is no longer the desired standard. It is not able to carry an audio signal.

DVI

Digital Visual Interface is a digital video signal connector that is used not only in computer monitors but in other consumer electronics too.

Dual-link DVI carries twice the data rate compared with that of single-link DVI. This has allowed for higher resolutions and refresh rates.

Dual-link has a maximum data of 9.90Gbit/s @ 165 MHz.

No audio signal can be carried over this connection.

HDMI

There are 5 types of High-Definition Multimedia Interface connectors:

  • Standard (A)
  • Dual-Link (B)
  • Mini (C)
  • Micro (D)
  • Automotive (E).

This is a replacement for analog video standards and can transmit uncompressed video data and compressed/uncompressed audio data.

Incremental versions have arrived over time with improvements.

HDMI is used in a broad variety of consumer electronics, even when it comes to computers.

Version 2.1 is capable of delivering a maximum total data rate of 42.5Gbit/s.

DisplayPort

DisplayPort is more commonly used in the computer market, rather than in general consumer electronics.

The latest version 2.0 has a maximum total data rate of 77.37Gbits/s.

DisplayPort comes in two sizes, the standard size and a Mini DisplayPort.

Thunderbolt

The previous versions (v1 and v2) use the same connector as a Mini DisplayPort.

The latest Thunderbolt version 3 uses a standard USB C connector.

Thunderbolt combines PCI Express and DisplayPort into 2 serial signals and provides DC power.

USB C

USB C Monitors are quite new to the market and tend to be a popular trend for mobile monitors.

You will most likely need a cable that can connect your monitor from USB C to Display Port or HDMI, for example.

Two different styles of power connectors

External Brick Power SupplyInternal Power Supply Using An IEC Mains Cable

Some monitors are built with internal power supplies, and others rely on external power bricks.

Those with an internal power supply usually require a power cable that goes straight from the mains power to an IEC plug that plugs directly into the back of the monitor.

For displays that require an external power supply, power goes from the wall socket into the power brick.

The power brick steps down and converts the mains supply to DC. It is very common for the monitor to run off 12 Volts DC.

While the external power brick makes life a bit harder when it comes to cable management or keeping things tidier, it has one major advantage.

Quite often, monitors go faulty because of a fault in the power supply. It’s way easier and cheaper to replace a common power brick than to get the whole screen repaired or replaced.

The advantage is that by having components crammed inside the monitor, the internal operating temperature should be reduced.

Aspect Ratios

The aspect ratio is the horizontal width of the display with respect to the vertical height.

Different types of aspect ratios are used for different applications.

Multi-Monitor Arrangements

Computer graphics cards have the capability to output to multiple monitors at once and span the display across them to treat them as a single one.

This is particularly nice for gaming.

Orientation

For some types of professionals, monitors are physically rotated 90 degrees so that the screen is vertically taller than wide.

One example is to help computer programmers see more code at once. Not all programmers do this, just thought I’d mention that.

Some monitor models have this capability built into them, so no modifications are necessary.

Resolution

The resolution is specified by the number of pixels starting with horizontal and followed by vertical.

For example, 1024×768 means that the resolution contains 1024 pixels in width and 768 pixels in height.

Pixel pitch

Pixel pitch is the amount of space between each pixel. This greatly impacts the quality of an image on a screen.

If the pixel pitch is too large, it won’t matter how high the resolution of your monitor is, the image will be poor.

Refresh rate

The refresh rate is the number of times the entire screen can be updated per second.

For example, if the screen has a 60Hz refresh rate, the screen can be fully drawn 60 times in one second.

Nowadays, a 144Hz monitor is more common and doesn’t affect the overall price of a computer monitor as much anymore.

Response Time

This is the rate at which a pixel can be changed from black to white or from one shade of grey to another.

While you can count the rate at which other color shades of pixels change, black, grey, and white are most the extreme opposites in contrast with respect to each other.

Therefore, they will be noticed first.

Response time is usually written on the millisecond scale.

Desirable response times are anything starting at 5ms or lower.

Touch screen monitors

Touch screen monitors are used in many commercial and industrial sectors and for personal use.

From point-of-sale devices to laptops and desktop computer monitors, touch screen monitors offer a different way to interact with a computer.

It can replace the need for a mouse in some cases but can require a need for a larger DPI for a user interface if no stylus is available.

Touch screen monitors are essentially standard LCD monitors with a touch screen glass panel mounted over them.

These glass overlay panels have a few different types of touch screen technologies. We will cover the different types and some advantages and disadvantages.

Resistive

Simply put, resistive touch screen panels are glass panels with two striped electrode plastic sheets and a center separation sheet with a grid of holes allowing the two out sheets to make contact through the holes when the panel is touched.

This is the least robust out of all the panels, as wearing eventually makes it unreliable. The quality of the display can also be affected as the plastic surface develops scratches over time. One advantage is that it will work with gloves.

Capacitive

There are four common types of capacitive touch screen technologies. Here is an outline of each one. All capacitive technologies are quite robust and will offer a good long-lasting product.

Surface Capacitance

Capacitance is formed from a finger that touches an uncoated surface with the other side of the glass panel that has a conductive layer.

Good finger contact is required for best results. These types of panels must be properly calibrated and can be sensitive to improper grounding, background noise, and temperature fluctuations.

Projected Capacitance

PCAP capacitive panels with an etched single conductive layer form a grid pattern of electrodes that processes touch using a more sophisticated firmware program to decode the touches.

Moisture or dirt particles can interfere with the operation, so it is not always the best choice for some applications.

Mutual Capacitance

A grid is laid out with a voltage that is applied to the rows or columns to detect a conductive element such as your finger or conductive stylus.

The detection works by picking up a change in the conductive field in the grid.

This kind of panel is good for multi-touch purposes, where it can simultaneously detect two or more contact points.

Self Capacitance

Self-capacitance panels are laid out very similarly to mutual capacitance panels. But the X and Y parts of the grid can operate independently.

The capacitive load is measured on each column or row by using a current meter or an RC oscillator to detect a change in frequency.

This kind of panel is very sensitive to touch and is great for multitouch applications like tablets and smartphones.

Infrared

An array of sending and receiving infrared LEDs is placed along the inside of the frame or bezel of a monitor to detect a disruption between them.

However, this is not a very reliable technology and is highly sensitive to dirt blocking the path of the infrared light causing false positive touches.

Optical imaging

With optical imaging touch screen panels, image sensors are placed in the corners at the edges of the screen, and a touch blocks the infrared backlight’s light in the sensor’s field of view.

These types of touch screens are becoming more popular for larger displays.

In conclusion, to touch screens, there are more technologies available on the market, and the list is growing.

Curved Displays

There are pros and cons to curved displays. In my opinion, you need to try one out to see if it’s something for you or not.

These curved monitors can offer a slightly more immersive experience when it comes to gaming but can be a bit more expensive compared to traditional flat panels.

Power consumption

Power consumption has been reduced considerably since CRT displays have fallen away.

Now, a common desktop monitor consumes between 60 and 250 watts of power. In standby mode, roughly between 1 and 6 watts.

Conclusion

And there you have it. You know what a monitor is, and more than that, the different types.

I hope you enjoyed the information and knowing more about them.

How to Replace GPU Thermal Paste (Help Keep Your GPU Cool)

Knowing how to replace the GPU thermal paste on your graphics card can greatly improve the cooling and the temperature range at which your GPU runs at.

Some of the factory thermal compound or paste that you get when buying a new graphics card isn’t always that great. Yes, it may do the job for a while, but after a bit of time, you may notice GPU operating temperatures increasing.

Using a good quality thermal paste allows for better heat transfer between the GPU and the heatsink and a longer-lasting product that won’t go hard and do a poor job after 6 months to a year.

So let’s begin by going through the steps in order to replace the thermal paste on your GPU.

1. Remove the card from your computer

Remove Graphics Card Screws and Power Connector

Power down your computer and remove any power cables to it. Open the case lid and unplug any power cables from the graphics card.

Remove the screws securing the card to the case.

Press the release clip (or slide it to an open position) at the end of the PCI express slot where the graphics card is plugged into your motherboard.

Gently pull the card straight out by keeping the card as level as possible while holding the release clip open if necessary.

Make sure you have a clutter-free work surface prepared so you can work on your card easily and have a few tools by its side to work with.

Important: Never touch the copper connectors of the edge connector once your graphics card has been removed.

2. Blow the card clean with compressed air

Before you can start working on the card properly, use some compressed air from a compressor or compressed air from a can.

This will make working on the card easier by having cleaner parts to work with.

You can also use a small paintbrush to help clean the hard to get to places and use the compressed air afterward.

3. Remove the heatsink assembly

Unplug Fan ConnectorUndo Screws

Now we can begin disassembling the cooler for the GPU. Unplug the fan connector from the graphics card.

For most cards, there are usually screws on the rear side of the card that must be undone to remove the heatsink.

Some models make use of plastic clips that can be released using a small pair of pliers.

If you find that the heatsink is stuck onto the GPU and you are sure that you have removed all of the retaining screws, bolts, or clips, use a plastic lever to help pry it loose.

This is seldom the case and is usually caused by an old thermal paste of poor quality that causes it to go hard and makes removal of the heatsink problematic.

4. Clean the GPU and heatsink

GPU with Factory Thermal PasteGPU Cooler Heatsink with Factory Thermal Paste

To make cleaning the easiest as possible, make sure to use a good thermal paste removal agent. I’ve used other things in the past like rubbing alcohol and it takes a long time in comparison with the thermal paste remover.

Thermal Material Remover and Thermal Surface PurifierThermal Removal Fluid Applied to Cloth

Use a clean cloth and apply some thermal removal fluid onto it. Then carefully wipe the surface to remove as much as you can in one wipe.

Repeat this process on a clean area of the cleaning cloth until both the GPU and heatsink are nice and clean.

With a new clean cloth, apply some thermal surface purifier and clean the surfaces of the GPU and heatsink a few times.

This will make sure the surface is properly clean and also help prevent corrosion from setting in later on.

Take some compressed air and blow away any remaining particles of dust or lint left behind from your cloth.

This is very important as any small particle of dust contributes to the heatsink not laying 100% flat against the GPU.

This will make sure that you have a very well-prepared surface for optimum cooling.

A great thermal paste remover is ArctiClean (links to Newegg). I like the twin pack that comes with a surface purifier, and the thermal paste remover makes short work of removing any old thermal paste while offering an affordable price tag.

Cleaned GPUCleaned Heatsink

5. Apply the thermal paste

Thermal Paste Applied

Now you can apply a small amount of thermal paste, enough to cover the contact area of the GPU, once the heatsink is fitted back and pressed up against the GPU.

Don’t apply too much. You don’t want the compound to ooze over the sides of the intended area, causing a mess on the PCB part of the GPU.

Once the thermal paste has been correctly applied, we need to start the reassembly of the heatsink as soon as possible to avoid any new dust fragments from settling in the compound or anywhere else on the contact surfaces.

If you want a good thermal paste, I highly recommend Artic Silver AS5 (links to Newegg). It will last longer than most other pasts on the market and will deliver excellent heat transfer performance.

6. Reassemble the heatsink

Plug the Fan Connector InAdd One Screw About Two or Three Turns In While Holding Cooler with Other Hand

Place the heatsink back in place while having the securing screws ready. While holding the heatsink in place with one hand, use your other hand to put the screws back to secure the heatsink.

Make a start with each screw (don’t tighten any one of them up fully) until you have all of them hand-fitted with a few threads turns in.

Now you will be able to go back with your screwdriver and tighten them up a few turns at a time while rotating through between screws to ensure even tightening up of the heatsink.

Be careful never to overtighten screws. You don’t want them to strip. Trying to repair stripped threads will be difficult and will most likely result in replacing the GPU cooler entirely.

The heatsink should now be making good contact with the GPU’s contact surface.

7. Reinstall the graphics card

Reinstall the graphics card the same way you took it out. Keep the card nice and level and carefully line it up as you insert it back into its slot.

If you locking clip at the rear of the card slot was a sliding type, slide it back into the locked position.

Return the screws back into place to secure the card properly.

If you need to test your GPU to see if it’s working correctly, read our article on how to test your GPU to see if it’s working.

Conclusion

Now that you have replaced the thermal paste on the GPU, you should notice an improvement in the range of operating temperatures. This will aid in improved performance, stability, and longevity.

