Yes. Box up the faulty card in Brisbane, post it south to our Sydney workshop, and the repair is done at component level: the fault is traced to the one part that gave out, be it a scorched connector, a blown power stage or a failed memory chip, and that part is replaced so the card does not have to be written off. We are in Sydney's Hills District, near Castle Hill. There is no Brisbane shopfront, so every Queensland job reaches us by post.
Repairs start from $330. The bench diagnostic costs $150 and is taken off the invoice in full when you approve the repair. After that, a 12-month warranty covers parts and labour, the same cover a Sydney drop-off card gets. Postage both ways is yours to book and pay for, at whatever speed and cover you pick. The Australia-wide mail-in hub describes the full service; what follows is the Brisbane end of it.
To get a job number, fill in the form below or ring 0400 454 859 (8am–6pm, Monday to Saturday). Our reply by email gives the likely cause, a starting price, the job number and the workshop's street address, which is kept off the website. Pack the job number with the card. Once it is diagnosed you get a fixed quote, and nothing is repaired until you say yes.
Brisbane to the bench and back, in business days
The transit rows come from Australia Post's Domestic Delivery Estimator; its current edition took effect on 1 July 2023 and nothing newer has been published. They cover Brisbane to the Sydney Metro delivery area our workshop sits in, and they are estimates, not guarantees.
| Leg | Express Post | Parcel Post |
|---|---|---|
| Post down to Sydney | 1 | 2–4 |
| Bench time: cooling or firmware fault | 1–2 | 1–2 |
| Bench time: power stage or memory fault | 3–7 | 3–7 |
| Post back to Brisbane | 1 | 2–4 |
| All up, thermal job | 3–4 | 5–10 |
| All up, power stage job | 5–9 | 7–15 |
Say a February storm has killed the card, it needs new power stages, and you send it Express both ways. A day to reach us, three to seven days on the bench, a day to come home: five to nine business days all up. Add however long the quote waits for your approval and the invoice for payment, since the card only ships once it is paid. A reball or physical-damage repair needs five to ten bench days; intermittent faults run longer, and anything waiting on an ordered part depends on supply.
Worth knowing: on the Brisbane–Sydney run, Express Post comes with Australia Post's next-business-day guarantee, which applies only within the Express Post network linking the capital cities. The conditions: lodge on a weekday before your Post Office shuts, or before the yellow Express box cut-off (commonly about 4pm, though it varies). Using a red street box, or leaving the parcel in a Parcel Locker, voids it. The remedy for a late guaranteed parcel is the postage back, not the value of the card, and public holidays are not delivery days.
What a Brisbane search turns up, and the questions worth asking
At the time of writing, the top result for graphics card repair in Brisbane is a Reddit thread, not a repairer. Under it: general computer shops, a national chain that shows no prices and no warranty term, and one shop whose mention of replacing diodes and capacitors runs to a few lines. We found no Brisbane business clearly presenting itself as a component-level graphics card specialist. A quiet website proves nothing either way, so ask anyone you are considering:
- Will you replace the part that failed, or sell me a new card?
- How much is the diagnostic, and does it come off the repair?
- Do I get a fixed price before you start?
- How many months does the repair warranty run?
- If it cannot be fixed, what is the bill?
Ours, in the same order: the failed part is replaced; $150, taken off when you proceed; yes, a fixed quote; 12 months on parts and labour; and the $150 plus return postage, with an explanation of the failure.
Three situations favour staying in Brisbane. A recent card goes to its retailer first (see below). If you are not yet sure the card is the culprit, a local shop can test it in another PC before any postage is spent, and the GPU artefacting guide lists the home tests worth running first. And when a card's resale value is only a couple of hundred dollars, a $150 diagnostic plus two postage legs rarely makes sense.
Queensland summers, storm season and the faults they cause
The Bureau of Meteorology's mean maximums for Brisbane are 29.7°C in December, 30.4°C in January and 30.2°C in February. A card cools itself with the air in the room, so a hot room leaves its cooler less margin, and over a few summers the paste and pads between the chips and the heatsink can dry out and stop moving heat well. What you notice: fans loud at light load, clock speeds sagging in games, crashes that seem to follow the weather. The remedy is a thermal service: from $330, typically one or two bench days.
Storm season is the other local pattern, and Brisbane City Council puts it at October to March. Energex says lightning is the most common cause of power surges and spikes, and it lists computers among the equipment commonly affected. If a surge gets past the power supply, it can damage the power stages that step the voltage down for the graphics chip. That kind of fault may show as fans spinning for a second before the card cuts out, or a PC that will not start with the card fitted. Power stage repair starts from $430.
Two cautions. A surge can hit more than one component, so rule the power supply and motherboard in or out before blaming the card. And the Queensland Government's advice costs nothing: it recommends unplugging electronic devices to protect them from power surges, which for a PC means pulling the plug when a storm is forecast.
Prices, with a worked insurance example
Brisbane jobs are billed at the Sydney walk-in rates. All figures are starting points; the firm number is in your quote after diagnosis.
| Work | Price |
|---|---|
| Repaste and new thermal pads | From $330 |
| BIOS / firmware recovery | From $330 |
| Connectors, ports, traces (melted 12VHPWR and 12V-2x6 too) | From $370 |
| Power stages, MOSFETs, VRM | From $430 |
| Memory chips, GDDR6 / GDDR6X | From $530 |
| Reflow or reball | From $630, priced per card |
| Diagnosis | $150, waived if you go ahead |
| Extra Cover, $1,200 card, one leg | about $27.50 |
Reading the insurance row: both Parcel Post and Express Post come with up to $100 of loss-or-damage cover built in. Extra Cover charges $2.50 per additional $100, capped at $5,000 of value. Value the card at $1,200 and that is 11 steps, roughly $27.50 per leg on top of postage. Above $500, Signature on Delivery ($2.95) is compulsory as well. To claim, you will need to show proof of lodgement and proof of value within six months, and there is no payout at all if the packing was inadequate.
