Maximum PC

My computer recently started making loud grindy noises, vibrating my entire desk. After turning it on for half an hour, it will sometimes freeze, and then instantly shut off. My gut is telling me I need to replace the hard drive, but I'm not sure at all. Any idea on what might be the issue?

Specifications:
Intel Core2 Q8200 @ 2.33GHz
Asus Radeon 4850,
6GB of RAM,
some generic Asus motherboard, and
Seasonic 500W PSU.

Thank you for any and all help!

sounds like you made a good guess. go to the manufacturers website and download their test software and test it. now would be a good time to make a backup of anything you want to save.

Alright so I ran all the short tests possible, and it passed them all. I tried reseating the motherboard, but it barely lowered the noise.

I recently had a hard drive start vibrating on me. for no reason out of the blue it just started making a horrible noise. I thought it was a fan at first so I checked each one and then I laid my hand on the drive and found the problem. Popped in a new drive and everything was quiet again. I can not say this is the same issue your experiencing but you'll most likely need to open your case and start investigating things out

That's an excellent method of identifying the problem:
*Open the case - and make sure you can quickly access the insides
*First, listen to narrow down the location of the buzzing
*You should be able to lightly touch each component and you will be able to tell which one is causing the issue

It should go without mention, but DON'T touch the fan blades - especially on the CPU! Still, you should be able to touch the fan casings.

"A" likely culprit to your problem is the HDD, but I wouldn't rule out the GPU...possibly a fan.

Hope this helps.

Solved, turns out it's something to do with my 4 year old Radeon 4850! Time for an upgrade I guess, will post on Help Me Buy soon! Thank you all SO much for the help!

I would think that a GTX 560 TI or perhaps a new AMD card would be suitable. With the new line of cards coming out, the GTX 560 TI's are slowly dropping in price.