Now that you have applied good quality thermal paste, you won’t have to be concerned with replacing the compound for a long while.

Just don’t forget to make sure that the card’s fan(s) are spinning up as they should when the GPU starts heating up.

You can read our article on how to speed up graphics card fans to see how to install and configure fan management software for your GPU.

How To Run Hardware Diagnostic Tests on the GPU and CPU?







The blog of Windows Wally, a Windows Support Technician helping common people solve frustrating computer problems.





Reader Question:
“Hi Wally, I have read your article on testing the hdd and ram. I’ve tested both and found no problems. However, the screen still freezes and computer restarts when I try to play minecraft. I have overclocked this nvidia card in the past with no issues but now I’m not so sure. I was wondering if it was the graphics card. How do I test it and the processor, motherboard, PSU, and other components for hardware errors? I mean, how do I make sure that these things are not behind the restarts.“ — Jesse H., Canada

Before addressing any computer issue, I always recommend scanning and repairing any underlying problems affecting your PC health and performance:

  • Step 1 : Download PC Repair & Optimizer Tool (WinThruster for Win 10, 8, 7, Vista, XP and 2000 – Microsoft Gold Certified).
  • Step 2 : Click “Start Scan” to find Windows registry issues that could be causing PC problems.
  • Step 3 : Click “Repair All” to fix all issues.

Setting up weekly (or daily) automatic scans will help prevent system problems and keep your PC running fast and trouble-free.

Wally’s Answer: Hi Jesse, it is true that sometimes simply testing the hard drive and RAM is not enough to diagnose blue screen errors and system crashes that may have resulted from hardware failure. Sometimes you have to go the extra mile and check nearly all of the hardware.

Other than modern hard drives with their SMART logs, hardware components don’t come with diagnostics built-in. However, we can use various tools and techniques to check them as well.

Your computer may have come with a few built-in diagnostic tests. Please refer to your computer’s PDF manual to know how to use them. You can also simply restart the computer and repeatedly press Esc, F8, F2, F11, or F12 to see more options including diagnostic tests.

Problem

How does one perform diagnostic tests on the GPU, CPU, and other components in a computer?

Causes of Hardware Failure

Generally speaking, hardware components fail due to heat. Others fail due to manufacturing defects (you’ll normally discover these within the warranty period).

How To Test The Hard Drive and RAM?

You can read these instructions by clicking on this link.

How To Run a Diagnostic Test on The CPU/Processor?

We will be testing the CPU using “stress testing” software.

Stress testing software tests stability by trying to force the CPU to fail, exposing its vulnerability.

If your computer is running really hot then check the fans first. Only run stress tests if the fans on the CPU, PSU, and GPU are working. You can use HWMonitor to check your computer’s temperature. 

If your computer is using an Intel processor, then you can use the Intel® Processor Diagnostic Tool to stress test the processor.

If you’re using AMD, then you can test the CPU using a different “stress testing” software like Prime95.

How To Run a Diagnostic Test on The GPU/Graphics Card?

We will be testing the GPU using “stress testing” software.

Stress testing software tests stability by trying to force the GPU to fail and to expose its vulnerability.

If your computer is running really hot then check the fans first. Only run stress tests if the fans on the CPU, PSU, and GPU are working. You can use HWMonitor to check your computer’s temperature. 

GpuMemTest can be used to test the graphic card’s memory. Get it from here.

Furmark tests the video card and its memory. FurMark is also available for specific motherboard manufacturers.

  • FurMark ROG Edition — FurMark ROG Edition comes with modern stress-tests and artifact scanner based on OpenGL and Vulkan.
  • MSI Kombustor — MSI’s exclusive burn-in benchmarking tool.
  • EVGA OC Scanner X — the essential utility for any EVGA GeForce card.

How To Run a Diagnostic Test on The PSU/Power Supply?

Once again, we’ll be using “stress test” software to test this component.

If your computer is running really hot then check the fans first. Only run stress tests if the fans on the CPU and PSU are working. You can use HWMonitor to check your computer’s temperature. 

OCCT is the go-to software for testing multiple components including the Power Supply Unit (PSU). OCCT can also test the CPU and the GPU.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me on Facebook or Twitter. I will try to help you with your questions! Have A Great Day

Is Your PC Healthy?

I always recommend to my readers to regularly use a trusted registry cleaner and optimizer such as WinThruster or CCleaner. Many problems that you encounter can be attributed to a corrupt and bloated registry.

Happy Computing!



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Summary: Every Windows Wally blog post is evaluated on these three criteria. The average of all three elements determines an «Overall Rating» for each blog post.

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Tags: AMD CPU hardware diagnostic, ATi GPU hardware diagnostic, Diagnostic Tests, hardware diagnostic, hardware diagnostic tools, how to check hardware diagnostics, how to perform hardware diagnostics, Intel CPU hardware diagnostic, MSI GPU hardware diagnostic, Nvidia GPU hardware diagnostic, Power supply hardware diagnostic, PSU hardware diagnostic, what is hardware diagnostics

About the Author

Wally PhillipsWindows Wally is a helpful guy. It’s just in his nature. It’s why he started a blog in the first place. He heard over and over how hard it was to find simple, plain-English solutions to Windows troubleshooting problems on the Internet. Enter: Windows Wally. Ask away, and he will answer.


How to Tell If Your GPU Is Dying

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  • Driver Support/knowledgebase/How Do I Know If My GPU Is Dying?
  • Do graphics cards wear out?

    There are thousands of forum posts online that claim a graphics processing unit (GPU) – also called a graphics card – is dying because you’re experiencing minor graphic glitches. That doesn’t mean the card has failed – it could be software related!

    Even if you’re using a graphics card that is only a few years old, you may be experiencing hiccups with performance, and be convinced to replace the card. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars on a brand-new GPU or waiting months to receive your card back on its warranty, you can usually fix minor issues at home.

    However, to diagnose a dying GPU, you need to do further inspection. We’ll walk you through the process, so you know exactly how to tell if your GPU is dying.

    What Causes a GPU to Fail?

    You might not find out that your GPU has died until your computer crashes mid-game or when smoke starts coming out of your computer case. If there’s fire, it’s probably not going to be fixable with a software issue. Most of the time, you know that your card has died when you can’t reboot your system. However, you might be able to rule out a dead card if you understand what causes them to fail in the first place.

    Here are a few reasons a GPU can completely die:

    • GPU components failing prematurely due to faulty manufacturing
    • Incompatible installation of the graphics card
    • Static overload while installing the graphics card
    • Moisture buildup on the card causing component damage
    • Overheating caused by too much dirt or debris stuck on the cooling-components
    • Overheating caused by broken or worn bearings on the cooling fans
    • Running the graphics card on games with incompatible software drivers

    To avoid most issues, you need to make sure you regularly maintain your system, both physically and digitally. You can avoid many of these issues if you keep the GPU clean and make sure the software drivers for the graphics card are up to date. Instead of waiting for your graphics card to die, why not update your drivers first?

    How Long Do Graphics Cards Last Before Dying?

    Today, graphics cards have several innovative features and cooling-components that protect their hardware during rigorous gaming sessions.

    If crucial components inside the video card get too hot, they can fry up and cause the video card to die over time. That’s why the most recent cards include a metallic backplate, two or three cooling fans, and large heatsinks to pull heat away from the card during gameplay.

    However, as with all electrical components, some of the components may die prematurely or from poor manufacturing quality. If your card has died prematurely, you can often get them replaced under warranty. Many manufacturers give you replacement fans for free if the bearings wear out, whether it’s under warranty or not.

    So long as you maintain it, a brand-new graphics card should last you an average of 5 years. You may only need to replace it when you want to play new games that demand more advanced graphics. Check new game specifications for requirements before you operate them with your video card.

    The Main Signs of a Dying GPU

    Before we move on to diagnose and fix a dying GPU, we should first identify a few of the telltale signs of a dead graphics card.

    1. The Computer Crashes and Won’t Reboot

    One moment, your graphics card is running the latest graphic-intense game without a single issue. Then your computer immediately shuts down, and your monitor has no signal. When rebooting, you hear a loud beeping noise, and your motherboard throws up error codes.

    Some motherboards are built with sensors to detect faulty computer components the moment they fail. As a result, the motherboard displays error codes that indicate which part is affected.

    2. Graphic Glitches While Playing Games

    Sometimes when you’re playing video games, the GPU may fail to render graphics correctly. This happens when the card doesn’t support the same software as the game. However, a video card that’s slowly dying starts to show it in a slight graphic defect over time.

    You may notice off-color pixelation, screen flickering, strange screen glitches, or random artifacts in different areas of your screen.

    3. Abnormal Fan Noise or Performance

    Many cards have cooling fans that are designed to spin at a higher RPM only when the GPU is under load. It prevents bearings in the fans from dying prematurely, so don’t worry if one of your fans is inactive while you are browsing the web.

    However, when you play games that utilize software that your card isn’t built to support, the bearings in the fans wear out faster. Once the fans stop working under load, the graphics card can quickly die.

    How to Diagnose a Dying Graphics Card

    There are tons of clues to use when you want to diagnose a dying graphics card, but it saves you more time if you go through the essential steps first.

    1. Check Motherboard Error Codes

    Many motherboards today completely shut down a component that is no longer working. If your graphics card has died completely, this may be one of the easiest ways to tell. If your motherboard doesn’t have display codes, you can try testing the card in a new system.

    • Open the computer case: Use your screwdriver to remove screws on the side panel and gently slide it back.
    • Locate the error code display on your motherboard: If you have a motherboard with error codes, they should appear near an outer corner.
    • Try to reboot your computer: Record each error number you see after you boot your computer.
    • Consult the motherboard manufacturer manual for error codes: Open the manual and locate the list for your error codes. If the code matches a graphics processing unit error, your video card could have died.

    2. Check Hardware for Damage or Debris

    A graphics card that has damage or debris on the physical parts might quickly overheat and kill the card.

    • Remove the screws holding the GPU in place: There are typically one or two screws holding the card to a bracket on the case.
    • Unhook the power cords from the GPU and pull the release tab: Remove the power cords from your GPU by pushing in their tabs and gently rocking them out. Once you remove each cord, gently push or pull up on the release tab near the motherboard.

    • Inspect the GPU for damage/debris: Check the card for any dirt or debris buildup and clean it out with a Q-tip. You can replace broken fan pieces from the manufacturer.

    With the card now clean and inspected, you can choose to test it on another PC or in your current system.

    3. Test Your GPU Under Load

    Now we’ll see if your GPU has overheating or graphic issues while running games. First, download GPU stress-testing and heat-monitoring software.

    • With the card installed, run a stress test.
    • As you are running the stress test, run heat-monitoring software: With the stress test running, check your heat-monitoring software for GPU overheating. Any reading over 80 degrees Celsius is too hot.
    • Check device manager for outdated drivers: If your GPU is clean, but still running too hot, your software drivers are not installed correctly. To check, type in “device manager” at the bottom of your desktop and click on Device Manager. Find your display adapter and right-click on it to see if it’s working.

    If your drivers are not working correctly, it is indicated here usually. However, the driver may appear to be functioning even if it says otherwise in the properties.

    Fix Your Graphics Drivers Before Your Card Fries

    When you don’t have the right driver installed, graphics cards can quickly burn up, and their cooling-components may fail faster. That’s why you should always keep drivers updated for each new game you install or play. Older games may also release new software patches, so your GPU drivers should be updated accordingly.

    Since it can be especially challenging to get the right driver, consider using Driver Support’s convenient solutions. With Premium Driver Support software unlocked, you get immediate updates when games have new drivers for your GPU.

    Are you wondering how to tell if your GPU is dying? Let us help. Never risk your GPU due to late software patches – install the right software instantly. Give Driver Support | ONE a try today!.

    Page load link

    Video card performance test 5 programs

    Signs of video card malfunction.

    Windows

    diagnostic tools We check the load on the video card

    Programs for checking the video card

    FURMARK Test Video Card

    AIDA 64 — Stress Test Video Card

    Atitool Video -9000 3DMARK CHUCCS TEST TESTS TESTS TESTS graphics card online

    If heavy games are often played on the computer, then it’s time to test the video card. Games use all the resources of the device, and if from time to time dots appear on the screen, an overlay of a red background or any other, the image begins to twitch or slow down, then most likely the video card is in danger of failure soon.

