new video card or mobo?

I have an 18 month old Gateway DX4640. Video output is apparently gone. I can add or swap parts inside the box and load drivers, but I’m not otherwise very tech savvy. Not sure whether to buy a new v-card or mobo. It seems I’ll spend $75-$125 either way. Thoughts?

OEM mobo is MSI P6NGM-FD. If I look for new mobo, are the key variables Form Factor: Micro-ATX, Socket: Intel 775 and Max RAM: 4mb? Any other considerations?

 

About a month ago, started getting heavy blue tint to video output. I've confirmed it's not the monitor. Just before x-mas, it wouldn't boot. Thought it was the HDD, so I installed a new one today. Still won't boot but couldn't get any video output to adjust bios/boot order.

Also, PSU seems intact based on 2 fans getting power although I’m still not convinced it’s even booting. Sounds as though HDD is starting but not getting to boot sector. I’ve tried to boot it with and without power and SATA cables connected to original HDD. I have recovery CD’s but sys not getting to this boot device. I had no luck with the HDMI video output either.

TigerDirect has 40 mobos with Intel 775 socket & DDR2. (See breadcrumbs at top of page.) On the left there are eight Micro-ATX and one M-ATX. Is there a difference? So, does this mean that I can order one of these, transfer my CPU, DDR, PCI fax board and [any other components?] to the new board, then plug-n-play with the appropriate drivers?

There’s a significant range of prices. What gives? (I noted from your previous posts you’re a fan of Asus boards.)

 

A couple things. First I would suspect the PSU before anything else. The fact the fans are spinning does not prove the PSU is providing all the necessary voltages. Fans run on 12V, other critical devices run on +5VDC and +3.3VDC.

Also, since this is a Gateway computer (that is, a factory made computer) it is most likely to have come with an OEM License for Windows. OEM licenses are great because they are much cheaper than retail versions. BUT - they are very limited in transfer options. If you end up replacing the motherboard, you MUST replace it with an identical make and model board. See Microsoft Article ID: 824125, How to replace the motherboard where it says (my bold emphasis added),

Also, if you do decide to replace the motherboard, note your current CPU and RAM may not work with it, so replacing a motherboard is very often a major upgrade because you end up with a new CPU and RAM too - and some times a new graphics card as well. Then to power all that, you may need a bigger PSU!