Dying desktop - any ideas?

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My desktop machine is unwell and I'm not sure why. I'd appreciate suggestions as to what the problem may be! These are the symptoms:

It will usually boot and last long enough to get into Windows or Ubuntu.
It is able to run high CPU use on several or all cores and GPU without crashing.
However, if I try to write a DVD or run a 3d game, or sometimes if I leave it for a long while, the display goes seriously strange (lines all over it, bits of the screen moved to different places, that sort of thing) and the OS either crashes completely or goes into a crawl.
This screen distortion often remains even when the machine is rebooted, even in BIOS.
Windows event log isn't logging anything when it happens and no processes appear to be hanging.

Video memory checks out ok.
Main memory is definitely ok.
The CPU heatsink is clean and the fan works.
The GPU heatsink is clean and the fan works.
All CPU cores seem to be ok.
GPU appears to be ok.
The monitor is ok.
The hard disk is ok.
The problem is OS independent, but I've tried different versions of video driver just in case, nothing changes.
The machine has been running perfectly well with this exact setup for quite some time. I haven't changed any voltages in BIOS, or done anything like that.

Any ideas? It's got me stumped at the moment. I'm not too bothered - been meaning to replace it anyway - but I don't like not being able to isolate the fault!

Since the screen disortion remains, GPU overheating?
And does it run ok in failsafe?

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You sound like you should know this.. for some reason.

But if you have a extra monitor out (onboard and a video card) then switch which one your using. If its a card thats gone bad replace the card - if its the mobo thats gone bad. Go to the store and buy a 30 dollar 512mb geforce card.. I see them all over (and its guaranteed to be faster than what was onboard)... I think.....

*shrugs*

And if the card doesn't fix the problem, return it. But video problems in the bios would probably be a monitor issue or a video issue. I've had the thermal gunk actually release and drop the heatsink off the gpu on my card before.. totally lame, and totally toasted... lines, colors, very pretty.

Thanks - I've rerun the graphics card memory checker and it's picked up errors this time round, so I'm replacing the card. Fingers crossed.

Just to add to my confusion, I've installed a new graphics card, and games work fine - but I'm seeing some minor graphical corruption in the Windows desktop (two task bar icons have gone a bit odd) and getting some OpenGL errors in the event log... hopefully it's just that having a buggered card has screwed up OpenGL somehow.

If you're overclocking anything disable it.

That's all I can think of.

From what you've described, this sounds like a motherboard problem. If you can take a glance at the motherboard and look for any burnt-out capacitors.