    Signs of a bad video card.

    The first thing to look for when a video adapter fails is the presence of various artifacts on the monitor. As described above, artifacts can appear as dots, twitches, the presence of squares of a different color, or half of the monitor screen changes color, and then returns to the original colors.

    To try to get rid of such symptoms, you need to examine the cooler, whether it spins or not, clean the radiator, update the drivers. Check if the capacitors are swollen, if they are swollen, unsolder and replace. If all else fails, you should try to warm up the processor of the video card, as there is a possibility of it moving away from the board.

    If the image is doubled or distorted while playing, the graphics processor or video controller may have almost failed. You should check the video card on another computer, and also test the cable connections. Perhaps they are not closely pressed to the interface.

    If the image does not appear on the screen, but the computer is already running, and the monitor is definitely not to blame, the video card is most likely burned out. However, don’t throw it away right away. It is necessary to clean the interface contacts with an eraser, try to turn it on on another computer.

    The BIOS will also emit certain signals when it is turned on if the video card is faulty. Usually these are eight short beeps.

    If you are buying a used video card, you need to pay attention to the price. No one will sell a good card cheaply, even if it was used.

    Before buying, you must use special programs and check it immediately on the spot. In order not to pay for repairs or not to buy a new one. How to do this will be described below.

    Windows Diagnostic Tools

    Standard Video Card Test

    First, you need to check for driver availability using Windows tools. To do this, right-click on «My Computer» and select the «Device Manager» menu.

    Click on it with the left mouse button, in the window you need to find the item «Display adapters» and click on it.

    If the brand of the installed card is displayed in the list, then the driver is installed.

    In order to learn more about the video adapter, it is recommended to use the DxDiag utility. To open it in the start button, search for

    (you can also press the Win + R keys) and type the name of the program (dxdiag). In the list that appears, click on it, and it will open. This is a built-in utility for checking the video card for serviceability, therefore it does not require installation.

    After starting up, the adapter is immediately checked for various errors and malfunctions. The utility shows normal, non-critical failures that are detected during the operation of the adapter.

    Checking the load on the video card

    In order to check the video card for performance under load, it is recommended to start the game and enable the GPU Z utility.

    The program is automatically downloaded with the *.exe extension. We click on it LMB twice and the application starts.

    Displays GPU temperature, fan speed and other adapter settings. When you turn on the game, you need to play it for 5-10 minutes, minimize the game screen window using the Alt + Tab buttons and see how the temperature values ​​\u200b\u200bhave changed. If it rises slightly, then everything is fine. If the temperature exceeds 80 degrees, then this indicates a problem with cooling. The thermal paste between the heatsink and the GPU has probably dried up.

    Programs for checking the video card

    There are specialized utilities for checking the video adapter on Windows 7, 8, 10 computers or laptops. They allow you to perform a load test of the video card and identify problematic points.

    Furmark video card test

    A popular utility for testing video cards. It is also called the «hairy donut», since the diagnosis takes place with a similar image on the screen. After you download Furmark, you need to install and run it. To do this, double-click on the downloaded program file, agree to the terms and license and click the «Next» button.

    Application installed. Go to the «Settings» menu or settings. You can specify the permission in it.

    In the settings, set the items that are shown in the figure, except for «Xtreme burn in». This setting can bring the card out of the standing position, since the test will take place at maximum loads.

    Click the «Burn in Test» button.

    The utility will display a warning that the load will be large, which may cause the system to become unstable or even turn off the computer. However, we do not pay attention to this and click the «Go» button.

    So, the process has begun.

    The temperature may rise too high as a result of testing. Therefore, it is not recommended to run the test for more than 20 minutes. The utility immediately loads and tests the GPU, which dramatically raises the temperature. Testing with this program is not comparable even with the most powerful game.

    If the adapter is OK, the temperature will begin to equalize after two or three minutes of utility operation. If the video card is faulty, the temperature will rise above 100 degrees, the image will freeze or turn off.

    With this behavior of the computer, you should check the cooler and heatsink of the card. If they are clean, dust-free and the cooler spins freely, then it is recommended to unscrew the heatsink and check the thermal paste on the chip. It may have dried out and needs to be replaced. If the user does not know how to do any of the above, it is better to contact the workshop.

    Aida 64 — video card stress test

    The next program to test the video card for a malfunction will be Aida 64. We are conducting a stress test.

    After downloading, you need to install it in the same way as in the Furmark installation instructions. Click on the file with *.exe extension. Agree with the terms, click on the «Next» button. Now open the utility and go to the «Service» tab and go to the «Test GPGPU» item.

    Run it, select your device and click on the «Start Benchmark» button.

    In addition, you can stress test the video adapter. To do this, again go to the «Service» tab, click on «System stability test» and select «Stress GPU».

    At critical temperatures, warnings will be displayed and the graph bar will be red, and the system may reboot itself. If everything is fine with the video card, no failures will occur.

    ATITool video adapter test

    Despite the name, this utility can also test Nvidia video adapters. After you download Ati Tool, install it and run it.

    This window will open.

    Displays the temperature and frequency at which the adapter operates. The frequency can be changed with the sliders, but this should not be done without proper knowledge.

    If you click on «Show 3D» you can see the number of FPS.

    The program should test the video card for ten minutes. During this time, keep an eye on the temperature. If it exceeds 85 degrees, then immediately stop the test. This means that your adapter is damaged.

    If a lot of yellow dots appear in the 3D window, this means that the video card is also defective. It is recommended to replace the thermal paste. If after that nothing has changed in the work, then it is better to buy a new one.

    3DMark program for video card

    You can download 3DMark from the official site.

    The procedure is standard, the application is installed on the computer and diagnostics are started by clicking on the «Run 3D Mark» button. After checking, the test result will be displayed. Information about the processor, texture filtering, memory, the operating frequency of the video adapter and much more will be provided.

    OCCT graphic adapter test

    You can not install OCCT, just unpack it from the archive to your desktop and run it.

    The utility has a set of tabs for diagnostics under stress conditions, to perform a video card stability test, and battery testing. It is not recommended to use this utility to test a damaged video card on a laptop or computer, as the adapter may fail.

    Check the video card online

    In fact, it will not work to test the video card for stress resistance online. It is not so much the stability of the connection that plays a role here, but the restrictions on the operation of applications from the browser with computer components. But whether this or that toy is suitable for your video card is possible.

    To do this, go to the official NVidia website and click on the «Find out if your computer is ready for new games» tab. All details about the video adapter will be displayed.

    For a more in-depth check, it is best to use the above programs.

    Video card diagnostics. How to check its performance?

    Diagnostics Video card, how to check its performance?

    Table of Contents

    Video Card Diagnostic allows you to get the most out of your computer faster. It is responsible for processing the graphic image and displaying the image on the monitor screen. When buying a video adapter, as a preventive measure and at the first sign of improper operation, you should check its condition and quality. You can make sure that everything works well or fix problems in time using a visual inspection or checking with a special program. What to do if the monitor does not turn on ? Is the breakdown of the video card related to the fact that does not work computer ? How exactly to understand whether everything is so with an important computer detail, and what to do if the video card does not work ? We will cover these questions in this article.

    Popular in this topic:

    • 5 signs that the video card is dying
    • Laptop video card failure — what to do?
    • Video card malfunctions — signs that are easy to detect
    • Checking drivers Problems with the video card
    • Warming up the video card, replacing the chip yourself

    Diagnostics of the video card. Visual check

    Most often the answer to the question: why the monitor does not work, lies in the video card. Parameters by which you can determine its malfunction:

    • If the computer turns on, but does not work , noises, artifacts, lines appear on the monitor and the screen itself twitches
    • If you hear sound problems through the speakers and through the headphones. This means that the video card can’t handle its graphic display
    • Computer freezing errors indicate possible problems with the video card

    Video card diagnostics. Buying

    When purchasing a video card, especially if it is supported, first of all, you need to check its condition. It is easy to stumble upon a breakdown, because when the graphics adapter burns out, most often it warms up and returns to life for a while. There are certain methods to check the performance of the video adapter. First, you should examine the map itself:

    • Capacitors swollen. A frequent phenomenon that appears through problems in the wiring, due to a sudden shutdown of the light in the apartment or high power surges. If the video card is completely closed, then it will be difficult to see the swelling. In this case, take it to the service center
    • Presence of scratches. Even if they are insignificant in appearance, they could touch an important component, and you need to carry the card for verification
    • Any break, crack. Then repair such video card can in some cases cost much more than buying a new one

    If such damage is not found, then it is worth checking the condition, so to speak «from the inside». It is necessary to carry out such diagnostics of the video card through specialized programs.

    Video card diagnostics. Test parameters

    Video adapter performance is primarily affected by the following factors:

    • Settled dust on the board
    • Operating temperature in the block itself
    • Power stability

    Each video card has many parameters. With the help of special software, you always need to check:

    • Cooler rotation speed
    • Temperature at the processor core
    • Power consumption
    • Frequency of data transfer between computer components

    You need to start checking with a parameter that affects the overall operation of the system — the stability of the video processor. To find out which processor is in the video adapter, you should look at the board case. There should be a manufacturer’s sticker with the specified information and, often, a marking with the name of the manufacturer.

    The stability of the video card can be found through the test of various software. One of the best is FurMark. This software is used by many manufacturers to test their equipment. The program heats up the adapter to the maximum and checks the stability of the video card. If there is cooling without a cooler, then this program can be a serious torture for the video adapter. Therefore, you should not set the application to the maximum.

    Video card diagnostics. How to diagnose:

    • Download the program and install it
    • Disable all applications that affect the load of the computer
    • Open the program and click the “Settings” button in the window
    • Make sure that the checkboxes next to “Dynamic Background” and “Burn” –in , but opposite «Xtreme burn» -in — no
    • Now you can start the program by pressing the «GPU stress test» button
    • A specific ring will open on the monitor, and the test will take several minutes. Until it ends, you do not need to perform other operations on the computer
    • After testing, a screen will be shown with characteristics and parameters that will show whether the video card is stable or not, its temperature will also be visible.

    Video card diagnostics. Replacing thermal paste

    Board contamination directly affects the temperature of the block, because the more dust on it, the more it heats up. In case of a critical temperature increase, replacement of thermal paste on the video card will be required. Each model has its own critical temperature. The appearance of various artifacts, regardless of the computer load, is the main indicator of overheating. It is the temperature that shows how the video adapter works — in stress mode or standard.

    You can check the video adapter for overheating, for example, with the GPU Temp program. The purpose of this program is to monitor the temperature of the graphics accelerator. In addition, it allows you to see the load on the processor and memory of the video adapter, as well as observations in the current time mode. For many video adapters, 70 degrees Celsius is considered normal. If the required parameter has risen to 80 degrees, then you can start to worry, and if the degrees go off scale beyond 90, then you should immediately turn off the computer.

    From time to time you need to test the graphics memory. This can be done with the Video Memory Test program. Having launched the program and easily changed the required settings, you need to click on start. Before you get started, it’s important to free up GPU memory. The results can be seen in the journal, which is kept automatically.

    You can also find out the type and parameters of the video card in the following ways:0196

  • The device manager will help you find out about the model of the video card, and what version of the drivers is installed. If there are several video adapters in the list, then this means that the PC has both an internal and a built-in card. Having such data, you can learn more about the video card itself on the manufacturer’s website
  • Video card diagnostics. Programs

    The AtiTool program will also help you check the full performance of the video card:

    • You need to download it, install it and run it
    • Nothing changes in the parameters, everything is already configured
    • You need to press the «Show 3D view» button and leave the computer for 15 minutes (a specific cube should appear)
    • It remains to monitor the temperature of the graphics core. If it is less than 65 degrees Celsius, then the graphics core is in good condition, if it is more than 85, it is necessary to check for faults
    • It is required to follow the yellow dots. If there are more than 10, then this is a signal of overheating or low power of the power supply
    • After that, you should proceed to inspect the kernel in the presence of correctness control. Clicking on the «Scan For Artifacts» button will launch a scan that takes 15 minutes. If “No errors for…sec” is written after it, it means that there are no errors

    Video card diagnostics. The computer does not see it

    Frequently asked question: why does the computer not see the video card ?

