I am now getting an application error when I launch dayz and I cannot play at all.

"The instruction at 0x5776a70 referenced memory at 0x5776a070. The memory could not be written."

I did not try removing ram or anything.

EDIT: I went back to the latest drivers and I can play the game now. I just played for over an hour with no stuttering but it did that when I went back to the older drivers also.

Yes I am unable to make the game crash also.

I'll try to take out some of my ram later on today and see what happens.

I am having the same exact problem. I tried rolling back drivers and it worked for a few hours also. I have noticed that it doesn't stutter when I drive but walking/running is terrible. It is very frustrating that I can only play for about 30 minutes before it becomes unplayable.

My specs are similar.
msi gtx 970
i5 3570k
8 gb ram