Fixing a Viewer's BROKEN Gaming PC? - Fix or Flop S4:E10

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Welcome to Fix or Flop! We're up to Season 4, Episode 10. This viewer's (my brother-in-law) gaming PC has on-screen artifacting! Can it be fixed? By the way, if you live in the Orlando, FL area and have an issue with your PC, apply to have it (possibly) fixed for free today! gregsalazar.com/fix-or-flop
Check out other Fix or Flop episodes in this playlist: • Fix or Flop
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#FixOrFlop

[@EhhSnowy]

Artifacting🚫 Digital Camo✅

[@itsdaejon]

I mean he’s not wrong 😂

[@GregSalazar]

Shout-out to digital camo :-D

[@Amin_CA]

Congrats on the Sainz pole though

[@titgig7232]

I don't know why you're so judgemental? Reasonable people buy gpu and drugs at gas stations. I do it all the time.

[@mopioline65]

look at the bend in the pcb, that thing has ripped solder away from the chip. and when the pcb is bent, there's no way to fix it. never let your GPU's sag folks.

[@zhaf]

Thumbs up from Solid Snake!

[@SkateClipsAndTips]

Send this card to northwest repair! He's great at repairing cards

[@BucketNakedz]

Nate seems like a cool guy. Greggy such an awesome bro in law.

[@PillowOfEvil]

​@michaelscarport or gas stations that sell GPU's.

[@Big_boom90]

His reaction at the end about being grateful for a working gpu! Very nice seems like another great dude. Imo most gamers and pc nerds are awesome people lol 😂🤝💪

[@HazewinDog]

@@ShionneChan are there still real driver issues? I know less popular DX9 games are always going to be hit or miss, but I figured aside from that things should be good now.

[@NowThatsPCGaming]

I have learned how to build, diagnose, fix and customize my PCs all thanks to Jay and of course Greg. Not only that, but my family now comes to me for PC related issues instead paying Geek Squad who sometimes just makes the problem worse. i say that to say thank you Greg. keep it up!

[@Bill30006]

Now instead of paying geek squad, they can pay you lol. Nice job

[@dragonman910]

​@@Bill30006"If you're good at something, never do it for free." Joker

[@OGruurd]

​@@hmello3250Why so negative? There are plenty people who dont mind a tech support. Just make sure to balance it out, ask some help back with other stuff.

[@Adam-fz6sj]

Geek Squad is pretty useless when it comes to fixing something. For example, I did a factory reset on a laptop of my moms, the problem persisted. They charged my mother $75 to Factory reset her laptop and told her it was fixed. Spoiler alert it is not. The mother board and other components are not meshing properly, and the bios is locked.

[@tomtemple69]

yeah, it's ALWAYS better to learn how to do things yourself, fixing your car, small home repairs, making food etc the quality of parts and service of everything is decreasing, everyone will need to become independent

[@larryrodriguez1977]

I have the tools! and the replacement chips for memory. I'd love a chance to repair this card as I've been doing repairs like this for a few years now. Let me know man. Great video once again

[@abrararifify]

Gonna comment on your comment just to bring it up haha

[@Roman00744]

@@abrararifify didn't help, it's 15th comment for me

[@WebbTech1]

Greg, northwestrepair would be a great recommendation for the 3080 repair as well. That guy is the only tech on KZbin that I watch who goes step by step fixing gpu's. Fascinating stuff! Thanks for the video!

[@bothellkenmore]

I recently found that channel. I'm not sure where he is up here (Portland/Seattle) but that's a bit of a ship from Florida.

[@famousfighter2310]

I was about to say

[@benjaminsmekens2344]

Said the exact same thing, he can get this fixed as long as the core isn't dead.

[@TheBuzzorca]

Would be good to see northwestrepair repair this card

[@Vitormarques542]

northwestrepair is my recomendation Northridgefix is just a mosfet replacer other than that the gpu is a no fix...

[@TheGameBench]

My guess would be some bad memory or a core that needs to be re-balled. I don't know what he charges, but you could send it to northwestrepair and he can figure out pretty quick which it is. There are some Hynix modules that don't take much heat to go south.

