My graphical party needs to stop

[Chadders]

I'm going to attempt to explain in the greatest detail what happened to my computer and split it up into chunks for easier reading.

Earlier today, I started experiencing graphical glitches on some of the games I was playing. These glitches were not part of the game, they appeared to affect the entire monitor. The glitches were a succession of random colours appearing on my monitor for a fraction of a second and only happened around once an hour. I have been experiencing these before over the last few months, but they have never bothered me.

I ignored these graphical errors because they did not interfere with my gameplay. The third time this happened today the screen did the same thing as before, then stayed as a pattern of black and white. The computer restarted itself and tried to go through its boot-up process, which was stopped after the windows 8 loading screen. The monitor displayed a mostly black screen, however there were a few broken coloured lines going across the monitor.

I did everything I could in the BIOS and windows 8 software help....thingy. System restore to a week ago was not possible because for some reason, it would not let me do it. I didnt want to fiddle around with the BIOS because I don't feel experienced enough anymore. Additionally, when clicking around things and navigating through BIOS, I found that there were blocks of colour in random places.

I took my computer apart, put parts back together and disconnected all peripherals. I didn't see any physical damage. However when I put it all back together, the screen wouldn't display anything at all. Just a constant black screen.

All of this testing leads me to believe that my graphics card is completly dead and I need to replace it. However I don't want to just go out and buy another one if I am wrong, which is why I am here. What is causing this problem? How do I fix it and how do I stop it from happening again?

I am using my phone to type this and therefore cannot give you any system information other than I am using a ViBox warrior 4. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

[Geek-9pm]

Questions.
How old is the computer?
Is the time correct?
Doe it have an integrated VGA you could use ?
Any odd sounds or smells?
Does the graphics card have a fan?  Is it dirty?
Did you try to remove and are seat  the graphics card?

[Chadders]

Questions.
How old is the computer?
Is the time correct?
Doe it have an integrated VGA you could use ?
Any odd sounds or smells?
Does the graphics card have a fan?  Is it dirty?
Did you try to remove and are seat  the graphics card?

The computer is around two years old
I'm not sure if the time is correct, I haven't checked
There is no integrated VGA
There are no odd sounds or smells
The graphics card does have a fan, it is a little dirty but I cleaned it a few months ago. I clean my computer regularly with compressed air.
Yes, I removed and re-seated the graphics card. This attempt resulted in complete loss of display on the monitor. Other times I removed and re-seated it did not do this.

[Geek-9pm]

Did you say that you can get into the BIOS and have a normal display?
I doubt a failing RAM stick would do this.
You are using Windows 7?
Can you boot in Safe mode?
What is the model of the computer or the motherboard?
What is the model of the Graphics card?

Have you checked all the power connections from the PSU?
Including separate  12 volt connectors.?
Does  the PSU  have two or three 12 volt connectors?

The most likely y thing could be the Graphics card.
But sometimes a PSU might do that kind of thing.
Now if  you have a spare PSU, try it and see.
Otherwise, you might have to get a new graphics card.

[Chadders]

Did you say that you can get into the BIOS and have a normal display?
I doubt a failing RAM stick would do this.
You are using Windows 7?
Can you boot in Safe mode?
What is the model of the computer or the motherboard?
What is the model of the Graphics card?

Have you checked all the power connections from the PSU?
Including separate  12 volt connectors.?
Does  the PSU  have two or three 12 volt connectors?

The most likely y thing could be the Graphics card.
But sometimes a PSU might do that kind of thing.
Now if  you have a spare PSU, try it and see.
Otherwise, you might have to get a new graphics card.

I can get into the BIOS, but it is covered with random blocks of colour in random places, so the display is very strange.
I never thought that RAM would cause this problem
I am using windows 8
The motherboard is a 78LMT-USB3 gigabyte motherboard
I am using a 2GB AMD Radeon R9 270 HDMI Graphics Card

I' don't have much knowledge with the PSU, therefore I can't give much information there.

[Geek-9pm]

This must be the board you have. Very impressive.

Replacing that  would cost $200 at Amazon.

Maybe we should talk about your power supply.  I think it would cost less to get a new PUS. But you want to know fro sure before spending the money.

Maybe you could borrow an older or cheaper video card from a friend. You just want to see if that clears up the problem.

Or, you could invest about $70 in a more basic graphics as a backup.
 But a new PSU would also be about $70.

BTW: you need to find a way to verify that the cable going from the card to the monitor is perfect. A replacement cable is about $10. Or borrow one.

[Chadders]

Update: I had it checked. It's very unlikley that the problem was caused by the graphics card. PC world says that it is most likley the motherboard and possibly the PSU. Can the PSU act like a cancer to the motherboard and slowly kill it?

Actions taken: I have gone down a very long and complicated route of claiming for the motherboard warrenty and I will be attempting to install it myself. Are there any specifics I need to know about motherboards?