screen tearing, flickering and sparkling pixels. HELP. PSU OR GPU?

[rgv1993]

So here is the problem, i had bought my gpu gtx 970 in the december all was well for 3 months but now i have started to have problems with it. Whenever i try to play games or bring gpu under stress screen tries to flicker with horizontal lines and there is screen tearing also and sparkling pixels too. I have tried the following steps -
1) Uninstalling and re installing the newest drivers.
2) Uninstalling windows and re installing it.
3) Updating my motherboard BIOS and chipset drivers.
4) Reverting back to oldest drivers but to no avail.
5) Removing the gpu and re installing it in another PCIE slot to no avail.
6) Disk check and memory check has been done. Registery has been cleaned.
7) Tried turning on vsync and triple buffering too.
8) Tried plugging the pc to another monitor with different cables but to no avail.

During benchmarks computer crashes and windows error of blue screen of death (BSOD BCCODE 116) is shown. I am encountering this problem after updating to nvidia driver 364.51. I have downgraded the drivers also but no changes can be seen. I have started my computer without gpu and no problem can be found with any other component of the pc. I recently upgraded my pc but my power supply is old like 4 years old. It is corsair gs600 80+ copper. i guess there can be a problem with the psu too but when i start my pc without gpu there is no problem at all. I have tried turning on vsync and triple buffering too. I have stress tested my cpu and ram too. Should i send it to RMA?

MY PC SPECS ARE -
INTEL i5 6600 3.3GHZ
8 GB DDR3 RAM
ASUS B150M PLUS D3
ZOTAC GTX 970
GS 600W CORSAIR

 

[jerdle]

The "sparkling pixels" is an indicator of a bad GPU.

 

[Poixon]

Have you OC'd your GPU? The 'sparkling pixels,' along with strange-looking textures and screen tearing is often caused by pushing an overclock too far.

 

[rgv1993]

No never oced my gpu. It has been on factory settings ever since. I am getting a bccode 116 and i have a minidump file too. It say VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE 116
ATTEMPT TO RECOVER THE VIDEO DRIVER AND TIMEOUT FAILED
FAULTING IP - NVLDDMKM +8D1D34

 

[Poixon]

No never oced my gpu. It has been on factory settings ever since. I am getting a bccode 116 and i have a minidump file too. It say VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE 116
ATTEMPT TO RECOVER THE VIDEO DRIVER AND TIMEOUT FAILED
FAULTING IP - NVLDDMKM +8D1D34

Well, I'd suggest using afterburner to lower you GPU clock, (also, check your GPU temperatures while you're there) as your GPU is probably causing the problem. Otherwise, remove all current Nvidia drivers, reboot and install again.

 

[rgv1993]

GPU temperatures are normal. Tried running memtest no errors were found. Lowering the gpu clock significantly however somehow solves the problem but with an affect on the performance obviously. My question would be if my gpu is bad then why bsod is showing driver related error?

 

[Poixon]

GPU temperatures are normal. Tried running memtest no errors were found. Lowering the gpu clock significantly however somehow solves the problem but with an affect on the performance obviously. My question would be if my gpu is bad then why bsod is showing driver related error?

I guess you're right... a corrupt driver I suppose...?

 

[rgv1993]

As i told you i have re installed my windows reverted back to the oldest driver possible re installed newest driver through clean installation but to no avail. I guess i have to send the gpu because without it i have no problems of screen tearing or anythinh