9600 XT fuzzy image on LCD

[Bob]

Hi

I have just installed an ATI 9600 XT 256meg card in my machine
and im having problems getting the image nice and sharp on my
Acer AL1715 LCD monitor. I have set the resolution on the card
to match the maximum resolution of the screen (1280 x 1024)
with a 60hz refresh rate. My previous card was a Sapphire 9550
which gave a superb sharp image. I have tried messing with the
screen settings, focus, clock, contrast and brightness but I just cant
get a sharp image across the whole screen. Ive tried various drivers
im currently using 8.201.0.0. I have tried changing the refresh rate
with no noticeable change and ive lost count of the number of times
ive hit the auto button on the monitor. I have also tried the monitor
in the other output, still the same.
Am I stuck with this fuzzy screen or is there a fix? I like the ATI
range of cards for gaming but this is the first ATI card ive had
with this problem. Do I need to upgrade to something like a
9800? Or will the fuzz problem still be there?



Thanks in advance



Bob

 

[Augustus]

Hi

I have just installed an ATI 9600 XT 256meg card in my machine
and im having problems getting the image nice and sharp on my
Acer AL1715 LCD monitor. I have set the resolution on the card
to match the maximum resolution of the screen (1280 x 1024)
with a 60hz refresh rate. My previous card was a Sapphire 9550
which gave a superb sharp image. I have tried messing with the
screen settings, focus, clock, contrast and brightness but I just cant
get a sharp image across the whole screen. Ive tried various drivers
im currently using 8.201.0.0. I have tried changing the refresh rate
with no noticeable change and ive lost count of the number of times
ive hit the auto button on the monitor. I have also tried the monitor
in the other output, still the same.
Am I stuck with this fuzzy screen or is there a fix? I like the ATI
range of cards for gaming but this is the first ATI card ive had
with this problem. Do I need to upgrade to something like a
9800? Or will the fuzz problem still be there?

Do you have the specific drivers for that monitor installed?
http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers/monitor/al1715.html

Is there another "refresh" rate available for that resolution after
installing the drivers or does the display look better after d/l and
install?

 

[Bob]

Do you have the specific drivers for that monitor installed?
http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers/monitor/al1715.html

Is there another "refresh" rate available for that resolution after
installing the drivers or does the display look better after d/l and
install?

Yes, after I posted here I went and downloaded the acer screen drivers,
the fuzz is still here, its not really bad, but its not right either.
My old 9550 card was spot on, crystal clear, at first, after download,
I thought the display had improved, but it was just wishful thinking.
I have tried other refresh rates, and they all look the same, from 60 to 180
hz.
60 is about the best.

Bob

 

[Napoleon Lunch]

Yes, after I posted here I went and downloaded the acer screen drivers,
the fuzz is still here, its not really bad, but its not right either.
My old 9550 card was spot on, crystal clear, at first, after download,
I thought the display had improved, but it was just wishful thinking.
I have tried other refresh rates, and they all look the same, from 60 to
180 hz.
60 is about the best.

Bob

Have you tried connecting via the DVI interface? I have an HIS 9600XT and it
has both analog and DVI interfaces. ~I know from using a LCD monitor at
work, using the DVI connector over analog makes a huge difference. Not only
is the picture sharper but the colors seem better as well.

Nap.

 

[Bob]

Have you tried connecting via the DVI interface? I have an HIS 9600XT and

it has both analog and DVI interfaces. ~I know from using a LCD monitor at
work, using the DVI connector over analog makes a huge difference. Not
only is the picture sharper but the colors seem better as well.

Nap.

Yes, I have tried both outputs, but the Acer screen is analogue input only,
so I have
to use and adaptor on the DVI output of the card, the results were the same
for
both outputs.
Many thanks
Bob

 

[J. Clarke]

Yes, after I posted here I went and downloaded the acer screen drivers,
the fuzz is still here, its not really bad, but its not right either.
My old 9550 card was spot on, crystal clear, at first, after download,
I thought the display had improved, but it was just wishful thinking.
I have tried other refresh rates, and they all look the same, from 60 to
180 hz.
60 is about the best.

Take a magnifier, look at the screen. See if the text boundaries on the
default font used for icon labels and the like is exactly hitting the pixel
boundaries. If it isn't, download Powerstrip and play with the timings
until it is.

