MacBook Pro has occasional display glitches, what is causing them & how can I fix them?
I would like to know what causes the issues I'm about to explain so I can better understand why it happens and prevent future issues, I would also like to know how to permanently or semi-permanently fix the issues if it's possible.


Here is the history and thorough explanation of my Mac & it's display problems...
About a year or two ago I encountered a problem with my MacBook Pro where suddenly one day without warning or prior problem the screen went white, and anytime I tried to turn it back on it would load a moment and go white again. Apple said it was a display related issue although I don't recall specifically what they said the problem with it was, they took it in, repaired it, and returned it, I haven't had the white screen problem since.


However, after several months something else happened. I encountered another freeze and glitch problem. Once in a while, again without warning, although almost always when doing heavy processing, such as an online game (Guild Wars 2) or running several big programs (Photoshop, iTunes, Safari, and OBS all at once,) the screen suddenly develops several small squares filled with what looks like a still static texture, everything freezes, and I have to restart.
I have never been able to recreate the glitch, for example I've encountered the glitch roughly 2-5 times while in the middle of playing Guild Wars 2, but I've also played several hours of GW2 without ever encountering the glitch. Same with running several big programs, only run into the problem now and then, but every other time I run the same stuff I don't encounter it.


Thankfully for this glitch a restart always puts it back to normal however I do not know specifically what causes it or how to prevent this problem or if this is a bad sign of a worse problem/a sign something needs to be replaced or repaired. This happens roughly once every other month and sometimes once a month.


Additionally, I have noticed once in a while the start up screen (this is on power up after being shut down) sometimes glitches where the screen jolts around with some blocks of that still static texture along with a block of white or black, it's quick and recovers after its split second freak out. I can't fully recall exactly what it looks like since it happens in split seconds but it's essentially the stereotypical glitch look. I've only witnessed this maybe 2 or 3 times since my Mac's white screen incident, but it may happen more often as I don't always watch my Mac boot up.


Today while I was turning it on there was a black bar across the top of the screen and the start up screen was slightly off center as if the black bar had pushed it down. I have been playing many hours on the earlier mentioned online game, could that have an affect on it, and if so, how can I fix/adjust/upgrade so it doesn't?


Do I need to install a new graphics card? More RAM? Is there a graphic setting I need to reset? Is this a sign something is damaged/dying/needs replacing?


MacBook Specs & History...
My MacBook Pro is version 10.8.5 with a 2GHz Intel Core i7, Memory 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3, and is likely a 3rd generation 2010-2013 model. (sorry I can't recall the exact year) I've had it for 4 years now and haven't encountered any problems with it until the earlier mentioned white screen issue which was about a year or two ago. Just this past winter I installed a Solid State Drive in place of the original hard drive that came with it, this has caused no apparent issue thus far and and has sped up my Mac from a 1-3 minute start up to mere seconds. The display glitches have not increased or decreased since the SSD installation.


Thank you for your time.
Mack
