G'day ladies, gents and unmentionables.
CPU: i5-2500k
RAM: 4gb
GPU: GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1gb
PSU: 850w Corsair
Airflow: 2 stock fans in a Cooler Master HAF case. Never gets hot. (ever).
Now then, to the issue. Over the course of the last few months my computer has been hanging, stuttering and freezing like a total boss in any semi-demanding games; the consequences of this include (but are not limited to):
- Full system non-response
- Game crash
- Audio stuttering then fail
- General system sluggishness, even in browsing and windows explorer. Sometimes programs are freezing for seconds at a time, but nothing like in games.
I've checked my system several times over with Avast! Antivirus for viruses or something like that, but have come up with nothing. I've also got TuneUp360 on my computer doing its thing every couple of days.
Most times this has occurred in Starcraft 2, Battlefield 3, and the demo of Star Wars: The Old Republic. Since these are all online I'd be inclined to think it was an internet problem or something related... but we have the best from Charter (despite Charter's inherent poor quality...), so I think that's a dead end. That and I don't know how it could cause these issues, but hey, I know little and every mystery is a possible cause.
The system rarely full-out crashes, recovering after a few minutes.
Now, I've tried Furmark, twice - and it's failed on me both times, causing my computer to power off and reboot within 5-10 minutes of starting it on both occasions. I gauged temps as I did this, and my GPU never went higher than 80c-ish. To make sure it was GPU-related I tried Prime95 for 4 hours, no crashes. I did several passes with memtest86, and again, no crashes or errors of any kind. Now I know the next step is to try my GPU in another computer and see if I can replicate the problem, but I have several questions, hopefully which you can address:
- Is it pretty much a surefire bet that my GPU is faulty?
- Is Furmark potentially further damaging my GPU (assuming it's damaged to begin with)? Which is to say: Furmark doesn't do damage to your GPU, assuming things are normal; but if my GPU is damaged already, is it very likely increasing the problem?
- (doubtful, but have to ask anyway) Is the problem potentially fixable?
- Is there any way it could be my motherboard? It came with an infinite-reboot issue (which I later fixed), so I'm skeptical as to its quality.
Again, the main point of my query is the Furmark failures.
I know this is my first post here, but I hope it's not an eyesore. Please let me know if I've violated rules or forgotten key information.