    • Most often this is an incorrect setting. It should be checked whether it is installed correctly and completely
    • Due to the motherboard itself — it could be broken or the video card connector was damaged. External causes, as mentioned above, you can try to determine yourself, but in any case, you should send it in for repair
    • The video card does not start due to hardware or OS incompatibility, most often this happens after purchase
    • Lack of drivers. This problem can be solved by checking through the device manager for their presence. If this is indeed the problem, you need to download and install the drivers

    Video card diagnostics. The difference between a PC and a laptop

    In fact, the difference between the video adapters of a PC and a laptop is very big. Let’s look at the main differences:

    • The laptop’s integrated video card is an integrated part of the motherboard. Replacing such a video card in a notebook is not possible. However, there are laptops with discrete video adapters that need to be replaced. The advantage of a PC is the advanced options for enhancing the performance of the card, as well as its replacement
    • The difference is in the size of the board itself and the chip — they are smaller in a laptop than in a computer.
    • There is also a difference in the types of cooling. The heat pack inside a laptop cannot be improved, unlike a large system unit.
    • Notebook video cards do not overclock, some manufacturers even prohibit overlocking their devices. Real gamers prefer a computer, as there is much more performance. A laptop with specially adapted gaming graphics cards can’t compare to a desktop system based on the XFX 9 video adapter0196

    Video card diagnostics. Notebook

    If the fans of powerful games use a notebook, they should pay attention to keeping the graphics card in perfect condition. First of all, diagnostics of the laptop video card is important, and you need to monitor timely cleaning, because the video card can overheat from pollution at any time and fail. Very often the question arises: is it possible to replace the video card on a laptop ?

    If there is a breakdown of discrete video card laptop , you can try to repair it yourself before taking it to repair. The only thing you can try is to warm up the video card. But, as mentioned above, even if the warm-up is of high quality, in any case, sooner or later the operation of the video adapter will fail. To extend the performance a little, you should install reliable cooling, which will firmly fix the chip. This option is problematic, because finding proper cooling is not an easy task. 9 is the optimal output.0181 replacing the video chip on a laptop with a new one.

    The discrete adapter in the laptop allows you to replace the same one and, if necessary, replace the video card with a more powerful .

    Video card diagnostics. Notebook Replacement Differences

    • Notebook Video Card Replacement HP . These laptops are distinguished by the density of components. During the replacement process, the engineer uses a vacuum gripper and other tool kits. For prevention, you should take your laptop to a service center to clean the cooling system at least once a year
    • Replacing the video card in laptop A sus . The difficulty arises in replacing the integrated chip. She passes at the infrared repair station. You also need to take the laptop at least once a year for cleaning to the SC and not overload it with programs and games that do not meet the system requirements . Prevention requires regular cleaning and protection from overheating. No need to often leave the laptop in sleep mode
    • Replacing the video card in a Sony Vaio laptop. Replacing the integrated video card will be expensive, as repairing it requires painstaking work at special stations. Discrete substitution is easier. The most common failure occurs due to overheating, so it’s worth protecting your laptop The complexity of disassembly lies in the compactness of the components. After replacing the chip, the device is assembled in the reverse order. It is strictly forbidden to disassemble by yourself

    Discrete video card allows you to upgrade laptop . Of course, everything is limited by the potential of the laptop model, so it is important to study the desired model in advance and check. During the replacement, the laptop is disassembled and a new graphics chip is used, this allows you to increase performance and power in games.

    Video card diagnostics. How to avoid damage

    It is necessary to frequently check the performance of the video card on both the laptop and the PC, and identify or fix problems in time. Plain replacing a video card on a laptop or replacing with a more powerful is possible if it is a discrete graphics adapter, but if it is integrated, then replacement is impossible, and repairs will most often cost a lot of money.

    Using the above methods of external verification and verification through programs, you can avoid problems that in the future will result in either expensive repairs or the purchase of a new video card.

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    Nvidia video card diagnostics through Mats — how to remove artifacts

    A story happened to me . I bought a used video card on Avito. According to reviews, the seller is reliable, many positive experiences. The seller showed and tested the Nvidia GTX 660 Ti graphics card before sending it via video link. I ran the Furmark test — there are no artifacts, the maximum temperature is 74 degrees. Launched CS GO, everything goes without problems.

    A package arrives in a week. I asked my friends at the pickup point not to immediately confirm the payment, but to wait until I check the video card at home. It’s good when you have friends, you can check at home before confirming the payment. But in my case it did not help me. I open the parcel for video, everything is ok, the map is visually intact.

    I connect it to the computer, I start it, it works. I turn on a couple of games and tests, everything is fine. I tell my wife: you can confirm the payment. And while she was confirming, there were still 4 people in the queue. I’ve been checking the video card all this time, but I didn’t know about the Mats program yet.

    In this article I will show you how to diagnose an Nvidia video card using the Mats program and temporarily solve the problem by heating the video chip with a soldering gun.

    As soon as the wife came home, she said everything, I confirmed the payment… A minute later, artifacts appear on the screen. What a twist. I turn off, turn on the computer in the hope that everything will work. But there are no artifacts all over the screen.

    Artifacts on the screen due to a faulty video card

    What to do? The payment has already been confirmed and the money will not be returned. I am writing to the seller, it turns out that he himself bought 2 weeks ago from another and did not know the full history of the video card. As it turned out, the video chip was already warmed up by the previous seller.

    After that, I started collecting information, made video memory diagnostics and restored the video card to working order. Gathered everything on the shelves and wrote this article.

    So, when the video card stops displaying an image or artifacts appear, you can make a diagnosis at home using the mods mats program.

    Mats is a memory diagnostic tool for Nvidia graphics cards. Helps to identify problematic memory chips, which are manifested by the appearance of error codes 10 or 43.

    Before you start diagnosing a video card, you need to create a bootable USB flash drive with mats.

    Note! This program only works with Nvidia graphics cards. DOES NOT WORK WITH AMD! In addition, it may not work correctly on motherboards from Gigabyte.

    Contents of the article:

    • 1 Creating a bootable Mats flash drive to test the video card
    • 2 Testing the video memory of the video card when there is an image
      • 2.1 Testing the video card using mats commands
    • 3 Diagnosing a video card if there is no picture
    • 4 Warming up the video chip with a hair dryer
    • 5 Tips for overheating the video card

    Creating a bootable Mats flash drive to test the video card

    download and unpack the archive mods10 4 — unpack mods. 40.

    Archive with password. Archive password: ruslankomp

    Unpack the archive and run Rufus. We insert the flash drive, select the file mats.img from the unpacked archive. We press Start.

    We create a bootable Mats flash drive in Rufus

    In order for mats to support video cards of the 10 series, you need to copy the files mats and mods from the folder — version 404.184 to the bootable USB flash drive in folder 367.38.1 into a bootable flash drive

    Now the flash drive with mats is ready to use.

    Video memory test of a video card when there is an image

    First, I will show how to diagnose a video card that displays an image on a monitor.

    1. We insert a bootable USB flash drive into the PC.
    2. In the BIOS, we make the boot priority from the usb flash drive.
    3. MATS is loaded and testing of the video card starts on the machine.
    4. After the end of the test, it will show the result. FAIL means there are errors or PASS means no errors.
    5. If there are errors, enter the command — nano report.txt and look at which error channel.
    6. We determine the broken bank of video memory.

    If such a picture appears, then this indicates a malfunction of the video card.

    The test result shows that there are errors in the video card memory

    To view the test result, enter the command: nano report.txt

    Mats 367.38 — video memory error on the FBI0A channel (63:32)

    We count the memory jars counterclockwise from the right the bottom corner of the video card when the pci-e pins are facing us.

    Determine the memory chip on which errors occurred in mats

    In mats version 400.184 the test result looks like this.

    Mats 400.184 — video memory error on channel FBIO-B1 and FBIO-C0 ][F1,F0]. Thus, we determine the problematic video memory chip.

    Marking video memory chips on a GTX 1080 video card

    Checking a video card using mats commands

    Sometimes there are glitches in the automatic test, like I have the same gtx 660 ti video card on an Asus motherboard, the mats test passes without errors, but on a Huanan motherboard an error comes out. Therefore, it is better to check again manually through special commands.

    By default, in automatic mode, mats tests 20 MB of video memory, which is usually enough to detect a problem.

    In manual mode, you need to run more video memory 30-100 mb, for this we enter the following mats mods commands:

  • ./mats -e 30 > test.txt — launch a 30 MB memory test followed by writing to a text file test.txt
  • nano test.txt — open the result of manual testing after verification.
  • Commands in mats for manual testing of video memory

    Additional commands:

    • Ctrl + X — exit back to enter another command.
    • ./mats -c 100 — where the number indicates the percent of the video memory check.
    • ls Displays all files in a directory.

    If the test of the video card passes without errors, then such a picture will appear with a green inscription PASS.

    Video card test result without errors

    Enter the command: nano test.txt

    We make sure that there are no errors in the file test.txt , where the test result is recorded.

    Mats 400.184 test result — no errors in the video memory

    Diagnostics of a video card if there is no picture

    Mats is also able to test a video card that has no image. To view the test result, you will need another working computer or laptop.

    1. We insert a flash drive with Mats into a computer with a faulty video card.
    2. We disconnect all hard drives and SSD from the motherboard so that the download goes from a USB flash drive.
    3. We start the computer and wait 2-3 minutes.
    4. Turn off the computer, pull out the flash drive and connect it to a working computer.
    5. Go to the folder mods and open the file report.txt

    After checking, we look at the test result on a flash drive on a working computer in the folder mods/report.txt

    We look at whether there are errors and on which memory channel.

    Mats 400.184 — video memory error on the FBIO-B1 and FBIO-C0 channels

    We determine on the video card where this memory bank is located, according to the same principle as described at the beginning of the article.

    If there are no errors, then report.txt file will have the following result.

    Video memory test result without errors

    Video chip warming up with a hair dryer

    Note! If an error occurred on any memory bank of the video card, this does not mean that the memory chip itself is faulty.

    Signal lines go from the memory to the chip. They can be damaged inside the memory, inside the chip, or in balls under the chip/memory. The electrical behavior in all these cases is the same.

    Accordingly, the program, at least in such a situation, will not be able to distinguish the problem in the memory or chip.

    This means that the program detects errors between the GPU and a particular memory bank. And where the contact disappeared is not exactly known. Maybe it’s a glitch on the GPU side, or maybe a problem with the memory bank itself.

    To find out, it’s easier to use the simple to complex method. First, we warm up the video chip, and if after warming up the contact is restored and the errors in mats have disappeared. So the problem was in the dump of the GPU. And if the errors remain, then the video memory chip is faulty. In this case, you need to change the memory chip to a serviceable one.

    I warm up the video card with a soldering gun, control the temperature of the chip with a thermocouple on a multimeter.

    1. I put the video card with the chip up.
    2. I place a thermocouple near the chip.
    3. I set the hair dryer to 350 degrees with an average air flow.
    4. From below, the board is heated to 100 degrees, leading in a circle.
    5. After I warm up the top around the perimeter of the video chip substrate to 200-220 degrees.
    6. I turn off the hair dryer and let the card cool down to room temperature.

    Video chip heating from below with temperature control by thermocouple

    Important! Bes lead solder melts at about 220 degrees. The video chip cannot be heated more than 240-250 degrees, as the destruction of the crystal will begin.

    If, after warming up, the video card passes the mats test without errors, then the problem was not in the video memory, but in the chip blade.

    If warming up did not help and the error remained the same. So the problem is in memory. In this case, you need to change the faulty memory bank.

    Video card overheating tips

    Overheating is the cause of the failure of the video chip. Due to the operation of the video card under load, the chip heats up, which means it expands. After the computer is turned off, the chip cools down and thus narrows itself. From a large temperature difference, contacts break.

    If you observe the thermal regime and do not overheat the video card, then there will be no chip failure.

    What needs to be done to prevent overheating and chip failure in the future:

    1. Install additional fans in the case, at least 1 in front for intake, and 1 in the back for exhaust.
    2. Manually adjust the speed of the fans on the video card through Msi Afterburner.
    3. Regularly monitor the temperature under load, during games.
    4. Clean the cooling system from dust every 3-6 months.
    5. If, after cleaning from dust, the temperature exceeds 75-80 degrees, then replace the thermal paste.

    I use MSi Afterburner to adjust the speed of the video card fans.

