Monitor Issue

I just recently bought an acer 22' ws and HIS x1650 Pro vid card. I had been working with the vid card for a few days before my monitor came in the mail this afternoon. I hooked up the monitor via dvi cable and loaded up a few different games. Well down to the issue... The screen will flash black every thirty seconds or so.

Everything works great, if I am not playing a game.

I took off the side panel to my case and threw a box fan next to it to see if that would kill the issue. The problem is still presisting even after doing so.

Can you monitor the GPU temps from within windows? If yes what are they?

A fan would do nothing if the heatsink is not sitting properly on the GPU. If it is brand new and you are scared of taking it apart, just take it back and get another one. Or just unscrew the heatsink carefuly, and have a look at the footprint with the GPU. Try using some good quality (Arctic Silver or similar) paste in between and resit the heatsink on the GPU. Don't screw it the first time, just pull it off once more and have a look at the footprint. If it makes perfect contact (equally spread) then resit and secure by screwing it back into place. That should do it.