Computer help forum: Horizontal fluctuations of brightness on screen.

That's a significant clue right there.

Did you get all required drivers, especially the one for your video card? Latest patches for your games?

Did you have a different issue with the previous install? What OS, SP, make and model of system?

I reformatted because I got a virus in one of the windows files and I was having problems rooting it out.

Yes, I have the latest drivers for my video card (I have even tried the last three driver versions but no change). I'm pretty sure all my other drivers are up to date.

With the previous install, I had no issues at all (other than the virus, of course). And I'm running Windows 7, Service Pack 1.
The actual computer specs are:
Intel I5 2500K 3.3 GHz
Evga Nvidia GTX 560 TI 448 Cores
8 GB RAM
ASUS P8Z 68 M Pro
OCZ 850W PSU

I am planning to try the computer out with a different monitor at some point to see if my monitor just decided to start dying since it's rather old ((maybe 4-5 years).

Video does show some artifacts and some slight pixelation.

i5 processor has how many cores?

Read elsewhere that an eight-core i7 had one dead core, there is a windows setting that you can change so the bad core is not used, if this were to apply to you. Moderators here would be able to track that discussion down for you as it is a very recent thread. Running on only 7 did make a difference.

Similiar symptoms to you, if I recall correctly.

But shouldn't artifacts show up in screenshots (I probably should have noted before that these problems do not show up in screen shots)?

Assuming that artifacting should show up screenshots (which it isn't doing in this case), I feel the answer is pretty obvious to lie with either my actual display or its settings (should of realized that sooner).

I will be trying out a different monitor sometime tonight and hopefully that will solve the problem.

I apologize for the number of replies, but I don't know how to edit posts (if possible at all).
But I tried it out with a different monitor and the problem almost completely vanishes. It's still there but it's barely noticeable. Could this be normal with some lower quality monitors (because the one I tried it out with isn't exactly the best)?

Try it over a HDMI link.

Unfortunately, I don't have a VGA/DVI to HDMI converter and I'm afraid the monitors I have don't have ports for HDMI cords.

Guess it highlights how I'm due for a new one regardless.