    1. Go to settings.
    2. Open the tab — Cooler .
    3. Turn on — Software user auto mode .
    4. Adjust the cooler rotation speed.
    5. And click apply.

    Msi Afterburner — setting the speed of the fans of the video card

    I set the fan rotation settings on the gtx 660 ti video card like this:

    • Up to 30 degrees, the fan speed spins at 40%
    • From 30 to 50 degrees RPM goes up from 40% to 60%
    • 55 degrees RPM 70%
    • 60 degrees at 80%
    • from 68 degrees the fans start spinning at 100 percent.

    In this way, the temperature of the GPU is kept around 60-65 degrees during games and the video card will last longer.

    Video card repair Diagnostics 15 min 0₽

    Professional video card repair with warranty and any complexity

    A video card is an essential component of a personal computer. Thanks to it, the image is processed and displayed on the monitor screen. Therefore, professional gamers are trying to study all the characteristics of video cards in order to choose the most productive one, because video game developers are increasing the demands of their product, which requires a powerful system to work. But such video cards are very expensive, and for an ordinary personal computer, simpler configuration options are enough. Signs of a video card malfunction are: a dark monitor screen, image distortion, the operating system issues a blue screen, the system signals a video card malfunction with sound signals. Specialists of the «Repair» service center will carry out professional repair of video cards.

    Due to the high qualifications and extensive experience in the field of repair of various computer, home appliances, and mobile devices, our engineers are able to solve any problem related to the malfunction of your device. The «Repair» team will make sure that the repair of your video card is of high quality and fast, and in some cases the repair will be carried out in your presence. You will also receive a guarantee for repairs and for original spare parts. If you could not find the problem, please contact us in any convenient way, we will be happy to answer all your questions.

    more specific video cards repair information can be viewed on our project here

    Cost of services

    Cost and prices for faults to eliminate faults

    The most popular

    (most frequent services)

    9000

    Service name Price Warranty
    Fall recovery 2600 30 days
    Moisture recovery 2900 30 days

    Modular repair

    replacement of components and parts

    Service name Price Warranty
    Replacing housing elements 2100 30 days
    Main board replacement 2600 30 days

    Motherboard repair

    soldering and refurbishment

    Service name Price Warranty
    Troubleshooting a short and open in the power circuit 3100 30 days
    Soldering and repairing the motherboard 2900 30 days

    Recovery steps

    procedure for receiving equipment, conducting diagnostics and troubleshooting

    Carrying out diagnostics

    • Diagnostics of the device with words or on the spot within 15 minutes.
    • Device must be left for complex diagnostics

    Price negotiation

    • We agree on the cost and timing of device repair before work starts
    • When there are no spare parts, more problems are detected — we coordinate

    Restoration

    • Repair of device is usually carried out up to 7 days, in difficult cases up to 25 days.

    Issue and check

    • The repaired is checked and tested.
    • Issued «Act of work» with a guarantee for the work performed
    • Delivery of device is possible.
    Video Card Specialist Consultation

    Specify in the « Application » your name, contact phone number and a brief question. Within 15 minutes, a specialist on this topic will contact you. This master will consult and give exhaustive answers to your questions.

    Free Diagnosis

    Free Diagnosis Pro Features

    You can simply send the device to for diagnostics to find out the cause of the malfunction, the approximate time for restoration work and the cost of eliminating defects.

    For this, it is enough just to bring (look at the address) ( get directions Google or Yandex ) faulty equipment for free diagnostics.

    About urgent repair at the service center

    Urgent repair of cards on the spot within 20-30 minutes is possible. If the whole process is expected to take no more than 10 minutes, taking into account the disassembly and collection of the device. Urgent repairs are carried out at the discretion of a specialist , taking into account your request. The customer can wait for the end in the waiting area of ​​the service center.

    Why leave the equipment in the service

    Your video card is waiting for its turn , because the equipment of other customers is being diagnosed / repaired.

    The specialist needs time to assess the complexity of work to restore the working capacity of equipment, to search for a malfunction at the modular or component level.

    You also need to find serviceable spare parts in stock at the service center or check with the supplier.

    About receiving equipment at the service center

    Video card malfunctions

    Find out about the main malfunctions

    Professional advice

    Indicate in Application — your name, contact phone number and a short question. Within 15 minutes, a specialist on this topic will contact you. This master will consult and give exhaustive answers to your questions.

    Video card troubleshooting and repair, reballing, block diagram…

    Hi, You will learn about video card troubleshooting. Let’s analyze its main types and features of use. There will be many more detailed examples and descriptions. In order to better understand what is
    diagnostics of video card malfunctions, video card repair, reballing, I strongly recommend reading everything from the Diagnostics, maintenance and repair of electronic and radio equipment category.

    A video card is a computer component that is required to display images on the screen.

    If capacitors, diodes, fuses, mosfets, shim controllers are swollen and broken, a replacement and installation of a new one is carried out, however, if the video chip or memory chips are faulty, then it may not be advisable to carry out repairs.

    Any component of the video card can be faulty, including conductive and contact elements.

    Symptoms and causes of video card problems

    If the following “symptoms” began to appear on the computer, this means that the graphics processor or memory chips are faulty:

    • various random images on the screen: dots, lines, shapes, etc.;
    • The image is distorted during the loading of the operating system;
    • Screen is blank, but fans and indicator lights are working;
    • 3D games won’t launch despite having the latest software.

    1) Distortions or so-called artefacts may be caused by overheating, failure of the diver or incorrectly installed divers. The first thing you can do is try reinstalling the drivers, perform a gentle cleaning, and replace the thermal paste.

    Graphics corruption during operating system loading can cause damage to the video controller, graphics processor, memory chips, or connector. You can check the performance of the video card on another computer.

    Figure 1 a, b

    2) Video card, with the problem «PC does not turn on with it.» The card is not heated, not soldered. But with a short circuit along the 12V line. Most likely the cause of the short circuit is a broken composite mosfet at some phase of the power supply of the video processor. The easiest way to find the culprit is to measure the resistance of the gates relative to the ground. Or with a thermal imager.

    Figure 2

    Slight heating of the mosfet visible with a thermal imager0003

    Figure 3

    We assume that the upper arm of the composite mosfet is broken. Shutter G1 (opposite the dot). We measure the resistance at G1 in all phases. (The norm is around 10kOhm) In the second phase, the resistance at the G1 gate is only about 20 Ohm. This is very little. We solder the composite mosfet and make sure that the short circuit along the 12V line has disappeared.

    We solder the mosfet in good order, the consumption of the card is normal. The restored power phase of the video processor and all other phases are working properly.

    Figure 4

    It is not possible to accurately determine the failure from the photo, from the description of the problem, or from the model of the device. The same external manifestation of a malfunction can be caused by a dozen completely DIFFERENT reasons. To say why a computer, laptop or video card «does not turn on», «does not show», «turns on and immediately turns off», you need to carry out diagnostics — that is, make all the necessary measurements on the board.

    Competent diagnostics will save equipment from the consequences of unskilled intervention, and the owner from unnecessary repair costs after unsuccessful picking by amateurs.

    Figure 5 Video Card and Monitor Troubleshooting Chart

    Is the system powered? Do you hear fan noise, hard drive platters spinning, or any squeaks? Are the lights on the front of the case lit? And it’s about the power supply of the system, not the monitor. If the system is not receiving power or you are not sure if it is or is not, go to the Power Supply Failure flowchart.

    Can you see anything on your cathode ray (CRT) or liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor? It doesn’t have to be the Windows desktop. At this stage, for «something» a text or a message going with a «marquee» will pass. In the next few steps for each route, you will determine if the problem is with power or a bad connection to the monitor or graphics card.

    Are you sure the monitor is turned on and is receiving power? Don’t laugh. All modern monitors have some sort of status indicator — usually on the right or inside the power button — that tells you whether the device is receiving power or not. Even older CRT monitors usually have a status LED that lights up when the monitor is powered, and can also blink or change color depending on whether an active video card is detected in the system. Large CRT monitors, as a rule, make a specific sound when the power is turned on — first an “electrical” click is heard, which gradually subsides, and then such a sound as if someone pulled on a tightly stretched rubber band. Both types of monitors (CRT and LCD) typically use a detachable power cord, so make sure the plug is firmly seated in the monitor’s power port. If the monitor still does not show signs of life, try plugging the power cord into a different outlet.

    You may also come across an old LCD with an external power supply similar to the one found in laptop power cords. If you have just such an LCD monitor, and it is not provided with power, use a multimeter to measure the output current of this PSU — it should be approximately equal to the nominal value (it is indicated in the documentation or on the PSU itself). LCD displays are designed in such a way that they take up minimal space on the table, so the power cord is usually connected to them vertically, i.e. parallel to the display. Because of this, the connection of the power connector is difficult to check — for this, the monitor must be placed on a table or raised above your head.

    Multi-monitor systems are becoming more and more popular with advanced users who either want to increase the screen size in this way or look at different things on different monitors. In such systems there is always one main video output, and for systems where you have several video outputs from one video card, and for systems where there are several video cards. When solving a dead screen problem, focus on getting the picture on the main monitor — i. e. on what is active at boot time. Try connecting the main video output to multiple monitors in turn, as the probability that two monitors broke at once is negligible.

    If your main monitor is an HDTV monitor, and especially if it’s a new build or you’ve just upgraded your system, first try bringing back the video using your stock monitor (if available). An HDTV monitor does not always do a good job of emulating computer monitors, they were not designed for this purpose. In order for an HDTV monitor connected to a new video card to work properly, it is sometimes necessary to install updates from NVIDIA, AMD or Intel, adjust the settings on the HDTV monitor using the remote control, or connect a new HDMI cable. If your PC is unable to automatically detect the screen resolution and refresh rate that your HDTV monitor supports, you will first need to connect a regular monitor in order to set Windows to more appropriate settings. Please check the maximum refresh rate supported by your HDTV monitor before proceeding. if this value is set too high, it may damage the TV. A couple of times I’ve heard stories of HDTV display failures after a Windows version upgrade. This solution requires the latest drivers and sometimes the latest BIOS.

    If the only message that is shown on the screen is something with the word «power» (i.e. «power») , then it most likely wants to tell you that the PC video card needs additional power to work . The video card is fine (it generates a message), but the «motherboard» slot is not receiving enough power to perform its function normally. Both modern PCI Express graphics cards and high performance AGP graphics cards (the forerunners of PCI Express) typically require one or more wires connected to the PSU. If you have just assembled your PC, then the lack of video signal may indicate that you forgot to connect the wire to the PSU or simply did not connect it well enough. If this is a PC whose case you have just opened, then the matter may be that you accidentally loosened the connection of the power cable. But if at the time of the last successful boot the case was closed, then the matter may be in damage to the power supply circuit or a hardware malfunction of the video card.

    These auxiliary power leads come in a variety of shapes, from the old Molex 4×1 connectors that have been used in PCs since the 80s, to the special power connectors for PCI Express video cards that are equipped with new ATX-type PSUs. Some video cards support different types of power wires (and the connectors for them do not take up too much space on the card), and some, on the contrary, require an adapter to convert the power from the existing connector to a format understood by the video card. If your PSU has an 8-pin PCI Express connector and your video card requires a 6-pin connector, you can buy an inexpensive adapter that has 8 pins on one side and 6 (or 6 + 2) pins on the other. Or you can modify the cable connector according to the instructions on the graphics card manufacturer’s website.

    Many new monitors, when «healthy» and receiving sufficient power, will show a message such as «No signal source» or «Attach video signal». These messages will appear even if the PC or video card breaks down. This is, in my opinion, one of the most useful innovations in monitor technology. is an obvious proof that the monitor/display is in order and, if there was a video signal, could show some kind of picture. Unfortunately, older monitors and cheap models often do not show any message at all, and in some cases this message is not visible due to a black screen resulting from a video card malfunction or boot failure.

    Several types of video cables are currently in use, which differ from each other depending on the generation of technology. The oldest ones support up to 15 pins (3 rows of 5 pins in each connector) for analog video transmission and have been in use since the early 90s. Modern DVI cables (from the English «digital video interface», i.e. «digital video interface») come in different types — they can have up to 24 pins for digital data transmission and 5 optional pins for old analog signals. The HDMI cable (from the English «high definition multimedia interface», i. e. «interface for high-definition multimedia») is equipped with a connector (it can be 5 types) with 19or 29 contacts; it supports miniature video devices, cameras, and displays. HDMI is backwards compatible with DVI, so you can buy HDMI/DVI and DVI/HDMI adapters if needed.

