well to be honest i feel pretty cheated because they adverised this system as a 'games' system..yet it seems like the monitor cant really handle games.

Thats why i want to find out for sure if its the monitor or the graphics card..

   No way is it the graphics card. The card you quoted in your first post is FAST! Some other things to consider. If the game you're playing is D3D manipulate some settings in the D3D control panel. Like turn off monitor sync. This will let the card spill frames as fast as it'll go instead of syncing at the 60Hz of the monitor. If none of this works I'm afraid you're bumping up against your monitor's pixel refresh rate. There is nothing you can do about that save for getting another monitor with a faster pixel refresh rate.  

yeah i am using dvi...i have also tried the analogou connection though..no difference to be honest.

I'll try changing to 16bit when i get home.

Basically what i want to know is if this is a common problem with this monitor..and not a problem with my graphics card.

I have emailed dell support..but all i got was an automated response which did not help at all..

unfortunately its happening with any game i try (call of duty, unreal2, far cry...) so yeah i guess you are right..which is what i expected...the monitor aint good enough for my card heh...oh well..back to crt then

   Are you connected via the DVI port. If not change your monitor connection to DVI. That'll help some. If you're displaying 32 bit color change to 16 bit. That'll also help some. I realize you'll lose some clarity, but try resolutions lower than native. Maybe the combination of all three will net you a gain. Then again maybe not, but what have you got to lose at this point? Good Luck!