[@SkateClipsAndTips]

I think he charges at most 200 bucks, unless he has to order parts. My 3060ti has hynix memory chips, so I undervolted my card -900mv and underclocked the memory -100mhz. It's running a lot cooler and runs great! I know it will fail eventually though, just will last a bit longer

[@-Noble]

@@SkateClipsAndTips did not expect to see a reference to northwestrepair here, but I sent a 2080 Ti FTW3 Ultra to him I believe 2 months ago, and he got it fixed quickly! He said it was a blown resistor I just paid $100 + shipping to him + shipping back to me

[@Roman00744]

@@-Noble haha I think I watched that video, got the same card too, 1 of the best 2080ti

[@DuneRunnerEnterprises]

About tham 3060TI. There's a huge quantity of them, with a VERY early production Hynex ram memory chips. The ram chips fail,so you need to consider replacing them, for Samsung ones. It was a very knowledgeable Russian speaking hardware repair blogger,VicOn/Off,who discovered this.

[@SkateClipsAndTips]

@@DuneRunnerEnterprises I am considering sending it to northwestrepair once it fails, I don't have the experience with gpu repair. He doesn't replace memory chips unless they failing. I am also considering just letting my card die eventually to upgrade to a gpu with more vram since games now a days require more than 8gb of vram. They require 12gb of vram minimum now a days

[@actschp1]

You should check to see if it was mined on. If there is a custom BIOS on the card, that could be a contributing factor.

[@Viking8888]

I definitely would love an update on that 3080 Greg. I love watching board repairs. I wish I had the skill and equipment. I watch Northridge fix and Chris Fix Germany a lot.

[@Mike1984-lc9rh]

Hey Greg, I'm local. Any chance I could get that GPU and try a repair. I have a complete e-lab with all tools needed. I'd record the repair and provide you with the content as a follow-up.

[@UnknownUser_0000]

Love this, hope it works out bro. 🤙

[@dcemtp1]

Hope he sees this!

[@uatlagh]

Let’s get that 3080 fixed

[@Mike1984-lc9rh]

@@uatlagh Looks like he is only interested in a colab with an existing and large YT channel.

[@uatlagh]

@@Mike1984-lc9rh understandable

[@watercannonscollaboration2281]

From now on I will forever refer to a GPU artifacting as “digital camo”

[@Ferrari255GTO]

"The gas station effect" XD

[@t3amb4sh]

Super positive and nice guy, your brother in law , always with a smile on his face! Nice video , once again ^_^

[@Dawelio]

Absolutely love this series from you Greg, have done ever since it's inception. Keep up the awesome work! :)

[@walkinzorochi9461]

good stuff greg, thanks for the vids

[@allcarparebeautiful]

Hi Greg 😎 this screams so loud for a collaboration with northwestrepair 😉👍🏻 I'm 100% sure he'll get the card back 🙂 so that it works perfectly

[@FatCatFanatic]

Definitely! N-WR is the GOAT.

[@RybekRybs]

YES, northwestrepair is the guy to go to!

[@ivovass195]

Yes for sure

[@SKLL3TR]

Nate is just happy to be there lol what nice dude, loved this episode quite refreshing too

[@AgingChris]

Great video as always Greg

[@nextcornerman]

Awesome video Greg! Keep us posted if that 3080 gets fixed!

[@ShaneCutting]

If you look at the original time you plugged it in, you can already see some artifacting and spotting. Great job as usual

[@numberblue1781]

I love fix of flop, keep it up!

[@rowdydog]

Let's see more of Nate!!! Great video, I always thought gas station cards, were a sure thing. Maybe, I'll try WalMart's parking lot, when looking for parts.

[@jenielsison8795]

I miss this series, finally ❤❤❤❤

[@yiannos3009]

Sounds like something @northwestrepair can fix. @GregSalazar consider sending the 3080 to him and give us a post-fix update?

[@craftymulligar]

Look at the brother in law smiling, he knew from jump he was going to a card on loan or given.

[@Jumbro6]

Seems like a memory error, running a memory test could point to which memory chip has an issue. Could be as simple as swapping a chip. Check out Northwest repair, I love that guy. Would be an awesome collab!

[@RaiderWolf-yd6nm]

"Gas station video card" 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 But it looks like it's crooked.

[@garyrichards6079]

Greg needs a MEME making up for him , Him and POWER strips !!! lol ...

[@SkateClipsAndTips]

Get some merch saying "I forgot to turn the power strip on"

[@garyrichards6079]

And for second i thought you was in a Micro Centre ... lol

[@hugoalejandro27]

Nate just complicated things with that amazing ending.

[@mikeelek9713]

That is one of the best intros and purchase stories that I've heard in some time.

[@alanw737]

I imagine some dude in a gas station with a trench coat and he opens it up and he has a bunch of video cards on the inside.

