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 Dimension
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?

 

From your description, I would guess that:

(1) Either you *do* have a stray magnetic field (two CRT monitors close
together can influence each other - I've seen it), or your video card
is getting weird. My money is on external fields, but then, I never win
the lottery...

(2) Your original monitor is nearing the end of its life. They do that,
and three years can be a long time for a CRT monitor.

Gino