Is my monitor or vid card going bad?

[HiProfile]

I have a Radeon 9800 pro (oc'd half the time) and a Mitsu Diamond Pro 930sb monitor, both are about 4 years old or so. Starting a few days ago, I occationally see what I'd call minor flickering lines (horizontal) on the screen, and sometimes the overall image will shrink, as in momentarily a 1/16" gap added to the border. Its very random, sometimes I don't see it happen all day long.

I'm a bit short on cash, so I can't exactly swap cards or monitors to determine which it is. I guess I'm hoping its my vid card (so I can upgrade), although I'm thinking its more my monitor. Anyone have any programs or ideas I can use to test either one?

[jivetrky]

To me, the image shrinkage and horizontal flickering lines sound like the monitor.

[SuperDave1685]

I would put my money on the monitor. The tubes in CRT's go bad much faster than a video card will. A computer part can run for upwards of 10 years or more. The Cathode tubes in CRTs usually don't last as long. Sorry bro :( Have you tried the dxdiag directdraw test?

[smokie mcpott]

one of my old 19" CRTs would do some crazy stuff like that until i realized it was getting too hot (my desk had a shelf that came up and over the monitor) took off the shelf and it worked great

[HiProfile]

Well I was thinking it was the monitor, then got to looking at vid cards... I'd have to spend near a grand to get a great vid card (agp atm), or settle for half-a$$ed cpu/mobo & ram. I hope it will hold out for a while longer, at least till the R600's get cheaper/availible.

[smokie mcpott]

a grand!?!? whoa... where are you looking dude?

you can get an x1950pro for right around 200, or even an nvidia 7900gs

[HiProfile]

What I meant was that I'd have to upgrade the rest of my hardware - I'm looking for a mid-high range setup, core2duo & related mobo/ram, to get a high-end pci-e vid card. My ideal setup would put me over $1k, but I don't have enough cash to budget for that atm. I might just sell my current turbo kit on my car & complete the other kit I've been working on, which would pay for it all & then some. My friend just has to find the right Honda first...

Luckly my b-day is coming very soon, and I'm getting a paycheck that was delayed for some time, so at the least I'll be shopping for a very nice LCD screen soon.

I already tried & passed the dxdiag tests, so I think I'll borrow my dad's lcd to see if its the monitor.