What is wrong with my computer?

Hi, I need help isolating a problem. It seems my computer runs fine, but as soon I start a game (ex. Diablo 3), my computer would freeze up after a few minutes.I tried this several times and the results are consistent. My mouse pointer would become very laggy, then the screen freezes and finally, shows the image below.




I ran the diagnostic (F12) on start-up several times, and it passed all the tests. Any help on this issue is greatly appreciated.

 

Your GPU may be starting to die. It could be that only at 3D clocks the card crashes at the moment. If it dies completely then even when you boot you will have lines across the screen.

What card do you have? The M15x has a huge compatibility with newer cards up to and including the 7970M, 8970M, 680M cards (as well as lesser cards)

 

It looks like the video card is no longer reliable, you may need a replacement.
Have you tried reinstalling the video drivers?

 

I tried reinstalling the drivers several times, but the problem stilled persisted. Now I have a tough decision to make on the GPU..... I was actually hoping this laptop would survive one more year for my last year of college, but I guess that's not happening. I just bought a SSD for this laptop too...

 

Pickup a cheaper card like the 6970m, that would do for another year without breaking the bank.

 

Indeed broken GPU doesn:t mean the laptop is finished. Get a new GPU asap. Really easy upgrade in the M15x.

 

I was thinking to go for a 7970m, but having to grind down the screws of the x-plate is holding me back. Don't have the tools to do it, and never done it before.

 

You don't need to grind down any screws. Remove the c-clips and attached screws then either buy some longer screws of the same threading from a hardware store as I did or use the screws from the name plate, which I'm told fit perfectly.

Sent from my One S running 4.4.2

 

Indeed AMD cards need no modding to be done at all! They also work plug and play. Cheap and easy upgrade for M15x.

You will be blown away by the 7970M vs the 260MGTX you probably have. To put things in perspective the 7970M is 4x more powerful than a GTX460M!
The 680M has a little more potential but does require some inf/driver modifications to get is working full speed plus you have to know how to flash the vbios is you want to unlock extreme performance from it. Seeing as you are not too confident technically the 7970M is a great option.

 

What tool will I need to get the screws off the heatsink?

 

a screwdriver

 

That's all I need to remove the "c-clips"?

 

The c-clips can be quite tricky to remove but there is a technique. Use a small flat head screwdriver and try to ping them off my pulling in the tiny little grooves.