BSOD/Weird Distorted Crash while playing games or browsing

The person who told me to replace the parts was an employee but he also said newegg and other sites were fine so I don't believe he was lying to get me to buy from his store.

I have some mixed results as well.

I was able to replace the G-Skill RAM with some cheap DDR3 I got at Frys Electronics. Now when I ran the SmallFFts, it was fine for about 8 minutes (after which I turned it off). So the test didnt completely crash the computer and my temps were stable at around 52C. When I went to this site to tell you about this, my computer just suddenly restarted for no reason. No dmp as usual.

So it didn't crash during the actual test (while it was on) but it crashed later on randomly.

The new ram I got was "Patriot Memory G Series DDR3 2 GB" and one module of it.

Since this was NEW Ram from a credible store, I don't believe it too was faulty. I will try to continue with more tests and suggestions (from you hopefully) throughout the week and then just replace the parts next Saturday.

At this rate, I may just buy new components.

I agree that if an employee gave other buying options, it was more likely to be sound advice. I always hesitate when users say they were told to buy equipment at a store. There was a semi-funny youtube video with people going around with a laptop that had a loose hard drive asking various stores to take a look. Nearly all the stores with technical service found the problem and re-inserted the disk. One big name company had its tech support people tell the person that it would cost more to repair the issue than to buy a new computer and just recommended buying a brand new system.

Anyway, you are right that the symptoms you have are odd. It seems that one problem may have been (somewhat) solved, and a new one is showing up. While your PSU is highly unlikely to be bad given the one you have, is there any way you could swap it with a friend's to test whether the system is more stable?

I am leaning toward a processor/motherboard issue, but just want to make sure I cover all possibilities before tackling the more expensive hardware.

Alright then,

I did a "In Place Large FFts" with the same new ram and video card.

This time I actually got a bluescreen (during the scan) and it differs from the other stuff. This is driving me mad.

I dont have a friend to swap PSU with so if I had to test, I would have to buy one.

Edit (About 10 minutes After)- I spoke too soon, apparently I got another bsod again (not even during a scan). I go the BSOD while trying to type on here. I looked at the details of both and they both seem very similar. I am posting this on another computer as I type because the other is so unstable it would probably crash while I would be on here.

The zip is uploaded.

At this rate, I may just buy my parts (new mobo and cpu) tomorrow considering my computer is almost at the point of locking myself out.

Crashes occurred during steamerrorreporting and SearchProtocol processes. The strange thing about the steam based crash is an unknown module is blamed. This can mean viruses/malware or data corruption. This is about the time I would recommend a clean re-install to rule out Windows and driver issues causing the crashes. Up to you whether you want to go through that step before replacing the hardware or just replace the hardware and see if the problem is resolved.

Alright I re installed windows 7 (and formatted the drive). Currently I haven't gotten a crash yet (about 20 minutes into the desktop) and am downloading updates and drivers for my components. I will get back to you if I get a crash soon.

Right so things seemed alright but I did a SmallFFts again.

The computer still crashed about 30 seconds in.

I had the newer RAM, and my ATI in the computer. I will replace the hardware now hopefully. (Mobo and CPU).

Also, if I get a new mobo that isnt Asus (since my current one is) or a new cpu, do I have to do any driver sweeping or reinstall windows again?

It is usually best to re-install Windows anytime you replace hardware, but especially if you replace main components. You may also have to activate via telephone if you switch the motherboard and processor out since your current Windows install is tied to the current hardware.

Darn..

Well, When I install the new parts and before I re install win 7, I will do a FFts scan just to make sure things are going alright.

Alright, so I added the new parts (New MOBO and CPU) and reinstalled windows 7.

No crashes so far even with 10 minutes of Small FFts! (Big accomplishment for me).

I will continue to test throughout the week.

Also, please dont mark as solved because it may pop up again.

FYI- The mobo is an Asus M5A99x Evo and the CPU is an AMD FX 6 core.

Sounds like a nice setup and progress has been made. :)

No worries about marking the thread solved. It is up to you when you are comfortable doing so.