[@P0LAR07]

Greg: Don't use a daisy chained cable Also greg: Uses a daisy chained 6+8pin cable

[@absentary9219]

He specifically said for the 3080. The 3070 isn't quite as power hungry

[@privateer236]

Love your videos, very informative. As far as I'm concerned you're probably too generous with replacement cards. Great work, looking forward to the next video.

[@sotg671]

Nate Dawg and Ol'Greg! Great video!!!

[@adil-blue-blood7626]

hey my friend always enjoying your videos

[@massivemancomputers]

Would love to see a follow up to see if that card was repairable.

[@andrewheavenridge7955]

This is one of the best looking, broken, PC's I've seen you work on.

[@_packa_2731]

His 3080 is totally repairable, maybe ask NorthWest Repair? He's really good.

[@jamespressey8610]

13:40 you killed the card even more. 🤣

[@nimamaster6128]

If it's out of warranty send it to Northwest repair. He specializes in gpu repair and can reball the memory chips/core if needed.

[@aachaion]

I'm not sure that dudes you meet in a gas station parking lot offer warranties.

[@sapirsuissa617]

I really wish this collab would take flight, it sounds like an interesting story to follow

[@morrisenslin2194]

Send that 3080 to Northwestrepair, that chap knows what he's doing.

[@animalyze7120]

Pro tip: I will always send these types of video card problems back to the manufacturer for RMA. Most companies are great even if out of warranty they will often repair either free or for a small fee and/or replace the card at a pro rated price. MSI, Asus and Gigabyte have helped greatly in the past in this way. EVGA is top notch and most often just replaced the card out right probably then repairing the old card or recycling it. Most of the time it costs shipping plus a small fee but with these higher end cards the fee out weighs by a ton replacing it with a new one. Always reach out you'll often be suprised by what they can do for you, especially with a card that is only 1 generation old, they often have many pcb's still laying around to swap out. Great video!

[@itsKtoday]

oh the digital camo lol love that phrase!

[@itsKtoday]

My ocd could not take my eyes off the none pci express slot covers!

[@MisadventureMisty]

I really enjoy these videos Greg. I HATE that you were having to constantly “explain” yourself for fear of nasty comments. I wish people would just sit back, enjoy the video, and debate on the possibilities for the failure. You’ve taught me more than almost anyone on KZbin with this series and I really hope it continues.

[@maskaren]

Electronics degrade over time and sometimes need more power to function correctly at default speed. A free option is to lower the core/memery clock by 10% with software and see if it helps, then fine tune. Sometimes the default volt becomes too low for the default speeds. I recommend lowering the speed over upping the voltage. Could help the card survive a while longer. Better to lose a few percent performance if it means you can continue using the card.

[@ragalthor]

Digital camo, that's a new one. And I will definitely use that term now.

[@dynogix]

That's vram issue for sure...did you notice the mem temperatures while benching? Is a common issue with a lot of 3080s

[@SkateClipsAndTips]

@@mikeycracksonBesides samsung chips the others are pushed too hard with overclocks/temps, which leads to them failing or needing to be reballed/reflowed

[@jordanlazarus7345]

@@SkateClipsAndTips as far I'm aware it has nothing to do with overclocking, it's more to do with the fact that these cards were shipping out of of the factory with memory hitting 100c constantly.

[@MacCheetah3]

@@jordanlazarus7345 Sadly, yeah. GDDR6X runs super hot in general and Nvidia even allows it to run up to 110ºC -- that's with stock/out of the box boost.

[@SkateClipsAndTips]

@@jordanlazarus7345 crappy design regarding cooling, undervolting the card and underclocking the memory could probably give better temps

[@jordanlazarus7345]

@@SkateClipsAndTips I'm a massive fan of undervolting the core on my cards but it sucks that there isn't such an easy solution for memory that doesn't sacrifice performance

[@RVail623]

DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) can sometimes help in similar situations, although probably wouldn't have helped in this particular case of apparent hardware failure. You may want to consider creating a portable "Windows to Go" bootable external SSD, which would bypass the user's own installed software environment. Rufus includes the option to create "Windows to Go".

[@Alalpog]

Buying GPUs at a gas station: ❌ Buying GPUs at convenience stores: ✅

[@astroworfcraig9164]

Such a good brother-in-law you are!

[@kapeq2320]

Artifact won’t mean anything anymore from now on. It’s going to be digital camo from this day forward. Thank you Mr Studios’ BIL

[@johnpaulbacon8320]

Great video.

[@illmonkeyz]

That one different colored led on the ram is killing me inside haha

[@thseed7]

Really interesting video.

[@Xero2924]

awesome brother in law !😊

[@luciantermopan]

You should talk to Northwest Repair, he's a GPU repair technician an has an amazing collection of videos. He's US based and has great prices!

