I've had some recent problems with my computer and I'm at a loss of what to do. It started a few weeks ago when I started getting blurry and distorted wavy lines on my monitor. I figured it was the monitor so I tried a friends out on it, and it still did the same thing. It seems to get worse when I play FINAL Fantasy XI or other games so I started thinking it was the Graphics card. I've looked all over the net and tried changing my refresh rate from 75 to 60 and it fixed it for a day then the 60 started getting blurry. I can't even put it back to 75 now. Furthermore, once it gets worse where I'm almost unable to concentrate, I just shut my PC down. Another problem started occuring where my PC has problems booting up. The tower starts up but the monitor displays nothing and only says its in Power Save mode. COULD this be the graphics card on its last legs or what? I don't want to shell out $200 for a card and not have it fix my problem. BTW my PC is a:

Dell XPS400
nVidia GeForce 6800 256
70GB
2.8 Ghz

I also have a SIMPLE Dell 19inch monitor LCD if that helps. I've seen a few other threads with people who have had a similar problem. My computer is only a year and a half old too.

I've waited to fix it because of finals from college, but now that finals are over, I want to get back to playing my games! Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks :3Check your temps, sounds like a heat problem to me.
It could also be a driver problem, try updating to the latest drivers.
Does this happen only in games?  i.e. only when the graphics card is being pushed?I thought it was a heat problem too but now theres lines all the time. However they do get worse the longer the PC is running or when I play a game. I did update all my drivers and that didn't work. :/What are your temperatures?GPU is usally around 59-69ish. its at about 61 atm. That's fine, nothing to worry about.
Open the CASE and clean all the fans (whilst the PC is off, and observe ESD precautions)
It definitely sounds like heat, or a failing card.Yeah, I took it apart and cleaned out the fans and even took out the card to reset it, figuring maybe it was loose, but neither worked. What do you mean ESD?ESD.
If you've already done that, I wouldn't worry - if the problem didn't get worse, you probably didn't fry anything.
Bear it in mind next time though.
In that case, it sounds like a failing card to me.
Maybe someone else has some ideas that could help, but I'm all out, sorry.Ok well thanks for your input, I'm still 99% sure its the card. Although could a failing card cause me to have these monitor bootup problems? Other threads say it could be power supply causing that.Yes, a failing card could cause that.
It could also be the PSU, that's something I hadn't thought of.I don't know much about PSU, any way I can verify if its the card or Power Supply? ;; I think the best way is to simply test someone elses card in my PC if I can find someone near me from college. Don't know how to test PSU though.