Not exactly sure what the culprit is... CPU failing!

[dalarty]

Hi there! Thanks in advance for any help anyone can throw in my direction. For the past couple months I've had problems with the desktop that I built a few years ago. I feel that the problems are related to one bigger problem but I wanted to get some insight on whether or not this is probably the case.

I think this is most likely a motherboard issue... but it might also be a HD or graphics card issue. I'm not quite sure. I do know that it is NOT a monitor issue or a software issue. Again, any insight would be much appreciated!

Problems
Blue Screen
- Frequently blue screens/crashes when the computer is awakened (after a couple hours) from sleep mode
- Sometimes blue screens when PC is being worked (graphic intensive games, multiple windows in Firefox open, large-sized Photoshop files being used)

Glitching Screen (not static, often the glitching moves around based on refreshed mouse movement)
- This is what happens the most frequently and is what often leads to a crash unless I preemptively reboot my computer
- The glitch is usually a thin horizontal line (although sometimes thick) of fully distorted pixels (the color is distorted but is often shades of green, black, white, and pink). These thin lines span across the screen but are sensitive to the elements on the screen. What this means is that the horizontal line will glitch across my desktop but if I open a browser, a new glitch reacts to the boundaries of the browser window. Another example is if I move my mouse enough times, the glitched pixels will change to a different area on the screen.

HD Corruption
- This has only happened twice and may not be related but I feel that it wouldn't hurt mentioning it
- First time, the hard drive was clearly failing (by not booting past the Windows loading screen) and even with a chkdsk, factory cd reinstall, etc..., it would eventually fail (even if it had a clean install). I replaced the hard drive and only one time after has it had a corruption issue where it failed to boot Windows. I ran it in safe mode and launched an auto diskfix on its next reboot. Haven't seen issues since

Some things worth mentioning
- I have recently (in the past three months or so) replaced my graphics card because the factory fan installed on the card had failed and I was not able to push my computer graphically without risking possible overheating. The new graphics card is exactly the same model as the old except I have added a heat sink to it
- The PSU has recently been replaced due to a surge protector malfunctioning and short-circuiting my PSU

Here are the specs below:
*Windows Vista 64-bit Desktop
*4GB RAM
*Intel Core 2 Duo CPU @2.66GHz 1.87GHz
*DFI LANPARTY DK P35-T2RS LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
*ASUS EAH4850 TOP/HTDI/512M Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
*RAIDMAX HYBRID 2 RX-530SS 530W ATX12V V2.2/ EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular LED Power Supply

 

[mdd1963]

I'd first try to determine if the overclocking is affecting your PCI-e/and mem clocks/timings to the point of instability...; the cpu maybe be able to handle your OC fine, but, there are other fixed clocks in the mainboard that should not stray too far above normal.

Drop your assorted mem timings, etc, and overclock back to stock, and retest for stability....

 

[dalarty]

Thank you for the quick reply. I might be mistaken but I don't believe I've been overclocking my graphic card. I'm not the type to mess around much with the default factory setting of the things so if I am overclocking, I must be doing it unknowingly (which could be a possibility). I checked my CCC and the overclock settings were disabled but if there's another way of checking if I'm doing that, I would appreciate the tip.

What type of test do you suggest I run? A memtest?

One more thing I realized that I forgot to mention is that when the glitching occurs (or even sometimes when it doesn't but my computer has returned from sleep mode), my internet card stops working and I have to reboot my computer in order for the internet to start working again. This internet issue is not a network issue as I have tested it across multiple computers throughout the home network.

 

[dalarty]

Hi there, sorry for the delay. I did a memtest and everything appeared to be normal. I also consulted an irl friend who knows a bit about computers but he's stumped and suggested I simply replace the motherboard. I've linked a screenshot of what's happening with the glitch (of course, shortly after I saved that screenshot, the computer crashed again).

http://tinypic.com/r/1i1jyg/7

 

[dalarty]

Here's the psu: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817152028

Nice hand? heh

 

[dalarty]

Ah, I'm afraid I had to switch out my PSU in the recent year and I did so under the guidance of a friend since I have little knowledge of picking PSUs (my last PSU was also chosen with help). I'm guessing that you're stating that my video card isn't getting enough power from my PSU? If so, I'm not sure if that means I need to get a better PSU... D:

 

[dalarty]

Thanks for the quick reply. I will take a good look at those articles tomorrow and do a bit more research on them.

One thing I'd like to ask though before I decide to do thorough research in replacing my PSU again:

Is this PSU/graphic card issue what is effecting my hard drive and internet (where the internet fails to work until I reboot despite the modem/router being fine) issues? I'm wondering why I get so many random blue screen errors about different things every time. You'd think it'd just stay in the realm of the graphic card issues. I haven't had problems like this in the past though, so I'm sure anything is possible and probably likely!