Worried my PC might need a new graphics card, help?

Discussion in 'General Advice' started by Erica, Feb 26, 2019.

  1. Erica

    Erica occasionally vaguely like a person

    Hi! I'm really hoping someone more tech savvy than me will take pity on me bc I only know the bare basics & I am currently the most tech savvy of all my friends. oof.

    Yesterday when I was gonna play video games the game crashed (which happens often) & then when I tried to get task manager up and running everything froze, red dots appeared all over the screen, and I was forced to shut it all down. When I then tried to turn it back on again it gives me approx 2 seconds of the windows symbol, black screen, red dots, "no signal", and then all over again with occasional stops by blue screen informing me windows was not shut down properly and would I like to try again? I've a video of the process:

    Googling for "red dots monitor" indicates I need to check the connection between my graphics card and my monitor, so I disconnected-reconnected those cables to no effect &, yknow, generally turned everything I could think of on and off a few times. No success! This leads me to believe (/fear) that the issue is in my graphics card itself (which is far more likely than it being the monitor bc the graphics card is a couple years older).

    So, question 1: Is there anything else I should check or try before I order a new graphics card?

    question 2 comes after I have accepted my fate and decided a new graphics card is inevitable and I should just bite the bullet

    My PC is a homebuild that a friend basically made for me (I was there for every part of the process, but he very much guided me through it) so replacing only the graphics card is definitely possible, it
    s just I've completely forgotten everything I made myself learn in preparation for building the PC in the first place so now I don't know what to look out for when getting a new one and am scared I'll get one that's either a downgrade from the one I had or incompatible with the rest of the build (I would... really prefer not to have to replace the whole thing.)

    motherboard: ASUS Z97-AP
    CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K
    8gb RAM
    Graphics Card: GeForce GTX 780 Ti
    Power Supply: EVGA Supernova 750 GI 650w
    got both an SSD and a normal harddrive

    so 2. anyone have any tips, either for specific graphics cards that would work with the rest of it or general "here's what to keep in mind while you're looking'?
    3. if i do replace more than just the graphics card what's most in need of an update
     
  2. Saro

    Saro Where is wizard hut

    I'll ask my husband about getting an equivalent or better card, he's built 3 computers and loves researching parts. Not sure about the first though. Sorry :(
     
    • Useful x 1
  3. TheSeer

    TheSeer 37 Bright Visionary Crushes The Doubtful

    The graphics card connection is more than just cables, it's also plugged into your motherboard (on a desktop, anyway, I've never been in the guts of a laptop.) Have you double-checked that connection?
     
    • Useful x 1
  4. Erica

    Erica occasionally vaguely like a person

    Thatd be super helpful, thank you!

    Hmm I have not! Maybe I should just disassemble as much of it as I dare and see if it works again when I put it back together... (I'm just scared I'll forget how it all fits together halfway through lmao but then again what damage can I do when it already isnt working??? yes ok will open thing up and make sure nothing's disconnected itself while i wasnt looking. Thanks! :D)
     
  5. palindromordnilap

    palindromordnilap Well-Known Member

    1) So, before doing anything else, you might want to go into your BIOS and change your default display to the iGPU. Then, plug your display into the motherboard rather than the graphics card.
    After that, I'd recommend at least reinstalling the drivers. (I'd use DDU just in case, it's overkill but eh). Maybe also reflash the graphics card's BIOS too, but I don't think that would be a problem at all.

    2) If performance metrics from Google are accurate, I'd recommend an AMD RX 580/590 (or a GTX 1060 6GB, whichever you can get cheaper) if you want the same level of performance as your 780 Ti, or if you want an upgrade go with a GTX 1070. The AMD Vega 56 is (or was? idk) on a really great sale right now, so you might want to go with that instead. YMMV.

    3) I'd say you might want to upgrade your RAM, but tbh, I'd just wait until prices for that drop, there's kind of a cartel thing going on right now.
     
    • Agree x 1
  6. palindromordnilap

    palindromordnilap Well-Known Member

    Oh, one thing: don't get an used graphics card off Ebay, even if it sounds like a great offer. Even if the card is genuine, the one time I tried that it turned out the card had been used for cryptocurrency mining for years, and even with the factory BIOS reinstalled it just didn't work practically at all.
     
    • Agree x 1
  7. TheSeer

    TheSeer 37 Bright Visionary Crushes The Doubtful

    You're right that the problem is likely with the graphics card. Certainly don't risk your thermal goo by unseating the processor.
     
  8. Erica

    Erica occasionally vaguely like a person

    I can't.... remove the graphics card....

    20190226_133719.jpg
    (sorry about picture being sideways)

    The gap between big silvery fan and graphics card is very tiny and there's the thing I need to press to be able to get the card off the motherboard... I THINK I managed to press it but still can't pull card out & can't check to make sure I didn't mess up the button press since fan is in the way
    I have NO IDEA how to remove the fan. I can't even see where it attaches??? just that it's not to the case on either side. oof.

    RIP me I guess
     
  9. Erica

    Erica occasionally vaguely like a person

    Hmm no I've definitely pressed the thing to unlock it from the motherboard, it just still won't budge---

    wait nvm false alarm i just wasn't using enough force it is out & nothing has broken. hooray! Unfortunately, everything looks fine, and it DEFINITELY was properly attached, so I'm guessing the graphics card itself really has given up on me. goodbye old friend you served me well <///3
     
    • Witnessed x 1
  10. TheSeer

    TheSeer 37 Bright Visionary Crushes The Doubtful

    Plug it back in and try booting again just in case, but I think you're right.
     
    • Agree x 1
  11. Erica

    Erica occasionally vaguely like a person

    Done! Tried using HDMI cable instead too, but did not help :')
    so. yay new graphics card! fingers crossed that works bc if i get a new one and computer STILL doesn't cooperate I will be very sad
    thanks again for the advice!
     
    • Witnessed x 1
  12. Astrodynamicist

    Astrodynamicist Adequate Potato Goblin

    For checking compatibility, pcpartpicker.com is really good. You add all the parts and it’ll give an error message if something isn’t compatible.
     
    • Useful x 1
  13. Erica

    Erica occasionally vaguely like a person

    so, I have yet to order a new gpu (primary reason: am coward)

    Tried turning the computer on again today (hdmi cable not dpi) and it's being.... weird....
    I have yet to make it to the windows login screen but it turned on, told me Windows was fucky, I got to choose between "shut down", "full factory reset" and "factory reset (but keep your personal files)"
    picked the last one
    computer and monitor proceeded to be on its best behaviour through some 1%-100% countdown, then said Windows was reinstalling.... then at a couple percent in it black screened for about half an hour, came back on with the windows symbol and info text saying "ångrar ändringar/regretting changes" aaand shortly after back to "no signal"-ing me
    i have no idea whats going on
    Is there any reason a broken graphics card would mess with Windows or vice versa, and, if I do get a new graphics card and turns out that's not the problem something else is, how likely is whatever this is to break that new graphics card??
     
    • Witnessed x 2
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