    But whichever technology you use, the connector must be placed exactly in (or on) the video connector that is on the back of the PC. There are clamping screws on both sides of the connector that need to be tightened all the way, but not too tight. The same must be done for the connector on the other end of the cable — the one connected to the monitor or HDTV-TV. If you recently moved the PC or changed a component that required you to disconnect one of the connections, remove this connector and check it (as well as the port) for any damage.

    Do you hear any beeps? If the PC is “healthy”, then it should beep only once — when it is turned on and passes the POST test (i.e., “power-on testing”). Although different BIOS developers use different beeps to report problems, a sequence of repeated beeps (3 or 9 in a row) is a common indicator of a video card failure. But don’t be fooled by the endless series of squeaks that may appear due to the fact that when you boot up your PC, you accidentally leaned on the keyboard and held down a key.

    Check if the video card is installed correctly, but before these manipulations, be sure to turn off the power supply. If you have more than one video card installed, remove the second video card, and if the screen is still «dead», replace the main video card with the second one. Similarly, if you have a discrete graphics card in addition to the integrated graphics card, which is used to improve video performance, remove it and “resurrect” the monitor using the integrated GPU — even if you need to change the position of a special jumper or switch on the motherboard to enable it. When removing the video card, make sure to unhook the retaining latch (if present) and always remove the card completely from the slot. When putting the video card in place, stick it in evenly — applying the same force on both the front end and the back. Also note that if you place a screw or rail in the back of the case to hold down the video card, as a result, its front part (i.e., the part that is closer to the front of the case) may come out of the slot by a few millimeters and due to turn this off. But if there is a clamping latch, there will be no such problem. After installing the video card, do not forget to put the latch in place.

    If, after reinstalling the video card, the squeaks do not disappear, then the problem is either in a faulty video card or in a faulty RAM memory. Therefore, at this stage, you can try to turn off the power and reinstall the RAM-memory without going to the full diagnostics of the motherboard. The BIOS has beeps to indicate failures in completely different components, but over time, most of these components were built into the motherboard chipset, so it is impossible to replace them (unless you have to change the entire motherboard).

    If reinstalling the RAM memory on the motherboard did not eliminate the beeps, then you can additionally check the RAM memory by installing it in another PC or by starting the system with a minimum number of memory modules. Depending on the motherboard and the type of DIMMs connected to it (single-sided, double-sided), a PC may have several DIMMs installed, and only one DIMM may need to be plugged into bank 0 to boot. Sockets for DIMM modules are marked on the «motherboard» with text or color codes — they indicate banks.

    If you want to install the maximum number of DIMMs in a motherboard with multiple banks operating in 2- or 3-channel mode, then you will need to choose them correctly. In «ganged» mode, having two 64-bit memory modules on the same bus means that one processor is accessing the 128-bit memory bus. But modern motherboards often use «unganged» mode, in which multi-core (and multi-threaded) processors can simultaneously access 64-bit memory, thus freeing up an additional data bus for the system.

    Check the entire length of the video cable for damage to the outer protective sheath — and if there is, this may indicate that the cable has been pinched and possibly damaged. Pin connectors often fail due to damaged pins, but HDMI connectors are made in such a way that they are quite difficult to damage (all you need to do is take a screwdriver, stick it inside the connector and scroll several times). The pins on the DVI connector are stronger than the old analog VGA connectors, and there’s a special section on one side of the DVI connector with analog pins, so there’s little chance of you plugging the connector in the wrong way. As a rule, the contacts fail when you try to plug in the VGA connector blindly while looking in some other direction.

    Carefully inspect the pins to see if they are bent, touching other pins, or pressed into the bottom of the connector. If there are not enough pins in the connector, then this is normal — often the monitor that came with this cable simply does not use pins for the monitor ID and other signals. It’s good if you have an extra video cable or a monitor with a detachable video cable, as sometimes you come across old CRT monitors that use a cable that cannot be disconnected from the side of the monitor. Therefore, such a cable can only be inspected along its entire length for possible damage.

    If you notice a bent pin in the connector, you can straighten it out with pliers or thin nose pliers, but do it very slowly. If the contact is broken, you can buy a new connector and attach it to the cable with a soldering iron (and endless patience). To get it right, you’ll also need a heat gun and heat shrink tubing. The last time I did this job, I spent almost three hours on it, but my soldering iron had a tip that was inconvenient to work with three rows of contacts. I do not recommend making your own DVI connector.

    Check the monitor on another PC or laptop. This is indicated by the site https://intellect.icu. If you decide to use a laptop and it can’t automatically detect an external monitor when it boots up, use the {{|Fn key]] function keys (located at the top of the keyboard) to tell the laptop to switch to the external monitor. Remember that this test is only needed to understand if the monitor is working, so it does not matter at all if the image is crooked and with broken settings. If you connected your monitor to a working PC and it still doesn’t work, then the issue is with the monitor and not the PC. You can also try to shine a bright light at an angle on the LCD monitor — if you see a faint image, then the problem is in the backlight or the inverter that powers the backlight. If a loud buzzing sound is heard from the LCD monitor, then it is usually a faulty inverter circuit, but it may take several more years before the inverter finally shuts down, during which the buzzing will become louder.

    Does the integrated GPU keep beeping when booting up the PC, even with an external graphics card connected, be it PCI Express, old AGP, or regular PCI? Then it must be disabled — either by changing the video settings in the CMOS settings, or using a switch / jumper on the motherboard. Sometimes the integrated GPU is set to CMOS «On» or «Enabled» and you need to change it to «Off» or «Disabled» . If it’s worth 9 instead0181 «Auto» (for automatic detection), this setting obviously does not work, so it also needs to be changed to «Off» or «Disabled» .

    Does the system enter the BIOS screen and then freeze? By «BIOS screen» I mean the textual information or graphics of the manufacturer (video card or «motherboard») that appears on the monitor when the PC starts booting. In this case, the reason for the freeze is rarely related to the video, but there may be a conflict between the video card and another expansion card connected to the motherboard.

    Has the graphics card or integrated GPU heatsink fan become too noisy, or worse, has it stopped working altogether? If the fan is working, then the problem is more likely in the video performance, so go to the appropriate flowchart, which is called “Video Performance”.

    A modern video card without a cooling system breaks down very quickly, and one of the symptoms of this problem is just low performance, as the GPU heats up and begins to skip some of the machine cycles (and therefore reduce performance) in order to reduce heat generation. Some fans are interchangeable (you just need to find a replacement of the right size), and in order to determine the distance between the screws, you usually need a tape measure with millimeter divisions. In some cases, it is necessary to remove the entire active cooling system, which creates two difficulties. First, you’ll need to find a replacement that’s the same size, and second, you’ll need to remove the old cooling system from the GPU, which is often held in place with heat-permeable glue.

    If the cooling system is not attached with either a spring clip or screws, all you have to do is wait for the video card to cool and the glue to become less sticky (some people at this stage just put the video card in a bag and then briefly in the refrigerator), and then slowly wedged in with a piece of thin, hard plastic. If the adhesive has not broken, then you may need to pry off the edge of the cooling system with a screwdriver, simultaneously squeezing a piece of plastic inside (you can use, for example, a discount card), while cutting through the glue and slightly tearing off the cooling system. But be careful, because. if you push too hard, the GPU may break.

    Does your motherboard support two video cards (we are talking about technology like NVIDIA SLI or AMD Crossfire)? Turn off the PSU, remove one of the graphics cards, and then turn on the PSU again. Note that older motherboards that support SLI or Crossfire may come with a module like the «SLI/XFIRE Switch Card» which, when using one video card, plugs into the second x16 slot, allowing that single video card to use all 16 bus lanes. If your screen still freezes or stays black during boot, try another graphics card.

    Both AMD and NVIDIA have online databases on their websites for troubleshooting issues with their high-end graphics cards.

    Did you install expansion cards right before the problem occurred? Turn off the power and start taking out all the cards in turn, after each disconnection, turn on the power again. A stuck BIOS screen usually indicates an expansion card conflict, but if unplugging other cards doesn’t resolve the issue, go to the Motherboard, Processor, and RAM Failure flowchart.

    When all expansion cards are disconnected, do you only get a screen light up, or do you boot to at least the BIOS screen? If yes, then the problem is either that the faulty expansion card is preventing the bus from working properly, or that the expansion card is conflicting with the graphics card. In any case, you can again try to connect the expansion cards back in turn, turning on the power after each installation, i.e. solving the problem by eliminating the culprit. Don’t forget to unplug your PC from power before you climb inside the case again.

    Another reason why the video card may not work is its incompatibility with the motherboard. If your motherboard is old enough, it may happen that a x16 PCIe 3.0 or PCIe 2.1 video card cannot be inserted into it. PCI Express video cards tend to be backwards compatible (although data will be transferred more slowly), but unfortunately not all. Some PCIe 2.1 video cards are not compatible with PCIe 1.0 at all, unless the motherboard manufacturer released a BIOS update that changes the chipset settings.

    If the new component of your PC is just a “motherboard”, then first (before throwing it away) try the “faulty” video card in another PC, because it may simply be a lack of compatibility between devices. If the installation of a new video card did not solve the problem of a «dead» screen, then the problem is probably in a faulty «motherboard», even if no warning beeps are heard. Hence, go to the «Motherboard, CPU and RAM failure» flowchart.

    Diagnosing video performance issues

    Is your monitor a CRT monitor? Some CRT monitors are still in use, especially the large, high-end models that have cost their owners a lot of money and have some advantages over the various flat-panel monitors. CRT technology uses high frequency waves (for an analog signal) and high voltage to selectively draw colored phosphor dots on the glass surface of the display tube with an electron beam. Accordingly, the problems of a monitor created using this technology will be completely different than those of an LCD monitor.

    Is it just wavy distortion? Or is there also something like a «scan bar» in the image? The most common cause of this problem is magnetic interference, usually from a transformer located above or below the monitor (such as an inkjet power supply or other peripheral). In addition, the cause of distortion and «scanning» bands can be an active source of RF signals (such as a radio transmitter) or a powerful current passing in electrical wiring hidden in the wall.

    If eliminating possible sources of interference or temporarily moving the monitor to another room does not correct the problem, then some part of the control electronics is probably malfunctioning, and in order to identify and replace it, it is best to contact a qualified CRT- monitors. But, of course, before carrying the monitor for repair, it is better to try it on another PC. Another (less likely) cause of the problem is poor power management. If the electricity to your house comes from old generation wind turbines that are not connected to the mains (this can happen, for example, if you live on an island), then check if this power supply provides the required AC frequency: in the USA it is 60 Hz , and in the EU — 50 Hz.

    When you look at your monitor, do you feel like they want to sell something through «subliminal» advertising? Try looking at the monitor from across the room or out of the corner of your eye, because your peripheral vision is more receptive to fast movement against a static background. The most common cause of a flickering image is that the horizontal refresh rate is too late, or that it matches the cyclic pattern of the room’s fluorescent lighting.

    So, first, try turning off all the lights in the room. Is the flicker gone? If not, and if you don’t want to change the screen resolution, then you can try changing the lighting or the position of the monitor relative to the room lighting. Second, try reducing your screen resolution in Windows. The higher the screen resolution, the more difficult it is for the video card and monitor to maintain a given horizontal frequency. Therefore, if the resolution is at its maximum, then older video cards often cannot withstand this, and the refresh rate drops below 60 Hz.

    Since the input signal for CRT monitors is an analog RGB signal (R for red, G for green, B for blue), the length and physical condition of the video cable can affect the image. If everything is simple with digital technology (the signal either passes or it doesn’t), then things are different with analog technology (the signal may deteriorate, and with it the picture quality). Thus, if you need a good video cable for an analog signal, then it should be no longer than 1.8 m. However, many sellers are happy to sell you longer cables, but the result is unlikely to please you. If you want to increase the brightness on your CRT monitor to compensate for the dimming caused by a long cable, then don’t be surprised if you hear a whistle from the capacitor or transformer — this means that the monitor is overloaded. If the video cable was caught in a box or somewhere behind a table, etc., then you can improve the picture quality by reducing the value of one of the main colors.

