Windows 10: Only able to boot in safe mode; constant blue screens/restarting

I suspect that you have a broken GPUcard.
Can you see any physical evidence on the card it self, are the fans running, short-circuiting marks, bended pins etc.
Dust in the pci-e slot, short-circuiting marks etc.

Honestly i have no further ideas on the software/drivers side.

Again could you borrow a gpucard of a friend or take your system to a friend and put his gpu in for a while.
A friendly shop in the neighborhood who has a old gpucard lying on the shelf you can borrow to test.

 

That's what I've been thinking as well. When I look at the card, I don't see any obvious problems (fans are running). But, like I said, it is 4.5 years old and has seen pretty intense, regular use--and, I smoke cigarettes indoors next to it (I get the system professionally airdusted with a compressor, but I know that probably shortens its lifespan). So there's a bunch of dust buildup in the fan system, or it could have just crapped out naturally.

Again, I'm the only one in my friend group with a custom-built PC. They all use laptops or pre-built compact PC's that I wouldn't feel comfortable busting open. There is a local PC shop nearby, I guess I'll try to sell it like: "If it's not the graphics card, I'll pay you to diagnose it." Meanwhile, I'm just going to order a new card on Amazon--'tis the season, right? Is it possible we could get a fresh set of eyes on this thread though--just in case there's something obvious we're both missing?

 

It is here almost 2 o clock in the night, off to bed.
Who knows maybe one of us or a other member gets a bright idea.

My feeling says it must be the GPU (or something related) because when the card is out of your system it is as stable as can be.

 

Oh my goodness; I hope I didn't keep you up. Thank you so much for all your assistance thus far, Lifetec. The local BestBuy actually has a GTX 1080 in stock now, so we might be able to settle that question once and for all in a few hours (it's only 7:00 pm where I'm at.)

 

Just a consideration.
Which monitor have you and what is the maximal resolution it can display. What is the purpose for your new card.
The geforce gtx 1080 is a great card but it could be overkill ( a 1070 0r 1060 could be enough and save you some money)
These new generation cards are so much beter than your 680.

 

I have a generic PnP Samsung monitor, it's about 27 inches I think and it's max resolution is 1920 x 1080 (the resolution I'm currently using). The purpose of my new card is to future-proof the system a bit; I've been wanting to play Titanfall 2 and Rise of the Tomb Raider on higher settings. I think you're right, in that now my processor/mobo/monitor are bottlenecking the system, but I had a little cash lying around. Just curious, what resolution do you think would justify a GTX 1080?

Full disclosure, I did go out and buy the GTX 1080 and install it last night and the system has been working like a dream ever since; installed flawlessly (I think, in part, due to that tip about the control panel setting so Windows wasn't trying to install updates at the same time.) Again, thank you so much, Lifetec. Assuming everything is still hunky-dory by the end of the day, I plan on marking the thread solved.

 

Just back from work, so i could not reply earlier.

So after all it was a faulty GPUcard, what we not hoped but could expect after all that troubleshooting.
I'm glad that you have now a great running system with a great new card.
It was great helping you.