FEAR Video Problems

When playing FEAR at 1024x768 on a 19" Dell CRT, I'll get red dots at random points over a dead body say.
I'll move and the dots will disappear but will come back on top of another once animated object in the game (flower pot, radio etc) at random points in the game, even from a cold boot, within five minutes of gameplay. But sometimes I'll play five hours (FEAR) straight and nada, no anomalies. They (being the anomalies) won't cover the screen, only follow the outline of an object in game?
Driver updates did not fix the issue, even after scrubbing old drivers from computer and running the original Dell and last three ATI driver packages. Catalyst Control panel thingy not installed ever.

I THINK my 9800xt is dying.

Also, while web surfing I'll also have ads randomly flicker somewhere on the webpage. Now, I'm aware of what an ad is, but a half to a quarter second flicker isn't enough for me to read it, and it's not a hotlink to be clicked on either. Hence my presumption that the video card may be going bad.

Mind you, all this started happening with the 1.03 F.E.A.R patch, which went from 1.01, DVD version if it matters.

All of this is running on a Dimension 8300, with a gig of Dell Ram, 3.0GHz P4?c?, Dell board (875P chipset), yadda yadda yadda, it's a Dell (can ya tell?)

So, after my longwinded spiel and all, has anyone else noticed screen anomalies (are these called artifacts?) of different colors on animate objects in FEAR?
Also, what would be causing the ads and other animated boxes in webpages (through Firefox 1.5.0.2) to randomly flicker on the screen (only while scrolling!)

Any help, greatly appreciated.

Hope I posted in the right place, no other game has such anomalies and the webpage thing started only after FEAR update.

Dimension 8300
1 gig of Ram
P4 3.0?c?
ATI 9800xt 256

i not absolutly possitive but u should check on the buttom of the Game box at the supported Graphics cards. if it is supported then i dont know what it could be, but another solution could be contact company that made ur pc.

I too had a similar problem. As simple as it sounds, try ensuring that your DVI or analog cable is COMPLETELY seated. I thought my video card was bad (x1900xtx) until, by luck I wiggled the DVI connector at the monitor when it was occuring and ta-da! It went away. I guess thats why they put the screws on the connectors.