I think that's it. See if it fits. If it fits, you should be able to shut down your PC, take our your graphics card, then turn it on. If your CPU has an oboard graphics card like mine, which I think it does, then you should be able to run things w/o your graphics card. Probably not at max settings or anything, but it will work. You can see if the screen tearing is due to your card. If it does, then we can start the process of getting it replaced.
I'm not sure about the hard drive issues man, I suck w/ hard drives. I'd post something on Tom's Hardware forum if no one can help you.