Bad monitor from bad video card?
 

Is it possible that a bad graphics card would make a monitor's desktop image quiver on screen and possibly make the monitor's sharpness degrade permanently over time? I have a three year old Dell 8300 desktop and the fine detail of this 19" Dell monitor that came with it has noticeably degraded over time. This monitor as well as two other good 19" Dell monitor's that I connect to this computer all exhibit the same quivering of the screen when you look at small details like small text or finely detailed icons on screen. The older monitor is mushy now unlike before on *any* computer I connect it to but the new monitors are fine with other computers, just not the 8300. I also already tried plugging the monitors into different outlets, to eliminate that same problem with all when connected to this Dimentson 8300. I don't have any speakers very close to or other powerful currents around this pc. So anyone else think it could be the video card?

Never heard of a defective video card making a monitor itself degrade. I'm assuming this is a CRT monitor. I've seen "quivering" when another monitor is in close proximity to the first, expecially if both monitors are plugged into the same AC circuit. It could be a power supply problem developing with the monitor. Finally check to see if there are other heavy current draws like air conditioners or refrigerators in the buildiing or even in the neighborhood kicking in or injecting noise onto the AC line - a voltage sag in the line can cause that symptom. Perhaps see if a power line conditioner or UPS between the monitor and the mains helps.

when i was a pc admin we had a computer that quivered like that... it was caused by a magnetic field on the other side of the wall, generated by a huge a/c switch panel for the entire building... what a pia that was.

if a crt monitor has been left on all the time, perhaps with the brightness turned up too far, so that the screensaver never takes it to a true black, you'll end up with burn-in across the entire screen... everything is sorta blurry.