Issues with graphics appear without GPU involvement.
Issues with graphics appear without GPU involvement.
I considered malware too... Tried Bitdefender but found nothing. Performed a fresh Windows install on the main drive and attempted to disconnect other drives, which seemed unlikely. Task manager showed no unusual activity, and the SSD reported minimal usage. Still planning to run Malwarebytes.
Lacking a spare PSU, I've used all available spares without any improvement. Problems appear right after a restart.
A couple of games had issues earlier—started up Fallout 4 for years ago with jumpy performance, attributed to the game itself. There was flickering in League of Legends near the shop, but everything else worked. Later, I noticed more problems in the Steam library, causing games to degrade, then spreading to browsers, making everything unusable.
Over the past two weeks, a series of oddities developed gradually (I wasn’t using the PC much due to work), worsening each day for the last 4-5 days.
How's the cooling? Is there sufficient airflow through the case? Perhaps check the side panel of the case and see if positioning a fan near the motherboard makes a difference.
Cooling is performing well, not requiring much effort recently. The GPU is at 40°C and the CPU at 45°C. The opening side panel temperature dropped slightly, though it's still not substantial.
Wouldn't it be helpful to guide the fan towards the motherboard, especially for VRM or Northbridge issues? It might not solve anything now, but it's just something to consider.
I question if it's a display/VGA cable, it might be an internal issue.
To be certain about the presence of a virus, I would use a clean machine to download a 'rescue disk' for either a CD-ROM or USB drive. Then start from that device on the suspect computer and verify the results.
The most probable cause is the power supply. Replace it with a new one and observe the outcome.
Thanks for your assistance, time, and ideas. I managed to test a different power supply today and bought some inexpensive RAM. Neither worked properly. I also had a spare hard drive with a clean Windows installation—removed all my drives and just installed it, but the same problem appeared. I noticed the browser wasn’t having issues, but the Steam app and games were still as bad as before. Probably means I should replace the CPU/MBOO since that’s what I haven’t tried yet and it feels like a whole new system now.