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sth25

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sth25

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March 5th, 2007 23:00

Bad video card?

I just purchased a refurbished XPS 410 with the Geforce 7300LE video card. The monitor (19" flat panel) was also refurbished. I immediately noticed that fonts and hyperlinks seemed "fuzzier" and "grainier", and most colors seemed lighter than they should. DVD's and images, while not horrible, are not what they should be. The brightness button on the monitor didn't function so I chalked it up to a bad one. Bought a new 19" flat panel (LG) and other than the brightness button working - no improvement. I tried adjusting the antialiasing in the Geforce tab in the Advanced Display settings in Control Panel - no change no matter what I set it to.
 
Any suggestions on what the problem might be or what to try?
  • SR45

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    Posted March 6th, 2007 08:00

    Try a new driver for that card, which is a low end card that many do not like.  Application controlled for AA would be best set to.
     
    Make sure you have the monitor set to its native resolutions, and dpi is set to 96 dpi.  Also turn on ClearType.  After that, and nothing works, get another video card.  One that will serve that nice system and gaming well.  You can get a 7600 GT, 7900 GTX or the real nice 8800 GTS directx 10 card for future directx 10 gaming
  • sth25

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    Posted March 6th, 2007 11:00

    Well I switched my monitors, putting the new LG on my old Dimension 2350 and my old 15" CRT on the new XPS. The CRT looked fine and the LG looked basically as poor as on the new PC. So I no longer think it's my video card, and since I am not a gamer I'm not real anxious to go blow more money on a better one, although I do work in Photoshop.  I will try your suggestions however.... where do I set "Clear Type"?.
     
    I am wondering if yet trying another new monitor would help, the LG was nearly $300.00 and I thought I was buying a good one. (At first I thought maybe I was just not used to a flat screen until it dawned on me I use a laptop for work and that looks fine). One thing that does help is setting the resolution slider all the way to the right (1280 x 1024?) and when the machine boots up a message pops up on the monitor recommending this setting, but that resolution is really too small for my eyes. Do all 19" flats recommend that setting? As far as sizing I really prefer 1024 x 768 to reduce eye strain.
  • contrvlr

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    Posted March 6th, 2007 12:00

    Not many lcd's look good when running a lower resolution than what is native to them. Try increasing the DPI and using extra large fonts at the
    1280x1024 resolution.
  • SR45

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    Posted March 6th, 2007 12:00

    In display properties...
     
    Right click your mouse on the desktop > click Properties > click AppearanceEffects next > than in the second drop down window change it from Standard to ClearType > click OK
     
    Dim 4400
    2.6 Ghz 400 FSB
    1 Gb 2100 DDR memory
    Windows XP Home
    120 Gb Seagate 7,200 drive
    24 inch 2407 WFP
    XFX 7800 GS O/C AGP
    16x DVD-R
    410 watt ( PcPower&Cooling )


    Message Edited by SR45 on 03-06-2007 09:32 AM
  • sth25

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    Posted March 6th, 2007 18:00

    Thanks for these suggestions, I'll give them a try and post the results.
  • SR45

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    Posted March 6th, 2007 18:00

    Give us a jingle one way or the other.  Good luck sth25