GeForce and Radeon desktop cards are welcome whatever the badge, from ASUS, MSI and Gigabyte to Sapphire, PowerColor and XFX. Repairs most often pay off on GeForce RTX 30, 40 or 50 series and Radeon RX 6000 through 9000 cards.
Posting from Brisbane: practical points
- Go to the counter. Red street boxes and Parcel Lockers void the Express guarantee, and the counter receipt doubles as proof of lodgement. In storm season, carry the box in something waterproof.
- Consider Express on this route. One business day each way instead of two to four can have a thermal job back up to six business days sooner, and Brisbane–Sydney is covered by the next-day guarantee.
- Double-box it. Australia Post's advice is a snug, rigid inner box inside an outer box, with cushioning between the two. Sendle suggests anti-static bagging, a minimum of 7cm of cushioning, and shaking the sealed box to check nothing shifts. Do not rely on a “Fragile” label.
- Card alone, plain outer box. Cooler on; cables, bracket and retail box stay behind; job number inside. Aramex warns against boxes that advertise electronics.
The mail-in hub has the complete packing steps, water-cooled cards included.
Under warranty or recently bought: the retailer comes first
Where the card is fairly new, return it to the Brisbane shop or online retailer you bought it from before it goes in the post to anyone. Your consumer guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law are separate from the manufacturer's warranty, cannot be taken away by it, and can outlast it. The claim runs through the seller, who is not allowed to point you to the manufacturer instead, and with a major failure you decide between refund and replacement. Misuse damage and private-sale purchases are not covered; for those, or after a refusal, repair by post is the next step.
Brisbane suburbs and Queensland centres we accept cards from
Cards are welcome from the whole of greater Brisbane: the CBD (4000), Fortitude Valley, New Farm, West End, Toowong, Indooroopilly, Kenmore, The Gap, Chermside, Aspley, Nundah, Carindale, Coorparoo, Wynnum, Mount Gravatt and Sunnybank, plus North Lakes, Redcliffe and Strathpine in Moreton Bay, and Logan, Ipswich and the Redlands. Further out, we take cards from Toowoomba, the Gold and Sunshine Coasts, Gympie, Hervey Bay, Bundaberg, Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville and Cairns. The day counts above are Brisbane's; check a regional postcode in Australia Post's estimator.
Return labels, check-in and the rest of the detail are on the Australia-wide mail-in page. If the card is not worth sending, a phone call will tell you before you buy a box.
Questions
Can a dead GPU be revived?
Often, yes. A card that shows no picture, will not let the PC start, or runs its fans and then stops has often lost just one part, such as a power stage or a memory chip, and the graphics processor itself may be untouched. Replacing that part brings the card back. Not every card can be saved, which is why the $150 diagnostic comes first. If yours is beyond repair, you pay that and the return postage, and we explain what failed.
My graphics card died in a storm. Can it be fixed?
Often it can. Energex names lightning as the most common cause of power surges and spikes, and a surge that gets past the power supply can damage the power stages feeding the graphics chip. Replacing them starts from $430. Before posting, try the card in another PC if you can, because the same surge may have hit the power supply or motherboard. Mention the storm on the form so the diagnostic starts in the right place.
How long does a graphics card last?
There is no set number of years; it depends on how hot and how hard the card runs, and how much dust its cooler collects. Brisbane's January mean maximum is 30.4°C, so a PC in an un-air-conditioned room works its cooler hard and the paste and pads can dry out sooner. When a card stops, the cause is often one component rather than the whole board, so failure need not be the end. A thermal service, from $330, is the cheapest way to extend its life.
What does GPU repair cost for Brisbane customers?
Brisbane customers pay the Sydney workshop's walk-in prices. Cooling work and firmware recovery begin from $330, connector and port jobs from $370, power stages from $430, memory chip replacement from $530, and from $630 for a reflow or reball, quoted per card. The $150 diagnostic is waived in full if you approve the repair. Postage both ways is extra and your choice; Extra Cover on a $1,200 card is about $27.50 each leg.
How long does the post take from Brisbane?
Express Post from Brisbane is estimated by Australia Post at one business day to our part of Sydney; Parcel Post at two to four. The return takes about as long. Brisbane–Sydney Express is covered by the next-business-day guarantee, provided you lodge it at a Post Office or yellow Express box on a weekday before closing; if it is late, you are refunded the postage only. Sent Express both ways, a thermal job comes to three to four business days door to door.
Start a Mail-In Repair from Brisbane
Tell us the card and what it is doing. We come back with the likely cause, a starting price, the workshop address and your job number.
Mail-In Pages for Other Capitals
- Graphics card repair Melbourne
- Graphics card repair Perth
- Graphics card repair Adelaide
- Graphics card repair Canberra
- Graphics card repair Hobart
- Graphics card repair Darwin
- Graphics card repair Sydney: drop-off at the workshop
- Mail-in graphics card repair, Australia-wide: regional and remote towns, packing guide
Ring before you pack a Brisbane card
Call 0400 454 859 (8am–6pm, Monday to Saturday) and describe the fault. Before you spend anything on postage, we will say whether the card is worth sending south.
0400 454 859