Weird graphics/display problem. Need help!

[Zdravko]

Hey, I built a new computer almost 1 year ago, and i have been having this problem on and off for a few months.

Basically, whenever I am playing a video game (has happened so far with League of Legends and Tropico 4) the screen glitch occurs and I am forced to restart the computer to fix it.

As far as I know and have researched, it is a driver/software issue, but I am not entirely sure. I have tried updating and trying out different AMD drivers. I have also re-seated the card two times. The problem did not happen for about 2 months, and when I updated my AMD drivers it came back. I'll attach a picture of it happening while I'm playing Tropico 4.

What basically happens is that in an instant, the screen gets split in two. The right side of the screen moves over to the left, and there is a thick black line along the middle vertically, which signifies where the screen should end.

Alt+Tab does not fix the issue, and neither does turning off the monitor. Also, it is hard to tell from the photo but there are some horizontal lines flickering all over the screen.

Any ideas on how to fix this/what the problem is?

Here's the link to the photo: http://imgur.com/a1ekW5R

The card is an AMD Radeon HD 6870
I am running Windows 7 64bit
Core i5 2500K processor
8gb ram

 

[MasterMadBones]

You must have some insane fps there. That is the most extreme screen tearing. Do you have Vsync turned on?

 

[Zdravko]

You must have some insane fps there. That is the most extreme screen tearing. Do you have Vsync turned on?

Insane as in high, right? I do not have vsync turned on. When I turned it on League of Legends I had a tiny framerate drop, and the FPS counter started moving around from 55 to 100 (without Vsynch it stays at 60).

Is screen tearing usually caused by software or hardware issues?

 

[MasterMadBones]

You say there are more fps fluctuations wih vsync on? That must be off, because vsync will keep the fps at a constant value based on your screen's vertical refresh rate. For example if you have 60 Hz, vsync will make sure that your fps is 60, 30, 20, 15, 12, 10, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 or 1, all of these are multiples of 60, to avoid screen tearing.

One weird explanation can also be that it suddenly switches between single and dual screen mode and you have your 'screens switched'. When there is any mode change the screen usually blacks out for a moment. Does that happen before it turns over?