I've started having some very strange errors in OS X on my 1.5-year-old Mac Pro. A common one is--even with almost all programs closed, iStat Pro reporting very high memory and CPU cycle availability--the computer seems to randomly hang for 20-30 seconds, before fixing itself without trouble and resuming normal function. This seems to happen once or twice an hour.
The other is that there are tons of graphical glitches appearing all over the OS now. I've only thought of taking screencaps of them very recently, so here's is a picture of glitch around iChat that goes all the way around the entire window. (The rest of the window is removed for privacy reasons).
EDIT: Two things:
#1) Sorry if this should go in the Mac Pro section--since all of my actual symptoms are software-related, though, I thought it was apt to put here.
#2) It should perhaps be noted that, despite these problems (and the hangups are particularly obnoxious) the computer otherwise functions well enough for me to make this post.
My question is does anyone have any guesses as to what's the deal? My hypothesis is either some weird corruption in the OS libraries or minor hardware defect. The hangups seem to happen when more GPU time would be used, making me think it'd be the graphics card.
The reason I ask is I'm fairly schooled in computer maintenance, to the point where I'd be happy buying one of the 8800 GT replacement kits and installing it myself. I've wanted to do that for awhile, just couldn't ever fully justify it until now.
But if it screams "Logic Board!" or something like that, I don't want to waste $300 on a graphics card that won't even solve the problem.
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