Try going BACK to drivers take were not giving you problems. If that solves the problem - great. Otherwise, look deeper and give more info.

If what rulisky says, it could also be an overheating problem. Try putting in more fans (if allowable), or you could always hook up a water cooler system.

does the videocard have a fan on it & if so then is it spinning as not normally a driver issue?

Undo your update since many updates are problematic.

@ddp- As far as I know is whenever I took out the panels at the back it took longer to get the BSOD. This is my first pc build and would be unsure what the problem actually is. whenever I put the fan contrrol to a 100% it ran a bit longer. is there a program that can pinpoint if its the driver that the issue? I can build it but still noobish to figuring out the issues with it.

is not a driver issue but a heat issue either with the videocard or most likely the cpu. is the cpu fan spinning ok & is the cpu heatsink clean of dust? next time it does the bsod, restart right away into the bios to see what the cpu temp is.

@ddp would a better heatsink be better as I have a default intel one that came with the processor when I bought it and the sink fan is on quiet instead of performance.

Could you be able to recommend one for a biggish mid tower?

I cleaned the inside of the computer recently but still have the same issue with a BSOD when playing dead space 2.

The fan is spinning on the GPU. I might try taking off the side panel when playing games as the inside of the tower is lined with an inch of foam to keep it quiet and I was thinking it might be overheating because of the foam.

It might more likely be the GPU as Ive encoded blu ray with this computer and never had an issue with a BSOD when encoding the video.

does your motherboard also have onboard video that you can use to see if bsod still happens? what is the cpu temp in the bios? change the quiet to performance to see what happens?

Ijust tried to play dead space 2 and the computer just shut down and a beep followed by 3 beeps straight after. I tried to start the computer and no power so took the GPU out and now the computer works but no card and theres soot on the card. unfortunately i didnt get to see the temperature of the CPU as waiting to get the computer cooled to open it as I smelt smoke and when I opened it there was smoke inside it.

Getting a new GPU in the works? Is it just a faulty card and need to buy a new one? I cant see any connection to switch on the monitor.

bad card if soot on it & smells of electrical burning plus smoke.

Thanks guys for your help.. just one last question, can anybody recommend a GPU thats not prone to over heating?

I might go for a low range one because at the time the 5770 was a good one but it had been a overheating problem that I could guess.

Update- i just put an ATI Radeon 4850 from an old computer put it in the current computer and the computer shuts off still. Ive tried two GPUs and still an issue.

take out all cards & ram except for 1 stick. disconnect all cables to drives. check the silver top cans on the motherboard that they are flat topped not domed nor leaking brown stuff. try another psu on motherboard alone with no drives connected.

what would I be looking for when i take the stuff out?

Just checked the mainboard and its all good, no domed consisters anywhere.

I put new thermal paste onto both cards and tested them. The 5770 is completely fried and the 4850 runs at 65c when idle.

To answer a previous answer, the cpu runs at 27c when idle, I dont want to try and play any games on it as I tried to play the sims 3 and the last card fried.

The airflow in the computer should be good as I cable tied the cables to the base. would it be because there is foam inside the case (for less noise) causing overheating?

I uninstalled the driver and reinstalled and still running idle at 65c after 30 mins. the screen flickers and freezes once its at 60c as well.

Im hoping that the PCI slot on the motherboard is not faulty as it would mean a complete rebuild.

Just to add its a coolermaster sileo 500 case. I might just go for a new case that bigger for better airflow. i might go for this one:

NZXT Phantom USB 3.0 Big Tower Chassis - White

Just a quick update: I put it down to poor air flow inside the case. I cable tied to the case better and bought a exhaust fan for under the graphics card and its running with a stress test at 64Celcius now. No flickering screen or crashes under normal conditions.

If anyone is having the same issue with an overheating GPU i can recommend this little piece of kit:

Evercool SB-F1 PCI slot system exhaust fan 47 CFM

It can be bought on Amazon or Newegg fairly cheap and would make it run up to 10 celcius cooler.

just checked amazon: getting that one is better on newegg. as that one has 47CFM (cubic feet per minute) while ones on amazon have 22CFM