IMac 27" screen/operating issues

Hoping for insight.  I have an iMac 27" that is a couple years old.  Operated perfectly since purchase.  A few days ago it started turning itself off and restarting without any pattern, I could be online or just in Mail.  Then whilst online with Safari the entire screen display became patterned with little boxes about a quarter inch apart (with the screen understandable but with a matrix pattern on it) and completely covered the screen, the mouse cursor would move but was ineffective.  Then it shut down/turned off and did not restart.  I restarted it and it looked fine.  I checked all the typical things, ran verifies and the like, reset PRAM and the Apple Hardware Test.  Discovered bad RAM, pulled it, restarted with remaining good RAM, ran the test with no trouble found.  I am ordering new RAM.  I have been operating with the remaining 2 GB of RAM since but since pulling out the bad RAM I have had the pixilated little square dot display problem (but not the shut downs) so I am wondering if I have deeper problems than the RAM.  I have pictures of the screen with the pattern on it but am clueless as to how to add them to this plea. 

just click here to upload an image....
it ll help in speedy diagnosis...

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  • 21.5 inch iMac yellow screen issue - please read the question before answering

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