Ok so some time ago I requested assistance regarding a problem with GTA IV:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=3t5pelPiSfc
So yeah, basically after 20 minutes in the game it behaves as if it's about to get BSOD. Someone suggested in the comments that it might be because of the CPU.
Now, although this problem initially appeared only in GTA IV (and GTA IV is still the only unplayable game), I began to notice some similar problems in other games as well.
In Saints Row 2 the cutscene character models sometimes lag / get desynched / IDK what to call it. The actual game runs flawlessly though (no comparison to GTA IV optimization intended).
NFS Pro Street stutters all the time but it's not a big problem, not nearly as big as in GTA IV. Anyway unlike in GTA IV I'm also having graphical problems, like textures disappearing for a split second, weird lines on the screen etc.
So if the problem is the CPU, how can I fix it? (can I fix it)?
Specs:
Intel Core i5-661 Core Duo 3.33 GHz
4GB DDR3 RAM
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 550 Ti 1GB
PC well maintained, no overclock, drivers up to date etc...