[@Msanchezrc]

Nate never stopped smiling jajajaja funny vibe 😂👏

[@knuckleheadcomputers]

Great video very nice of you to give him a card

[@jeffreygrindle6396]

I feel attacked 😂 whats wrong with gas station parts

[@slmjm8849]

Would love to see a follow up on the card for sure!

[@japroject1]

I got my 3080 from a Goodwill lol. Surprisingly "knocks on wood" it's been serving me well for years now.

[@xero5727]

Man, Greg's sister real hit the jackpot with Nate, I'm straight but even I find him cute and funny as heck. Hope to see him more on the channel.

[@shawngleason5521]

Classic....Always forgetting to turn the power on...🤣🤣🤣

[@jusplainscott]

The 3080 was sagging pretty bad. I'd lean towards the core being the issue. Reball/reflow and a sag bracket might fix it.

[@steph_on_yt]

Visual artifacts like that seem more like faulty memory to me, and I'm willing to bet that this card was mined on HARD in its previous life. Greg might be able to eke a bit more life out of it by underclocking the GPU core and memory.

[@stretchable4647]

I'd say both scenario's could be very likely as I did see a fair amount of card sag on the MSI card which likely to cause cracked balls on both the GPU and the VRAM so could need a reflow there. Intensive mining could also cause this as well. Far as getting it repaired maybe reach out to northwest repair as he specializes in graphics card repair

[@MacCheetah3]

@@steph_on_yt I agree about probably mined with especially with the evidence of the card being dismantled previously.

[@ryan24_31]

@@steph_on_yt Agreed. This is a very common issue with the memory chips dying.

[@OGruurd]

Most miners keep their cards at stable voltage, stable temp, stable load. Could be not so bad, sometimes I load 5 games a day on my 3080. Not sure what would be worse after 2 years.

[@MisterSixty]

Nate should do all of your video extros. He's a natural - the camera loves him!

[@victoresarey4036]

Here we go!

[@HazewinDog]

that is an incredible outro from a beginner! even for someone fairly experienced I'd say. He really is a natural... but not at making good judgement calls :)

[@John_the_baptized]

I love how excited he is to be on cam lol

[@paulwilkinson2999]

Thank you my PC had same issue . I just bought a new graphics card waiting for it come.

[@Longlius]

Meeting up at a gas station to trade computer parts is the most southern US thing imaginable.

[@techyescity]

Oh no i was hoping it was not the classical hosing down at the gas station... lol, guess he had to learn the hard way. Though try that new vbios flasher. Might save him.

[@michaelthompson9798]

Great video Greg. Nate seems like an awesome guy ✊💪🥰👍😇. Get him on again!

[@IONindustries627]

Send the card to NorthWestRepair

[@SonOfJoy]

Hey Greg, Northridge Fix is a great place to get that card repaired. Alex is a BOSS when it comes to Electronic Repair.

[@silent9pc]

Biggest problem with him though, is a lot of his solder repair wouldn't even pass class 1 or 2 IPC standards so it'd likely just fail again in the near future. Northwest Repair would be a lot safer bet when it comes to reliability.

[@pfunk5001]

bless his heart

[@richteritwan]

Collaboration with @NorthWestRepair. This guy kills GPU repair.

[@chrismcgraw3399]

You can look up for Northridge fix, they do this kind of repair and may be able to diagnose and fix this . and as i wrote you just mentioned it so i guess you already know what to do then lol my guess is the card suffocated a bit and vram may have had some temp issues and i noticed the card sagged a lot so pcb may have warped a bit so a reball and anti-sag bracket may fix this problem. having a good look with a thermal cam may help point the exact cause of those issues with this gpu.

[@RybekRybs]

Yeeeeah, NF is an no go with BGA, but northwest on the other hand is the guy to go to And yup, sag is most likely the culprit. I've faced similar issue before. Anti-sag bracket or any support is starting to be a requirement for those heavy coolers. Even a cheap $5 screw thingy support from aliexpress will do wonders to alleviate the sag (bought one, works great)

[@MarcoGPUtuber]

The best way to end the day is with Fix or Flop!

[@jayb2705]

That card has 100% been mined on, the 3080's were popular due to the GDDR6X VRAM. The black screen is usually caused by VRAM issues too.

[@unitybeing777]

Dang straight Greg, u did him good, he lucky.

[@poppasteve2976]

Time to reball that card! I tried it with a card that had the same kind of artifacting and it still works to this day.

