GPU Artifacting & VRAM Repair

The symptom, in detail

GPU artifacting is one of the more visually obvious GPU faults. Instead of the clean image you'd expect, you get coloured blocks scattered across the screen during gameplay or 3D workloads. Sometimes textures flicker or smear. Sometimes there's a snowy overlay on parts of the image. Often it's worse in scenes that push more VRAM, less obvious on the dashboard or in 2D applications.

Sometimes the system reports the card has less VRAM than it should: an 8GB card showing as 6GB, a 16GB card showing as 12GB. That's a different presentation of the same underlying issue: one or more of the discrete VRAM chips on the board has failed or is failing intermittently.

Why VRAM fails

The VRAM chips on a modern GPU are running fast and hot. They sit physically close to the GPU die, share part of the same thermal environment, and have their own demanding power and signal requirements. Failure modes include thermal stress over time, sustained high-power workloads (mining workloads are notorious for accelerating VRAM wear), and physical damage to one of the small components nearby.

How we figure out which chip

The bench process for VRAM diagnosis involves identifying which memory position is showing errors. A typical card has 8 to 12 VRAM chips around the GPU die, and only one or two are usually the actual problem. Using diagnostic tools and pattern analysis of the artifacting itself, we narrow down which specific chip has failed. Then we know what to source.

Replacing a VRAM chip

GDDR6 and GDDR6X are BGA components, soldered to the card with the same ball-grid-array technology as the GPU itself. Removal requires controlled hot air, careful temperature management, and microscope work to lift the failed chip cleanly without damaging the pads underneath. The replacement chip has to match the original's speed grade and capacity, which is why parts sourcing is the longest part of this job.

Once the replacement is on, the card goes through bench validation: VRAM testing under load, temperature monitoring, extended stress testing on the affected memory region. Validation continues until we're confident the repair is solid, not just that the card boots cleanly.

If it turns out not to be VRAM

Sometimes a card comes in for artifacting and the diagnosis points elsewhere. Failing GPU power delivery, thermal issues, or BGA joint cracking under the GPU die itself can produce artifacting that looks like VRAM failure. We diagnose first and quote based on what we actually find. If the answer turns out to be BGA reflow on the GPU rather than VRAM replacement, the quote reflects that.