This is why my first point was to set a system restore point. Don't stress mate, i am not going to leave you with a broken machine. So in summary you get freezes and hangs during gaming and we have:
1. Checked for heat and dust and cable managment.
2. Tested the PSU and the 12V rail seems ok (though i am suspicious about rail balancing and heat still).
3. Tried updating the drivers, but they seem flaky and cause BSOD - had to restore.
4. Updated nVidia chipset drivers.
5. Update Windows and Direct X
Since you are not having any luck updating ATi drivers, just do this as per my previous instructions:
- Update your Operating System (including SP1) with Microsoft Update.
- Update Direct X here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en
- Restart.
- Ensure all game updates and patches are applied.
As per previous post, please get yourself a 6 to 8 pin PCIe adaptor for the second power connection on your gpu. Also, test the 12V rail again after several hours of gaming. I am a bit concerned about your motherboard setup as you were not able to see the information we were expecting on nTune (temps etc) and drivers cannot detect hardware properly.
If it were my computer, i would ensure i had the latest motherboard bios. This is not as risky as it once was, but still has an element of risk. If you would like to look at that further, please download PC Wizard from my sig and install it. Then go to FILE, SAVE AS and click OK. Then save the text file, and copy its contents to this thread.
Sorry I couldn’t be any more help.