Hardware help needed, Monitor might be dying.

I have a Samsung SyncMaster 2443BW 24inch wide monitor. Its 1920x1200 (16:10) Its 5 or 6 years old so past warranty. It pretty much has not moved since I got it. It has not had any physical damage.

I'm having a little issue with it in that, I have just started noticing some lines going from side to side near the top of the screen.

Here is a shot of what it looks like, not a great picture but this is actually the best one that that turned out.
http://i.imgur.com/mIifHcs.jpg

On a white/bright or black background you can't see the lines at all. The color of the background I choose for the image was the one that actually showed it the best.

After the monitor has been off for a while and then turned back on the lines are not there. I'm not sure how long it takes for the lines to show back up but they eventually do. I've also noticed that the screen is a little warmer near the top, but I always suspected that could be due to rising heat.

They are not noticeable while gaming or while I have some other program up, but when its a solid color under the lines you can see them.

Has anyone had any experience with something like this? Could this be due to dust build up inside the back of it? (dust not letting it vent properly maybe?). Something else causing this?

I am going to try blowing it out as soon as get a chance to see if that helps any.

Lets say the monitor is on its way out. Can you suggest a decent monitor of around 24 to 27 inch in size, and while I'm ok with 16:9, I have really gotten used to the 16:10. I'm not really locked into any brand, but I have had good luck with samsung and acer over the years. Must be available in Canada, no shipping over borders.

I do a lot of FPS and racing gaming. I have a Powercolor 5770 HD running all my games at 1920x1200 smoothly so any bigger then that might hurt the frames per second during gaming. I do some photo and video editing. A lot of reading and watching videos and movies on it. It would be nice if I could tilt it into "portrait" mode but not needed, its one of those it seems like a good feature things but I can live without it.

I have no interest in 4k or 3D and don't need speakers in it.

I'm not sure how much I am going to be able to put towards it, but I think somewhere between 250 to 300 max in a few months.

So any suggestions on what the issue could be and any suggestions on a good replacement monitor?