Gateway FX 6831-03 video card

Emerald Mercy

Emerald Mercy

I have owned this computer for several years now, and I have found one critical error it has. After I paid for a 3 year warranty, just a few weeks later, the video card overheated. I thought this was because of the long days of gaming, but I started noticing that it occurred regularly after that point, about one every two months, then each month, and the time frame kept getting shorter until today, which now I cannot get the video card on for any length of time.

I would like advise from anyone who has the knowledge... how can I fix the video card best at a low cost as I am now in college paying rent and such. Is it better to replace the video card? or is it better to get it fixed somewhere else? Would it be better to buy a new computer and move all my personal files to that computer, and if so, which computer is best? Also, is it possible to change to an nVidia Graphic card even though my computer came with an ATI Radeon originally?

Any advice would be much appreciated, as I need this computer for both college and for my gaming and video editing past time.

Thank you,

-Emerald Mercy

Moderator note: Moved from this thread - https://www.techspot.com/community/...-desktop-pc-review.145695/page-2#post-1374092
 
How often do you clean out the PC? It could be time to blow the dust out.

Have the fans been checked, to make sure they are still functioning properly?
 
I clean out the PC about 2-3 times a year. The fans are working, I got MSI afterburner, and revved them up, which helps cooling, but any GPU demanding program no longer works for long, since it will quickly (within seconds) reach 100 degrees, in turn which will turn off my screen and force shutdown my computer.

I was planning to upgrade my video card since this one seems to have this issue after a while, and I was thinking of upgrading to an AMD 7870 since it seems the one with the most bang for your buck. If I do, will it work? I never replaced a video card before, but I have reseeded it several times.

Thank you

PS. Sorry it took so long to get back to you. I had log-in problems.
 
Emerald Mercy said:
I clean out the PC about 2-3 times a year. The fans are working, I got MSI afterburner, and revved them up, which helps cooling, but any GPU demanding program no longer works for long, since it will quickly (within seconds) reach 100 degrees, in turn which will turn off my screen and force shutdown my computer.

I was planning to upgrade my video card since this one seems to have this issue after a while, and I was thinking of upgrading to an AMD 7870 since it seems the one with the most bang for your buck. If I do, will it work? I never replaced a video card before, but I have reseeded it several times.

Thank you

PS. Sorry it took so long to get back to you. I had log-in problems.
Click to expand...
Well if your temps are hitting 100 and shutting down, theres probably either been a separation of the heat sink from the GPU or the Thermal Grease has gone bad in some way. If you want to just fix it and your happy with the current GPU, I would take it out, take off the heat spreader, put a fresh thing of thermal paste (Any tech store will have this for like 10 bucks), re-attach the heat sink, and try again. That will be your cheapest repair possible to and should resolve the issue, you also have to make sure the pads on the video card line up right and all.

If you want to just get a new card, go for an R9 270/270X, its in-expensive and come with updated drivers among other things including better heat spreaders. They are basically re-branded 7870's so it will be more than fine and is what your looking for. You can swap to Nvidia if you like, just make sure to uninstall AMD Catalyst and put Nvidia control panel in its place of course.
 
Emerald Mercy said:
Would that video card be worth an extra 50$ compared to the AMD HD 7870?
Click to expand...
No, they are the same video card to an extent. They use the same GPU, ram, etc its just a difference in the coolers and core clocks. I would just get the least expensive version since your looking to keep a good budget like this one. I did not notice newegg had hiked the price on those cards up so I would definitely just get a 7870 like I linked to.

Alot will have to do with if you want to splurge a bit more on a higher overclocked edition with a better cooler. Take this one for example, it is the highest overclocked version of the R9 270X (Which is the HD 7870 rebranded) and with that 3 fan cooler you can push it even further. But honestly, both cards I linked are the same just going to come at higher core clocks or different coolers.
 
Yes, that one. Except the 7870 (Not the devil version) is priced quite cheaper than it was on amazon... hmmmm... Either way, thanks.
 
Emerald Mercy said:
Yes, that one. Except the 7870 (Not the devil version) is priced quite cheaper than it was on amazon... hmmmm... Either way, thanks.
Click to expand...

Happens, depends on where you look because at times Amazon when selling direct from Amazon (Not other sellers on amazon) it is cheaper. However newegg alot of times keeps a good price on those cards and tech in general. It really just comes down to the demand and such which changes regularly, but newegg alot of times is the better place to shop because of coupons and bundles.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

T
"Warning Will Robinson, does not compute" - My "WTF" moment and why TechSpot recommends Gigabyte?
Replies
2
Views
643
TheBigFatClown
T
Shawn Knight
All-digital SAT to be administered for the first time this weekend
Replies
7
Views
173
BillieSonger
B
anarchistpuding
I want to build a PC from 2008
Replies
5
Views
1K
ihaveaname
I

Latest posts

Back