History of memory error leading to multiple BSoDs and eventually video/audio lag

troublerec

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Dec 19, 2016
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To start things off here are my specs

CPU: Intel i7-3700k (with Cooler master hyper 212 EVO) - intel virtualization technology turned on
MB: ASUS P8Z77-V PRO
Main drive: Intel 335 series 240 GB SSD
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 FTW 2 GB
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X series 2x8 GB DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800 9-9-9-24 timing)
PSU: Corsair HX750 (750W) 80+ gold certified
OS: Windows 7 SP1, dual boot with ubuntu via UEFI (neither OS can "see" each other; the problem concerns "only" windows 7 as I haven't even logged into/booted into ubuntu in well over a month or so)
Peripherals - Logitech G500 mouse, CM quickfire keyboard, two generic 23 inch acer monitors

6 ish month ago I noticed that I got a memory reference error popup once or twice per month. I've seen this problem before and it was a RAM issue so I told myself that I'd run a memtest but never got around to it because it wasn't frequent enough for me to be bothered.

Fast forward to around a month ago and I start getting this startup lag. A very unique startup lag. The computer would hang when I opened firefox and chrome (consecutively). On chrome, I have around <40 tabs pinned but this has never been an issue in causing lags or hangs due to my 16 gb RAM + CPU. This initially happened infrequently but started happening all the time which got extremely annoying since I had to manually restart each time. There was less chance of it happening if I allowed all of the startup programs to load first and then launch the browsers (specifically, intel desktop utilities seemed to be a problem) so I uninstalled/disabled a bunch of them but the issue persisted. On top of that the computer now started BSoD-ing at an alarming frequency whenever I restarted. I assumed that this was because I was forced to do a hard restart whenever the hangs happened but now I'm not entirely too sure.

I thought maybe the LAN driver was an issue so I tried updating it about two weeks ago (the driver date was 2012) but it failed. I forget the exact errors that I got but even uninstalling and trying to install the more recent drivers failed (off intel's website and asus's). I also got couple of BSoDs.

So at this point I just tried to update everything (window's recommended and optional but also recommended updates) and made sure to update the graphic driver as well.

Till this point, once the initial hang was avoided, the computer functioned mostly normally. However, after those updates everything started lagging a bit. FPS in games dropped DRAMATICALLY. The volume control buttons on the mouse lagged so bad that when I raised the volume using it it took like 3 seconds to catch up (during which time the entire explorer/taskbar would lag as well. And video/audio had these initial lags. Whenever I would play a music (via foobar) or watch a video (via VLC) for the FIRST time after starting up my computer, there would be lag but once it's been "primed" this way I can pause/unpause without any lag.

I thought, since the stuff I uninstalled were optional programs, maybe the GPU driver did it. So I rolled it back via device manager and that resulted in multiple BSoDs and I was barely able to reinstall the newest driver.

Finally I had enough and ran a memtest86 and after 5 passes there were two errors. Sorry, I forgot to write them down. I've never seen so few errors when the RAMs are failing but *shrug.* I tried swapping out the RAM today with another set (corsair 2x4) from a different machine and BSoD seems to have stopped at least.

The lag persists, however. I will log in and the login sound will play legit 45+ second afterwards. And I do still get hangs at times (tried to play overwatch and it caused the computer to hang).

Minimal dust in my machine. I keep it on my desk and clean it once every 1-2 months so I don't think that's an issue.

I suspected that maybe installing the GPU driver via faulty RAM caused an issue so I did a fresh install of the driver to an older version that I KNOW worked well with my computer previously (nvidia 376.09 whql) but the problem is still there.

3Dmark results that I got when video started crapping out: http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/11836272
Scrnshot of BlueScreenView: https://imgur.com/a/IwPrz

For those wondering, I already removed the TAP stuff. I had forgotten that I tried out this VPN some time back.
Also I was away from my computer for amount a week 12/11 to 12/16 which is why I have a gap in BSoDs.
I've kept my eye on temps for the CPU and GPU via hwmonitor and GPU never goes over 81 even under load. The CPU stays around 45-50 mostly, peaks to low 60s at times.
Oh and yes I ran ESET (I have the AV program) and mbam and they came out clean.

It should be noted that the lag is only on the video/audio stuff (and explorer when changing volume via buttons) unless things start to hang. Like, I can move my mouse and stuff fine.

I noticed that the volume control lag disappeared for a bit when I disabled the logitech software but it came back randomly. It seems to come and go without the software.

I'm at my wit's end here. No clue where the problem is. Not even sure if it's hardware or software anymore... (other than the RAM but even that's really weird with just 2 errors...)