    All CRT monitors are set to factory default settings for brightness, contrast, tint, color balance, and all other color related parameters. If you’re dealing with a more modern monitor, then it can be fully adjusted through the user settings, but debugging an analog signal usually requires dealing with adjustable potentiometers. This setting should be done with a plastic (i.e. non-conductive) screwdriver and only by experienced technicians, as in the process, you will need to deal with a horizontal transformer that is energized above 10 thousand volts. If you have completely lost one of the primary colors, then this usually means that one of the color «guns» in the cathode ray tube is malfunctioning, and such a monitor is no longer worth repairing. However, before that, you can try the monitor on another PC — in case it’s a video card that has broken one of the channels on the digital-to-analog converter.

    If the Windows desktop does not reach the edges of the screen, this can be adjusted using the buttons on the front of the monitor. It’s no secret that when you change the resolution in Windows using an older video card and CRT monitor, the desktop can change in size or move to the side. And if using the adjusting buttons the desktop cannot be returned to the center or aligned to the edges of the screen, you can try setting a different resolution in Windows. If you come across an old monitor with a «shrunken», usually asymmetric image, then you are unlikely to be able to return it to normal using the on-screen settings. This is a clear sign that the monitor is damaged, but as mentioned above, an experienced technician can restore symmetry by adjusting the adjustable resistors with a plastic screwdriver.

    Is the image okay except that the colors are pinkish or unevenly lit? If you have an OLED (organic light-emitting diode) monitor, skip this decision point. Think of an LCD monitor as an electronic color film. If you remember the 35mm slides that were very popular, then you also remember how difficult it was to view such an image without an overhead projector or backlit table. So the light source that turns the «LCD film» into a bright display is called «backlight». This can be either a CCFL backlight (from the English «cold cathode fluorescent lamp», i.e. «cold cathode lamp»), or a strip of LEDs. Both LEDs and CCFL lights can last quite a while, but turning on CCFL lights requires a special power source — an inverter that creates a high-frequency, high-voltage electrical signal.

    If the LCD displays only a faint image that can only be seen when a bright light source is pointed at an angle, the backlight is not working. If all the elements of the image have acquired a pink tint, then it is probably a faulty CCFL tube. If one of the edges of the screen is darkened, then it is a faulty tube, inverter or LED (if you have LED backlight). If the dimming is in the center of the screen, then it is most likely a faulty LED backlight. The LED backlight power supply is rarely the culprit in this problem. for full brightness, it supplies constant current in a continuous mode, and when dimming — in an intermittent one.

    The cause of many problems with LCD monitors is a malfunction of the matrix. Manufacturers of LCD monitors usually have a standard for the number of «broken» or «stuck» pixels, after which the monitor can be considered defective and require a return under warranty. There are millions of individual pixels on the screen, but even one faulty pixel right in the center of the screen can be enough to drive a person into a frenzy. But always, just in case, make sure that it is not a speck of dust.

    If a whole line of pixels (horizontal or vertical) has become unusable on the monitor, or if an entire area “dies” on the screen (from edge to edge), then this means that either there is no connection between the electrical contacts and the LCD panel, or the one of the multiplexer chips accessing the LCD grating, or one of the output lines of this chip has become unusable. It is impossible to fix this at home, and there is no point, so just bring such a monitor back, because. to fix this problem, it is usually necessary to replace the entire LCD panel or circuit board. If a lump or a growing drop of random size appears on the LCD screen, and this is definitely not adhering dirt, then this means that the connection between the layers of the LCD panel has become unusable, as a result of which liquid has begun to flow out of it. This usually happens if the screen is cracked or damaged by a sharp object, so if you return such an LCD monitor, the manufacturer will likely try to blame you for the damage.

    3D games and programs are not displayed in 3D? Many games have 3D images in one way or another — in the sense of using perspective to create the illusion of depth — but very few games and programs use true stereoscopic 3D. The principle of stereo-3D is that different images are shown to the right and left eyes, which the brain then connects together and creates a picture that seems to crawl out of the screen.

    Monitors and HDTVs that support stereoscopic 3D are usually advertised with the phrase «3D ready». The main quality indicator of these models is support for a refresh rate of 120 Hz, which allows them to show different images for the left and right eyes at 60 Hz. So the first step is to make sure that your monitor is a 3D ready monitor, that your game is a 3D game, and that Windows has all the necessary drivers for a stereo 3D graphics card. In addition, the game must have all necessary additional software installed and updated (like the latest version of DirectX). Also make sure you are using the dual DVI cable (if needed) that came with your monitor for high-resolution 3D, and make sure your game is on the list of games for which your graphics card supports stereo 3D.

    If you have a modern display used with passive 3D glasses (without battery), skip this step. If you still can’t see the 3D image, then the problem is probably with the 3D glasses or the IR emitter that «talks» to the glasses. If you have glasses with wires (connected to a USB port), you don’t need either an IR emitter or a battery, so just skip this paragraph. The most common cause of this problem is an obstruction in the line of sight between the IR emitter and the goggles. It can be anything: from a cup of coffee to some object lying on a computer table. Another option is the battery of the 3D glasses has run out (see the instructions for your glasses for information on how to charge the battery). Also make sure that the IR emitter is connected and working — this can be judged by the lit status LED (if any).

    Does the 3D look like it’s flickering? If you are using a 3D ready monitor, graphics card, and cable, then it is unlikely that the screen refresh rate is too low. What you’re seeing seems to be an effect that occurs because the room light’s frequency doesn’t match the monitor’s refresh rate. This effect can be explained by the following analogy. Imagine an old western that makes it look like a stagecoach wheel is spinning backwards because the camera captures the spokes moving slower than they actually do. Therefore, in the US and other countries where the mains frequency is 60 Hz, the monitor refresh rate should be set to 120 Hz, and in the EU and other countries where the voltage frequency is 50 Hz, the monitor refresh rate should be 100 Hz. In natural light, use 110 Hz.

    If changing the refresh rate does not help, try turning off the room lights. Also make sure you set Windows to a resolution supported by your monitor. Some newer HDTV monitors show the 3D effect with passive glasses (they only have colored lenses; no battery or IR emitter), and if you have one of these monitors, then the only option left is to try to adjust the software settings to understand if the video card is not the problem. The 3D depth is usually adjusted in the graphics card management software, and people who have just started getting into 3D games are advised to start at 15% to get used to the 3D effect. Drivers for 3D displays and graphics cards are generally designed for 1080i (1920×1080), so if you run the game in a window and not in full screen, then the 3D effect will most likely not be there, or the image will flicker a lot. Note also that some LCD monitors require a «warm-up» time (15-30 minutes) for the CCFL backlight to achieve full brightness, which is important for the 3D effect.

    Part of the display freezes, but other windows and parts of the screen can still work normally? Here we are talking about the freezing of entire windows, and not broken pixels, traces of the cursor or lines. In some cases, frozen fragments may disappear if you close the problematic application using the «Task Manager» in Windows.

    My favorite way to solve possible software problems in recent years is to roll back the system using the Windows System Restore service. Simply select a restore date prior to when the problem occurred, and if the problem is due to software misconfigurations or a simple virus, then this should solve it. I guess a lot of people have a program to protect themselves from viruses and other malware, but even in this case, it is not superfluous to download a free anti-malware program on the Internet (do not trust Google search; better look at the reviews in your favorite computer magazine, so that by chance do not install any malicious program) so that no more “saboteurs” bypass your computer protection. If this does not resolve the issue, try installing and updating your graphics card drivers and updating your BIOS. Further, the video memory may be the culprit, but there should be no problems with it, as long as it is, in fact, serviceable, and inside the case it is not too hot. Therefore, check if the fans work well: they should suck cold air into the case and push hot air out from the back. If your system has both an integrated GPU and a more powerful discrete graphics card, try removing it and enabling the integrated GPU. Image stopped freezing? Also check if the fans are working well on a discrete graphics card, a separate motherboard chip, and a new high-end CPU.

    Do you feel like the image in the game began to freeze, and then quickly return to normal mode? Or has the frame rate dropped so much that you feel like you’re looking at the screen through a spinning ceiling fan? Games require much more computing resources from the PC than most other programs, since their action must take place in real time. Thus, PC games are a real test of graphics system performance. The most time-consuming graphics processing tasks in modern games fall on the GPU that performs the rendering. But remember that many PC components, including the motherboard, processor, memory and hard drive, also work at their limit during the game.

    If you see small fragments of emails, small colored bits of the screen, or a few pixels here and there that are the wrong color, and all this is corrected only by restarting the PC, then either the GPU or the video memory is the problem. If you are using a GPU built into the motherboard (this can be determined if the video connector is located closer to the edge of the case near the USB ports, network port, etc., and not in one of those video card slots that are in special cut sections), then the video memory is usually borrowed from the main memory of the PC. Alternatively, you may have a more modern processor that has both the CPU and GPU integrated at the same time.

    So, if you’re using the «mother» GPU, the only way to tell if memory is the cause of the problem is to disable it. And if an external video card is used, then you need to try another one. If some kind of “garbage” randomly appears on the screen and immediately disappears, then the point may be in switching the video card between different modes, especially when you start games or regular programs. If you’re watching TV, make sure it doesn’t have closed captions turned on. In addition, if these subtitles are in a foreign language, then the TV may not support them.

    Blurred text? Wrong text size? Do you have to scroll to see the entire Windows desktop? The very first step is to try to change the basic Windows settings for the screen. These settings have different names in different versions of Windows, but they can be accessed, usually by right-clicking anywhere on the desktop and selecting something like Properties from the drop-down menu that opens. Please note that you need the properties of Windows, and not video cards, which may also be present in this drop-down list.

    If setting a different font size or other visual settings did not help, then it is possible that the monitor does not support the graphics card settings set for the current resolution in Windows. These settings can be in the properties for Windows, and in the graphics properties for the video card. The lowest screen resolution is optional. The cause of blurry text is usually the result of the LCD being set to a too low resolution.

    Does the system give error messages related to OpenGL? The Open Graphics Library (OpenGL) is a widely used standard programming interface for hardware-accelerated graphics rendering tasks. OpenGL errors are more common on older versions of Windows (Windows XP and older) and solutions range from installing the latest video drivers to selecting the «High Color» (16-bit color) setting in Display Options and closing all other windows. And make sure you don’t have «hardware acceleration» enabled in your graphics card properties. Also, try to ask a question about your error on the video card manufacturer’s technical support forum, attaching as much information as possible about the OS version, video card, game or program you are running, processor, etc. , and it is quite possible that you will be answered.

    If you have installed dual video cards such as Crossfire or SLI in the system, but the video performance has not improved, then check if this «motherboard» is approved by the manufacturer (AMD or Intel), and if these two video cards are identical and work whether they are at the same frequency. The fact is that if one of the video cards has a lower clock frequency, then the other one will adjust to it. Also, your problem may be caused by a PC performance issue, in which case it makes sense to go to the Motherboard, CPU, and RAM failure flowchart.

    Does performance and stuttering change as the screen resolution changes (i.e., the amount of detail on the screen changes)? If so, make sure you download the latest drivers and updates from the GPU manufacturer’s website. If the game uses DirectX, then make sure you have downloaded the latest version of DirectX from the Microsoft website. If a video game developer recommends certain resolutions and screen settings for optimal performance, set them.

    Reducing the resolution (i.e. the detail of the image on the screen) means reducing the number of computational operations. That is, we kind of reduce the load on the system, because of which it ceases to be a “bottleneck”. Try closing all windows; if necessary, manually — through the «Task Manager». Is the video back to normal? If yes, then the GPU seems to be fine, so the problem is either the performance of other PC components, or that you are asking the PC to perform too many tasks at the same time. Advanced users can try disabling the antivirus program, but if you are connected to the Internet and play multiplayer games, then disabling the antivirus is not a good idea, unless you understand how to set up a firewall.

    If you have closed all unnecessary applications in the «Task Manager» (except those that are necessary for the operation of the OS), but the game still works well only at low resolutions, then the problem is probably that your GPU simply does not able to work better. This is likely if you have an inexpensive motherboard with an integrated GPU, and less likely if you’ve just bought a powerful discrete graphics card or a new multi-core CPU that has a high-performance GPU built in.

