Turns out the GPU was just not up to the task of more than one display. As a test, cut back to one display, then reboot and test.
The machine looks OK in the speccy but lock ups are too common on this class PC (age, make of parts, etc.) After the test if it works OK you know it's GPU related. If not, time to do the usual work of canned air, and new heatsink compound all around. If that fails then you're probably into a new motherboard.
Hi.
I have this delicate issue where my computer has suddenly started acting like it's constantly running out of RAM/memory.
I have really tried to recognize a pattern to its behavior, but I really cannot find it.
Usually it happens when I use heavy programs, but not always.
It's hard to explain, let me give an example.
Let's say I launch a game through Steam… Dota 2 for example. This is rather RAM heavy obviously, so I guess it’s a good start.
Firstly, the game will launch and everything will work fine. Not long after, the game will freeze completely, as if my RAM capacity was breached.
A few seconds later, my entire PC will freeze. It will un-freeze after 3-6 minutes usually, but will go back to frozen right after.
What is funny however is that if I have Skype or Discord open in the background when it freezes, I can still hear and speak with people, as the program itself works all fine.
… Unless I start clicking around and hitting CTRL+ALT+DEL, then everything crashes completely.
Now, this can also happen whenever I just browse using Chrome.
Usually it starts with my internet connecting ending, and then my computer freezing up.
It can also happen whenever I play a 1080p movie using VLC.
Man… I don’t know why it has started acting like this…
And yes, that’s the thing, this only started happening a few months back, and I have literally no idea why. I even bought a brand new SSD and more RAM, but to no avail.
It sucks a lot that I just cannot pin point the problem…
It's impossible for me alone to do this, no matter how many hours I've tried figuring it out.
So please, if anything comes to mind, help me out here.
I would hate to spend $100 just for someone to look at it and go "Oh your CPU is busted" or something like that.
I will add a Speccy link here so you all can view my rig.
Thanks!!!
SPECCY: http://speccy.piriform.com/results/qQOwSyba3uqPaNyQKSMxRae

Chowhound
Comic Vine
GameFAQs
GameSpot
Giant Bomb
TechRepublic