Recurring graphics glitches

Question

For some time I have been experiencing some odd graphical phenomena, ranging in nature and severity.

They also become more prevalent while playing games, not surprisingly, and almost always while I'm watching videos.

After searching for people with similar issues and trying various solutions to no avail, I decided that it must be my graphics card which is dying. In a last-ditch effort I formatted my PC in the hopes that it is a software issue. To my surprise, after formatting it and reinstalling some games to test it out, the issues appeared to have all but vanished. Everything worked perfectly for a few weeks after that.

However after those few weeks I started seeing the less severe issues start occurring every so often, and they became increasingly worse. Fast forward to today and I'm right back to where I started a few weeks ago, confident that this is a software issue, but I have no idea where to start looking for a solution.

Here are some screenshots of some of the glitches I've experienced while trying to play Subnautica:

Something else I didn't include in the screenshots is the incorrect placing of textures. For example, my character's texture was replaced with that of the floor/coral.

Immediately after this I opened another game (Dark Souls 3) to see if the issue persists and I found no issues whatsoever.

The other more common issues alway disappear too quickly to be captured in screenshots. What I find extremely odd (and possibly telling) is the fact that when I try to record the phenomena using Windows DVR the issues stop appearing on the screen I'm recording and the scene remains perfect and glitch free for as long as the recording continues, further reinforcing my theory that it is not hardware-related.

The flashes appear in intervals of 1-5 minutes, and typically look like stretched/pixelated patterns.

Occasionally, if I do something intensive like play a game and watch a movie simultaneously on my second monitor, both my screens will freeze completely for up to 15 seconds (although the audio continues in the background).

Here is a screenshot of my system specs:

I can't really afford a new graphics card and would be forever indebted to the person who can assist me in fixing this.

Let me know if there is any other crucial information I may have missed.

Answer 1

The diagnosis steps for graphics issues include OS reinstall, driver updates, and then hardware replacement.

You've already performed the OS reinstall and probably the driver updates due to the OS reinstall. That leaves hardware replacement.

Your hardware list includes integrated graphics, and your mainboard has integrated graphics connectors.

So, remove your nVidia graphics card and connect your monitor(s) to the mainboard graphics connectors (you may need to make sure the onboard graphics are enabled in the BIOS, though this may be automatic when you've removed the graphics card).

You won't be able to test the nicer games, but you mention that the issues happen when the computer is just sitting idle too.

If the issues don't come back, then you've found your issue, and its the graphics card. The good news is that you can get quite good graphics cards for around $100 these days. I know that may be too much even (it's too much for me right now too, but thankfully my card is running OK), but it's not some super insane price like graphics cards can be at times.