![]() If you are using an ATI video card, try the ATITool program to slow down your video card. You can try underclocking your GPU, which puts less stress on the video card as a whole and may solve the problem. Some cards may be rated for a particular GPU speed, but in reality, they can’t consistently run at that speed. It’s also possible that your video card might be running too fast. Either way, try turning down the speed multiplier on the card from 8x to 4x or even 2x and see if that helps with the problem. For an NVIDIA AGP graphics card, you can use RivaTuner to slow down your card non-NVIDIA owners can use PowerStrip. If your computer has an AGP graphics card, then you might try slowing down the AGP ports to see if that resolves the issue. If turning off the sound resolves the problem with your graphics, the problem may be in your sound system and not in the graphics card itself. This sounds counter-intuitive (what does the sound system have to do with the video card?), but sometimes interactions between these two systems can make the whole computer unstable. In cases like this, the video card will usually stop working almost immediately.Īnother thing to test: disable your sound card. If the fan has stopped working on the video card or you see any leaking or bulging capacitors, it’s time for a replacement. While you have your machine open, it’s worth checking for any physical problems. If the new graphics card works without an issue, it’s obvious the old graphics card needed to be replaced. One of the easiest ways to see if your graphics card is the issue is to simply swap out the graphics card for another one and see if the problems go away. We have a how-to article on how to roll back a driver update if this makes things worse and you need a reset. Before you make any changes to your driver software, you should save your system state to a restore point. AMD actually has a free cleaning tool to do this for you automatically. You can find some specific instructions from NVIDIA and AMD here and here, respectively. ![]() Once uninstalled, Windows will use some very basic drivers to display the video on your monitor, so you won’t actually lose video functionality or cause any harm to the card.Īs always, consult your video card manufacturer for specific uninstall/reinstall instructions. You can also try uninstalling the ones you already have and then re-install them to ensure there aren’t any problems there. Next, ensure the drivers on your graphics card (and monitor) are all up to date. Be sure to check out our troubleshooting guide for motherboard failure. It’s also worth noting that if you don’t have a graphics card and are using a motherboard’s integrated graphics, then problems could be a sign of motherboard failure rather than a graphics issue. Run it for a couple of hours - it should be able to handle it without crashing or causing any graphical errors like strange artifacts and stuttering. Use the Heaven Benchmark tool to test your card. For actually testing the card, there’s nothing like putting it through some real-world use. Run GPU-Z and watch the real-time temperature for any oddities. The next thing you can do is run some software tests. If you can open it up and clean out as much dust as possible, that would be the first place to start. With laptops, more often than not, the problem is dust due to them being in such an enclosed space. ![]() Generally speaking, you won’t have an issue with loose connections in a laptop. In some cases, you won’t be able to check connections. Make sure it’s solidly seated in the motherboard and that any secondary connections are also secure. Loose connections can cause many problems, especially with a graphics card. But, if the system crashes and/or blue screens when you start doing some graphic-intensive tasks (e.g., playing video games, watching movies, etc.), this could indicate that your graphics card is on its way out.Īs we always mention in our troubleshooting guides, finding out what’s wrong and diagnosing a problem is usually a process of elimination. ![]() Blue ScreensĪ computer can blue screen for several reasons, whether problems with RAM, hard drives, graphics cards, or other components. Click on FPS and view your frames per second. To check your FPS, click the Windows + G combination on your keyboard. Does your FPS drop during gameplay, and you’ve ruled out other reasons like thermal throttling? If this happens on multiple games and there’s no other reason for the drop, your GPU may be dying. Frame Rate DropsĪnother sign that your Graphics Card may be deteriorating is when your FPS drops dramatically. A restart can sometimes fix this, but once again, if you have a faulty graphics card, expect the problem to come back. Artifacts can be caused by excessive overclocking, heat, and even dust buildup. Similar to screen glitches, a bad graphics card can result in strange artifacts all over your screen.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |