Graphics card & hardware repair in Cochrane
CompuTech diagnoses and repairs graphics cards and PC hardware for Cochrane. A PC that died after one of Cochrane's power flickers is usually the power supply taking the hit, and it often protected everything behind it.
- ✓ Free diagnosis with any repair
- ✓ One flat quote before any work
- ✓ No fix, no repair fee
- ✓ Most repairs done same day
Hours, address and more about CompuTech
| Day | Shop | In-home |
|---|---|---|
| Mon | 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM | 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM |
| Tue | 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM | 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM |
| Wed | 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM | 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM |
| Thu | 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM | 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM |
| Fri | 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM | 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM |
| Sat | 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM | 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM |
| Sun | 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM | Drop-off only |
- 303 Wentworth Row SW, Calgary, AB. Walk-ins welcome. Get directions →
- In-home visits booked by phone or online. Call before noon for same day.
- 403-333-3114
- Hours
- CompuTech's shop at 303 Wentworth Row SW, Calgary, AB is open Mon–Sun 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM, walk-ins welcome. In-home visits across Calgary run Monday to Saturday, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM; Sunday is drop-off only.
- The shop
- CompuTech's shop is at 303 Wentworth Row SW, Calgary, AB. Walk in to drop a machine off, no appointment needed. Call CompuTech on 403-333-3114.
- Booking
- In-home visits from CompuTech across Calgary are booked by phone or through the site; calling before noon gives the best chance of a same-day slot.
- Pricing
- Every CompuTech repair in Calgary starts with a free diagnosis and one flat quote before any work. If it can't be fixed, there is no repair fee.
- Turnaround
- Most CompuTech repairs in Calgary are finished the same day. Calling before noon gives the best chance of a same-day slot.
- Who turns up
- CompuTech is one technician who answers his own phone and does the work himself, fixing Calgary's laptops, networks and smart homes since 2015, over 5,000 repairs. CompuTech is rated 5.0 out of 5 across 758 reviews.
- Machines
- CompuTech repairs Windows and Mac laptops and desktops in Calgary, and rescues photos and files from phones and tablets that won't start.
- Customers
- CompuTech works with homes and small businesses in Calgary. Business IT is month to month with no lock-in contract.
- Not offered
- CompuTech is not a phone repair shop, and sends a machine still under manufacturer warranty back to Apple, Dell or Microsoft when that is the better deal for the customer.
- Service area
- CompuTech comes to homes and offices across Calgary and Airdrie, Chestermere, Cochrane and Okotoks. Strathmore, High River, Langdon, De Winton, Rocky View County, Crossfield and Diamond Valley are covered by arrangement.
- Facts reviewed
- Reviewed September 2026. Hours change on the day they change; call 403-333-3114 to confirm before a long drive.
Hardware symptoms and where they point
Loud but still working is the cheap moment. Shutting down is the expensive one.
Out the 1A, into your house
CompuTech treats Cochrane as a standard in-home booking, not an out-of-town trip. Cochrane is on the in-home list. You book a window, we drive out, and the diagnosis happens on your desk rather than on a counter three towns away. Most repairs finish in that visit.
The town's layout does make a difference to one job in particular. Cochrane is built on hills and the newer neighbourhoods climb them, so houses here tend to be tall and narrow rather than wide. A router on the bottom floor is fighting two ceilings by the time the signal reaches the top bedroom. That's a placement problem, not a speed problem, and no amount of paying for a faster plan will fix it.
Town and acreage
In town we cover Sunset Ridge, Riversong, Fireside, Heartland, GlenEagles, Bow Ridge, The Willows and Jumping Pound Ridge. Out of town, the acreages toward Highway 22 and along the Bow are a different animal: the internet is often fixed wireless or satellite, latency is high, and half of what looks like a broken computer is actually a connection dropping out. Worth knowing before you replace a laptop that was never the problem.
The shop at 303 Wentworth Row SW is open seven days if a drop-off suits you better. From Cochrane it's a straight run in on the 1A and down Sarcee.
Crashes under load, and what they point at
How CompuTech reads a crash under load, before anything is replaced. A computer that behaves perfectly for email and falls over the moment you play something or edit video is telling you something specific. Load draws power and makes heat, and load failures are almost always about power, heat, or a part that's failing under stress it can no longer take.
Coloured shapes, flickering blocks and torn textures
Artefacts on screen during games are the classic graphics symptom, and they still aren't proof the card is dying. Overheating memory on the card produces the same effect and is often fixed with fresh thermal pads. So does a driver in a bad state, and so occasionally does a marginal power supply. We separate those before condemning a card.
Sudden restarts with no warning or error
A machine that cuts out instantly rather than showing an error is usually a power problem or a thermal cutout. Power supplies degrade with age and the first sign is often instability under load rather than a clean failure. This is a part people rarely suspect and frequently should.
Random crashes with different errors each time
Inconsistent errors that never repeat the same way often point at memory. It's testable, and testing it costs nothing but time, which is a better place to start than replacing the most expensive component on the assumption that it must be the problem.
Nothing at all when you press the button
A machine that won't start is a process of elimination between the power supply, the board, the memory and occasionally the front panel switch itself. Every one of those is testable, and jumping to a new motherboard without doing it's how people end up spending a lot to fix a cheap part.
Most of these are heat, and heat is maintenance
Most of the hardware faults that reach CompuTech's Calgary bench are heat. A large share of the hardware faults that arrive here aren't failures at all. They are three or four years of dust and a thermal compound that has done its job and dried out.
The pattern is consistent whether it's a gaming laptop or a desktop tower. First the fans get louder. Then performance drops off a few minutes into anything demanding, because the chip is slowing itself down to stay within a safe temperature. Then it starts shutting off entirely. People arrive at the third stage convinced something has died.
- Cooling fins cleared properly rather than blown at from the outside
- Fresh thermal paste on the processor and, on cards and laptops, on the graphics chip
- New thermal pads where the design uses them for memory and power circuitry
- Fans checked for worn bearings, which a clean doesn't cure
- Case airflow looked at, because a clean machine in a sealed cupboard heats up again
- Tested under sustained load with temperatures monitored, not just switched on
If your machine is loud but still working, that's the cheap moment to deal with it. Running hot for years is what turns a maintenance job into a component failure.
What can be repaired on a card, and what can't
What CompuTech can and can't repair on a graphics card. Graphics cards aren't all-or-nothing. Several of the most common faults are serviceable parts, not the end of the card.
- Fans that have stopped or become noisy are a replaceable part on most cards
- Degraded thermal pads on memory cause artefacts and are straightforward to replace
- Dried paste on the main chip causes throttling and shutdowns under load
- Dust in a blower or open cooler design is the cause more often than the card
What's not economically repairable is failure of the graphics chip itself, or damage to the power delivery circuitry around it. Those exist, and when that's what we find we'll say so plainly rather than selling you a service that won't fix it.
The reason to diagnose properly is simple. Graphics cards are among the most expensive parts in a computer, and replacing one that only needed a clean is an expensive mistake.
Upgrades worth doing at the same time
Upgrades CompuTech will suggest while a machine is already open, and the one it won't. If a machine is already apart on the bench, the marginal cost of doing other useful things to it's small. It's worth asking.
The one that changes a machine most is storage. Any computer still running from a mechanical hard drive gets transformed by an SSD, and it's not a close call. Memory is the second, particularly on a machine that slows to a crawl with a lot of browser tabs open. A tired power supply on an ageing desktop is the third, and it's the one that protects everything else in the case.
What we won't do is talk you into an upgrade that doesn't address your actual problem. If the machine is fine and the graphics card just needed cleaning, that's what you'll be told.
How quickly we can get out there
Timing for a CompuTech visit to Cochrane, honestly stated. Usually the same day if you call in the morning, and most jobs are done in that one visit. In-home runs Monday to Saturday. Sunday the shop is open but there are no road visits, so a Sunday emergency is a drop-off.
If a part has to be ordered, you'll hear that on the phone, not after we're standing in your kitchen. Screens, batteries, drives and memory are the common ones, and availability depends on the exact model, which is why we ask for it up front.
Anything needing the bench comes back to Calgary with us. You get a call with what we found and a flat price before any of it starts, and the machine comes back out to Cochrane when it's finished.
No surprises. Ever.
You get a clear, flat-rate quote before any work begins. If we can't fix it, you don't pay the repair fee. Simple as that.
Every job is different, so we look first and quote you directly. No surprises, and nothing happens until you've said go.
Three steps to a stable machine
“Top tier service all the way! I had a laptop display issue that was beyond repair. Rather than recommend a costly display unit replacement, Mohammed gave me a very cost-effective swap option.”
“While many big chain computer repair shops charge absurd prices to run simple diagnostic tests and leave you without your computer for several days, Computech's services are affordably priced and the turnaround time is outstanding. Mohammed takes great pride in his work and in building relationships with his customers- this is uncommon to see in most businesses today.”
“Mohammed provided excellent computer services—professional, efficient, and very knowledgeable. He quickly diagnosed the issue, explained the solution clearly, and delivered exactly what he promised. Highly recommended for anyone looking for reliable and competent IT support. The cookies and coffee he provided were great too.”
Questions, answered
We come out. Cochrane is on the in-home list and gets booked the same way a Calgary visit does.
No. One flat quote for the job, agreed before we start, with nothing added afterwards for travel.
Yes, including out toward Highway 22 and along the river. Give us the address when you book so the window is realistic.
Often same day if you ring in the morning. Calling before noon gives you the best chance of a slot.
Sometimes a lot, sometimes very little, and you deserve to know which before you spend money. We test what the line is delivering, then what your Wi-Fi is doing with it. If the line is the limit we'll tell you that plainly instead of selling you a mesh kit that can't help.
Load failures point at power, heat or a part failing under stress. Everyday use draws very little, so a machine can look perfectly healthy right up until you ask it to work.
Not necessarily. Overheating memory on the card produces exactly that and is often cured with fresh thermal pads. Drivers in a bad state and a marginal power supply can do it too. We separate those before condemning a card.
That usually means power rather than software, because an operating system fault would normally leave an error behind. Ageing power supplies get unstable under load long before they fail outright, and they're one of the least suspected parts.
Classic thermal throttling. The chip is reducing its own speed to stay within a safe temperature because the cooling isn't moving heat away any more. A clean and repaste is the fix.
Every couple of years for most rooms, more often with pets or carpet. If it has never been done and it's three years old, that's very likely your problem.
Usually not. Card fans are a serviceable part on most models, and if the card wasn't run hot for long afterwards it's generally fine.
Failure of the main graphics chip itself, or damage to the power circuitry around it. Those are real and they aren't economic to fix. When that's what we find, we'll tell you rather than sell you a service that won't help.
Elimination. Power supply, board, memory and the front panel switch, tested in that order. All four are testable, and replacing a motherboard without testing is how people spend a lot to fix a cheap part.
Inconsistent errors often point at memory, which is testable at no cost beyond time. It's a better starting point than replacing the most expensive component on a hunch.
Usually same-day as a bench job for both laptops and desktops. Anything needing a part gets a real timeline with the quote.
If it has been throttling, noticeably. You aren't gaining performance, you're getting back what heat was taking away.
Yes. Upgrades, replacement parts and full builds, with honest advice about which parts genuinely change what you do rather than which are most expensive.
If it's still on a mechanical hard drive, an SSD, and it's not close. Memory second if you work with a lot open. A tired power supply on an old desktop is worth doing because it protects everything else in the case.
Yes. Cooling and component work doesn't touch your storage, and anything that does gets backed up first.
One flat quote after the free diagnosis, before any work. No repair fee if we can't fix it.
Desktop diagnosis often starts in-home across Calgary and the nearby towns. Thermal work and component-level repair are bench jobs at 303 Wentworth Row SW, open seven days.
Related pages
Crashing under load?
Book a visit to Cochrane, or call.