    Does the game experience drops in frame rate when the PC heats up? To protect itself from overheating and prevent self-shutdown at the same time, the GPU can intentionally “throttle” (i.e., skip part of the cycles) when it detects excessive temperature. But it could also be that the GPU isn’t getting enough cooling, and there could be various reasons for that. First, check if the video card fan is broken. Secondly, check if the PC itself is overheating — it may happen that the fans that draw air into the case were blocked (due to which cold air stopped flowing inside), or the holes that let air out of the case (they are usually located , behind). Also, pay attention to the temperature in the room. PC cooling depends on the ambient temperature, so the warmer the room, the less cold air circulates through the PC.

    If the problem is not related to heat, make sure you have installed all the latest updates and drivers, close background applications (to make sure it’s not the overall performance of the PC) and ask for advice on the game developer’s forum to see if you have encountered a similar someone else’s problem. If your PC has a PCIe SSD connected to a high-speed PCI Express slot, then it is possible that your PCIe x16 graphics card has dropped to x8 due to sharing the same data lane with the SSD.

    Double check that the version of the PCIe slots on the motherboard (1.1, 2.1, 3.0) is higher than or equal to the PCIe version of your graphics card. Otherwise, the «motherboard» can become a «bottleneck». Also make sure your x16 graphics cards are plugged into true x16 slots and not x16 compatible slots (they might be labeled x16, x8 too). If several people who have similar hardware and software have similar performance problems reported, then the problem may be a simple incompatibility.

    Video card repair technology in case of chip failure.

    If you are convinced that there are no faulty components, problems with contacts, drivers, then the cause may be the so-called. blade BGA video card chip..

    The reason for this may be the work in harsh temperature conditions of the video card, which led to its overheating.

    Under the blade of the BGA chip of the video card, they call the resulting, as a result of prolonged overheating, a violation of the electrical contact of the array of BGA balls with the printed circuit board of the card. Typically, this phenomenon occurs as a result of the presence of a small area of ​​cold soldering, which is subjected to prolonged and strong heating.

    It cannot be said that this is a 100% manufacturer’s defect: there can be quite a lot of tin balls in the array and a violation (or oxidation) of the contact of even one of them can lead to a complete (or partial) loss of the card’s performance.

    1. all plastic plugs, stickers (stickers) located on the back side of the card must be removed.

    Figure 6 Removing heat sensitive elements

    If some elements cannot be removed, then you need to protect them with a metal foil sticker (but this is not very reliable)

    Figure 6a protection of heat-sensitive elements

    Remove the cooling system and clean it.

    The next step is to carefully remove the GPU heatsink without damaging the GPU die (thermal paste and GPU adhesion can be strong).

    It can be done with preheating After a while (5-10 seconds) we begin to shake the radiator slightly from side to side. Thermal paste, softening under the influence of temperature, will allow us to do this.

    Figure 7 heatsink and chip layout

    Then you need to clean both the base of the heatsink and the chip itself from the remnants of the old dried thermal paste. Try not to scratch the metal surface of the heatsink (this will reduce its heat transfer coefficient) and the surface of the crystal.

    Figure 8 GPU chip appearance1059 graphics processing unit ). Along the perimeter of the crystal, we see a white sealant (compound) that performs several functions: it protects the crystal from dust getting under it and attaches it to the substrate.

    What is special here and why
    video card repair fails?

    The area (array) of BGA solder balls is not only between the chip itself and the PCB textolite, but also between the crystal and the substrate graphics card!

    Figure 9 elements of soldering the chip to the board in the section

    We can repair the video card on our own (if we are still lucky) only if there is a violation of the contacts of the balls directly between the printed circuit board and the substrate. In the event that the «dump» occurred under the crystal, then here we can hardly do anything. Even an operation like
    reballing
    (complete replacement of an array of balls using a stencil) will not save in this case, since this procedure is performed only for the «soles» of the entire chip, but not for the crystal!

    To repair a video card, we need SKF (alcohol rosin) flux, which is called “SKF-flux” and a disposable syringe.

    Note : You can use any other mild (ideally neutral) flux. For example, «F1» or «F3». The original «LTI-120» is also suitable. Although, with LTI, not everything is so simple: leave it as a last resort 🙂

    Picture 10 Fluxing the chip

    Gently apply the tip of the needle to the edge of the substrate, tilting it so that the flux squeezed out by us from the syringe is under the chip. After pumping it, if necessary, tilt the card a little so that it spreads well between the balls. Ideally, we need to achieve an effect where the liquid appears a little from all sides.

    Advice : after use, rinse the syringe (simply draw water from the tap several times and squeeze through the needle). If this is not done, the rosin in the needle will dry out and clog it. It will take a long time to clean or throw away.

    Now we can be sure that when heated, the flux will perform its function.

    We arrange its video card in such a way that we have free access to the GPU from above and below, and with the help of a soldering station we begin to heat the substrate around the perimeter.

    Figure 11 warming up the chip

    Note : never heat the chip itself! He might be out of order!

    Now let’s comment a little on this video. When you warm up the video card from below (under the chip), try to keep the hair dryer perpendicular to the PCB plane, otherwise I couldn’t shoot and heat at the same time a little. Also, be careful not to hook the small components of the card located on the back side with the bell (they can easily be displaced, given the heated solder under them).

    In the video above, I did not show the whole procedure, as you understand. From below it is necessary to heat long enough (3-5 minutes) so that the smoke from the flux, which you could notice, begins to rise quite intensively above the board (this is evidence that the board has warmed up well). The first stage will be «boiling» and bubbling of the flux — this is normal.

    Also feel free to warm up the place under the crystal itself (you can do this through the board). The main thing: do not hold the hair dryer in one place — move it smoothly over the area (to exclude places of local overheating of the surface). Hold the nozzle of the hair dryer at a distance of 2-3 centimeters from the surface to be treated. I personally set the air flow to the average value, the temperature that the soldering station shows at the same time is 410-440 degrees Celsius.

    The temperature spread here is due to the fact that its sensor itself is located directly in the hot air gun handle, and the air temperature at the outlet of the hot air gun is already different (lower). Plus, here you can add the inevitable heat losses due to the ability to absorb and dissipate heat from the treated surface itself, the temperature in the room, the proximity of the hair dryer to the heated area, the power of the air flow, etc. That is why only empirically it will be possible to select the exact value of the operating temperature (thermal profile) for a particular soldering station.

    How hot should it be? Here, again, there are indirect signs by which we can navigate. The whole procedure takes approximately 5-8 minutes. The spread of time is due to the factors listed above. It also depends on the quality of the flux used, the type of solder from which the BGA array is made on the substrate (lead or lead-free). In the process of strong heating, the flux should evaporate (smoke) decently enough.

    Visual detection of solder melting on the elements located on the chip around the chip (usually a series of small SMD capacitors) can also serve as an important marker. When the solder «shines» on them, this is a sure sign that the substrate balls have reached their melting temperature, which is exactly what we need! For greater confidence, you can take tweezers in your free hand and try to slightly move the chip itself: gently push it (literally by a millimeter — half a millimeter) to the side and you will see how it «swings» and, due to the forces of surface tension of the molten balls from below, stands on place. After that, the heating can be safely stopped!

    Note : some craftsmen use an ordinary building hair dryer instead of a station, or in general, «bake» it in a household oven, after wrapping it in foil! To be honest, I’m not a fan of such radical «repair» methods, you can perform such actions at your own risk, but there are chances.

    During the heating procedure, you can monitor the surface temperature with a thermocouple or a pyrometer (infrared thermometer). This will help in the future to better navigate in the selection of the correct thermal profile.

    Figure 12 chip warm-up temperature control

    Note : when the video card (and any other element) is cooling down, do not use forced airflow — a fan, etc. Let the part cool down naturally, no need to «adjust» it. After all, we don’t need the microcircuit to receive a thermal shock (strike)?

    After repair, it is necessary to check the functionality.

    Naturally, it is necessary to clean the board from flux residues. if rosin remains, it is neutral (does not interact with the components of the board) and, in theory, it can not be washed off, but, for the sake of order, we will thoroughly go over it with a brush with a cleaner, possibly moistened with a special solvent.

    Figure 13 cleaning the chip

    More or less washed (the rosin has dissolved), let it dry and apply fresh thermal paste on the crystal (“KPT”, “AlSil” or “Zalman”):

    chip

    Now we assemble all the components back (we fix the radiator, screw the cooler, connect it to the connector on the board).

    Before installing the card into the system unit, let’s go through (just in case) with a rubber band over the pins of the Pci Express connector and that’s it — you can install the component on the motherboard to check what we got.

    Of course, to be completely sure, we need to have a working operating system, a native video card driver and, run some kind of stress test for example «FurMark» on the stability of image synthesis (for several hours or days with interruptions), which will show us Finally, how good was the repair?

    Figure 15 GPU stress test using FurMark

    See also

    • memory failure, ram failure,
    • I/O port repair, com repair,
    • motherboard performance , processor performance ,
    • ultrasound block diagram , ultrasound functional diagram ,
    • diagnostics of active elements, diagnostics of passive elements,
    • ata-disk failure, ata-disk,
    • motherboard malfunction, motherboard diagnostic equipment,
    • TV repair, monitor diagnostics,
    • hardware malfunctions hdd hard drive their nature of manifestation algorithm for their elimination,
    • troubleshooting, troubleshooting methods,
    • compilation of a troubleshooting algorithm,
    • power supply failure, algorithms for finding faults in the PC power supply,
    • fault diagnosis algorithm , troubleshooting ,
    • network hardware failure, network diagnostic flow chart,

    In general, my friend, you have overcome reading this article about video card troubleshooting. You will have a lot of work ahead of you. Feel free to write comments, develop and happiness will be in your hands.
    I hope that now you understand what is video card troubleshooting, video card repair, reballing
    and why all this is needed, and if you don’t understand, or there are comments,
    then feel free to write or ask in the comments, I will answer with pleasure. In order to understand more deeply, I strongly recommend that you study all the information from the category
    Diagnostics, maintenance and repair of electronic and radio equipment

    Repair of video cards in Tomsk

    Benefits

    We help in hopeless cases. We take money only for the result.

    Convenient location Dom Knigi District

    Positive feedback in Tomsk

    Professional Video Card Repair Equipment

    Fault What happened, how to repair Price
    No picture. Computer with video card won’t start. Problem with main chip or video card power supply (power transistor on video card in
    short circuit, so the computer will not start). Reball (chip soldering) or
    battery replacement
    The driver is not installed. Graphics card only works in safe mode Bad contact between the GPU and pads on the board. Required
    soldering.
    Artifacts in the image. Stripes. Dots. Flicker. Two options for the development of events: either resolder the video chip or change / resolder the modules
    memory
    Physical damage Broken DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort. There are no SMD elements on the board. The fee was subject
    deformations

    * The cost depends on the model of the video card

    Repair your video card

    Reballing procedure video chip.

    Due to constant thermal expansions and contractions, factory defects, physical deformations, the balls stop conducting signals from the board to the chip and the video card stops working.

    Reball (from the English reball) is called the replacement of conductors (balls). The chip is soldered, old balls are cleaned, new ones are installed, and the graphics processor is installed on the board.

    Video card after removing the chip

    The chip has been soldered on the video card. Successful launch.

    Reballing (soldering) of the video chip is carried out on a professional
    soldering station Termopro IK-650 PRO in Tomsk

    Video card repairs made recently

    Fault description: The computer gave one long and two short beeps, no iso

    Performed works: Repair of video card power supply circuits.

    Fault Description: Artifacts

    Completed work: Thermal shrinkage of the GPU.

    Description of the fault: Cleaning with replacement of thermal paste

    Performed work: Cleaning the cooling system with the replacement of thermal paste

    Description of the problem: cooler does not work

    Work performed: cooler lubrication

    Description of the problem: when installing drivers, it gives a BSOD

    Completed work: Diagnostics. Faulty GPU.

    Description of the fault: Condition: disassembled, not working

    Performed works: Restoration of pads, replacement of defective smd components.

    Spare parts: Miscellaneous Chip FDMF 6823A FDMF6823A QFN-40

    Fault description: Safe mode, artifacts

    Completed work: Thermal shrinkage of the GPU processor.

    Fault description: cooler repair

    Completed work: Cooler repair, replacement of thermal paste.

    Fault Description: Artifacts

    Completed work: Diagnostics.

    Description of the malfunction: smd components are missing, tracks are torn off

    Completed work: Restoration of electrically conductive tracks, installation of missing smd components.