[@amirafshar2580]

What is reballing???

[@SkateClipsAndTips]

@@amirafshar2580 basically replacing what welds it to the pcb

[@drivingonimpulse]

The bits bits of blue on the far right ram stick is giving me anxiety LOL

[@Takashita_Sukakoki]

Lowering the gpu /mem clock would confirm the defect

[@SkateClipsAndTips]

For my 3060ti with hynix memory chips (the bad ones), I undervolted -900mv and underclocked my memory -100mhz to make it last way longer. It runs a lot cooler and performs great!

[@CornFlakesPC]

Take the GPU to Northridge Fix maybe he can save it. Regarding the Chipset fan, get in touch with the ASRock Support or a Rep if you have one, they usually send you a new fan free of charge. Also it seems that the BIOS Version of that board pretty out of date as the newest BIOSes usually set the Chipset fan into an Semi-Passive mode

[@RybekRybs]

This GPU needs the core and memory checked. NF does not do any BGA work as far as I know, better try northwestrepair, especially that he does lots of GPU repairs

[@CornFlakesPC]

@@hmello3250 Yeah I meant Northwest Repair. I casually mix them both up

[@fattydaddytaddy]

The sag is killing it.

[@Kwachiii]

Ah yes, a new fix or flop episode to watch in the morning

[@braydenhardman3112]

Minus the missing PCIe slots, that's a pretty nice build with either GPUs

[@tako_ro]

chubbyemu made me avoid sushi at gas stations nate made me avoid GPUs sold at a gas stations

[@KeithTingle]

brother in law is AWESOME

[@AndyMitchellUK26]

Try an RMA with MSI. I had a GTX 970 that was DOA from eBay and they replaced it as it was still in warranty. I even broke the warranty sticker to re-paste the GPU and they replaced it. As long as there is no physical damage it's worth a shot.

[@smartin23964]

Some of my best graphics cards were bought at a gas station! 😂

[@D4rkMatter1975]

Great video Greg and Nate! Please do a Collab with Northwest Repair he is super chill and is amazing at fixing GPUs! Also please have Nate back for more videos! He is awesome and seems a really nice guy 👍

[@Willmanis1]

Might be worth trying the oven method on that card. Little bit of heat could help resolder any potential pins that could have been damaged

[@awdrifter3394]

I was just going to suggest that. Nothing to lose now, bake it in the oven and see if that fixes the issue.

[@PillowOfEvil]

Looks like a memory issue. Northwestrepair is one of my favourite guys on youtube that repairs cards and does a great job at it too. Thats where I learend that's likely a memory issue. Your guess that placing it in the lowest spot restricted airflow and one or more memory chips which are usually only passively cooled got fried or unsoldered is probably correct.

[@Gigadenza]

8:40...Having experienced a very similar issue with a successfully RMA's 2080ti, I really had a feeling that was gonna happen!!! Even when installed in the bottom slot, the card was receiving more than adequate airflow with an active cooler of that size. There may not be a whole lot of clearance but case's main chamber still has ventilation beneath for air to be drawn upwards by the heatsinks fans. Artefacts and corruption of that magnitude can often be the consequence of severely defective VRAM or a broken Pixel pipeline. The problem can remain hidden for several hours of routine operation and stress testing but then instantly exhibit itself when any application data is allocated to the faulty component. It's a combination of luck and the extent of the defect that delays this from happening....but once it does, the symptoms are obvious and will persist until the damaged hardware is no longer being utilised. Another thoroughly entertaining and informative video with a signature happy ending!

[@justsumguy2u]

Folks, this is a prime example of what I've been trying to get across; DON'T buy used graphics cards (from gas stations OR ebay). You don't know what you're getting, you have no idea how long it will last, and you don't get a warranty. I know someone in the comments will say "I bought mine used and I've had it for 5 years with no problems"----yep, and there's other people who bought used and only had it last for a couple of weeks---sold as-is, no warranty

[@soccerguy2433]

Bought a used 3070ti from FB. Zero problems

[@justsumguy2u]

@@soccerguy2433Yep, and 10 other guys bought the same card that was dead. Your comment makes no sense, because you don't speak for everyone.

[@miguelfernandez2325]

Never buy a graphics card from some random guy at gas station. Who does that? LMAO

[@RANDOMNATION907]

"I once took a 26th level Boss with a Gas Station Graphics Card. I had to keep a constant stream of piss on her cooler so she wouldn't crash" . . . Nate to his grandkids 40 years from now . . probably.

[@RyeOnHam]

I bought a dog-park 1070 and it's working fine!