Obscure gaming issue - all fixes break on PC restart

[Nextmastermind]

Hey guys, I'm having a really weird problem and no one seams to know why. To quote what I've said before, with a little bit of editing:

Basically, what happens is (and this happens with near every game AFAIK) I'll be playing it then I'll get a graphical freeze and have to ctrl-alt-del. Sometimes it would blue screen, sometimes ctrl alt delete would work, and sometimes it would exit the game. When it would work, it'd freeze again seconds to minutes later. Sometimes I'll get the "driver has stopped responding and has successfully recovered" message. Also the windows event log shows display driver crashes occurring at the same time.

Here are my specs:
OS: Windows 8.1 Pro, 64 Bit
Direct X Version: Direct X 11
Motherboard: Asus Z97-A
RAM: 8 GB G.Skill Ripjaws 2133
Graphics Card: EVGA GTX 770, 4GB Superclocked
Power Supply: Corsair CX 750M
CPU: i7 4770k

My brother has tried several ways to fix this, but it's rare that any way works more than a time or two. We've tried reinstalling drivers (countless times) and using various different driver versions, which sometimes would work, but not any more. We've reset the GPU, we've seen if my GPU works in his PC and vise versa and they do. When putting my GPU back in my PC after testing his it worked, but taking out the GPU and putting it back in no longer works.

My brother and I have the exact same build, save for the GPU (his is a 970) and my GPU works in his PC. The only thing that's overclocked on my PC is my GPU, and it's a stock overclock.
I have re-seated the GPU and RAM along with checking all the PSU cables and plugs. Also we have reinstalled windows and formatted the OS drive. None of this did any good.

We also tried turning off the ability to sleep and hibernate, and changed the power management mode in the Nvidia Control Panel to "Prefer best performance" from "Adaptive." Also, the Nvidia control panel is extremely laggy, even though everything else on my PC isn't.

Also, the temperatures are fine, nothing is overheating.
No matter what we do, whenever it does decide to work, it breaks again once my PC is turned off. When it does work, it works great which is why I am not sure if it could be a hardware issue. Any and all help is greatly appreciated. We are at a loss.

[wilson44512]

have you check the power supply? are all the fans working?

[smurfy]

When putting my GPU back in my PC after testing his it worked, but taking out the GPU and putting it back in no longer works.

At this point I am reminded of the doctor doctor joke. If it hurts when you poke your finger in your eye, stop poking your finger in your eye.

i.e. do the swap, swap back and leave the GPU seated, don't pull it out again.

As for why this is happening, the swapping testing you have done rules out pretty much everything I can think of in your system and since the card works fine in his, it can't be the card.

I would suggest doing a side-by-side BIOS setup comparison to see if you have any setting different to him, although I cannot think of one that would cause this sort of issue.