 

[Bill]

Hi

I have just installed an ATI 9600 XT 256meg card in my machine
and im having problems getting the image nice and sharp on my
Acer AL1715 LCD monitor. I have set the resolution on the card
to match the maximum resolution of the screen (1280 x 1024)
with a 60hz refresh rate. My previous card was a Sapphire 9550
which gave a superb sharp image. I have tried messing with the
screen settings, focus, clock, contrast and brightness but I just cant
get a sharp image across the whole screen. Ive tried various drivers
im currently using 8.201.0.0. I have tried changing the refresh rate
with no noticeable change and ive lost count of the number of times
ive hit the auto button on the monitor. I have also tried the monitor
in the other output, still the same.
Am I stuck with this fuzzy screen or is there a fix? I like the ATI
range of cards for gaming but this is the first ATI card ive had
with this problem. Do I need to upgrade to something like a
9800? Or will the fuzz problem still be there?



Thanks in advance



Bob

I wish you people would put a name brand to these 9600XTs. Is it an
ATI Brand or some other brand using an ATI chip? That way people might
be able to figure out if this is a chip problem or a specific
manufacturer problem.

I want a dollar for every post I've seen concerning problems with the
9600XT 256MB card. Then I could afford an XL1800.

Try Googling.

http://groups.google.com/groups?as_q=
9600xt&scoring=r&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_ugroup=&as_usubject=&as_uauth
ors=&as_drrb=q&as_qdr=m6&as_mind=1&as_minm=1&as_miny=1981&as_maxd=17
&as_maxm=12&as_maxy=2005

http://makeashorterlink.com/?X6505155C


Bill

 

[Bob]

I wish you people would put a name brand to these 9600XTs. Is it an

ATI Brand or some other brand using an ATI chip? That way people might
be able to figure out if this is a chip problem or a specific
manufacturer problem.

Yes its an ATI Radeon 9600XT

Try Googling.

Done that (to death)

Bob

 

[Napoleon Lunch]

Yes its an ATI Radeon 9600XT


Done that (to death)

Bob

Hate to say it and I'm sure you've been putting it off for as long as you
can but I think the next thing to try is another graphics card in your PC
(if you are anything like me, you have a a good stash of old cards knocking
around) or take your monitor round to a mates house and try it on another
PC. Failing that, you could always start messing around with different
driver versions to see if that makes any difference.

Nap

 

[Bill]

Yes its an ATI Radeon 9600XT


Done that (to death)

Bob

If another card looks better. I'd say you have a defective card and
you should RMA it.

Bill

 

[Bob]

Hate to say it and I'm sure you've been putting it off for as long as you
can but I think the next thing to try is another graphics card in your PC
(if you are anything like me, you have a a good stash of old cards
knocking around) or take your monitor round to a mates house and try it on
another PC. Failing that, you could always start messing around with
different driver versions to see if that makes any difference.

Nap

I fear you might be right, I have just loaded Atitool and it reports
the core/mem speed at 398/200, is that right?
Bob

 

[Barry Watzman]

There are two issues that cause poor image quality on analog interfaced
LCD monitors:

1. Poor quality cables (***BIG*** Issue)

2. Improperly adjusted dot clock frequency and/or phase (the dot clock
frequency control is often labeled as Horizontal width or size).

The cable issue is self explanatory, but MOST of the analog cables
offered for sale are "poor quality". You can almost tell the quality by
the thickness of the cable. You want something larger than a number 2
pencil .... maybe even approaching the size of a garden hose (there are
5 individual coax cables inside a good analog video cable, and the
larger their individual diameters, the lower their loss and
capacitance). Unfortunately, really good video cables are both hard to
find and expensive.

As to the dot clock, download and install CRT Align (aka CRTAT) Here:

http://ns.winsite.net/bin/Info?500000030936

This program is variously known as CRTAT, CRTAT2, and CRT Align
(crtalign), and was written by Stephen Jenkins in about 1992 or 1993.
This is a very old Windows 3.1 program written in visual basic. It runs
under XP just fine, absolutely perfectly in fact, even with today's high
resolution monitors (you do need VBRUN300.DLL (the Visual basic version
3 runtime DLL library), which it may or may not come with the program
depending on where you download it from, but if you don't have
VBRUN300.DLL, it can be easily found on the web).

This program is totally non-invasive, it's "installation" makes NO
changes to your registry or to ANY system components or files. In fact,
if you just unzip the program and double click the exe file, it will run
fine without actual "installation" (but the program and the help file
need to be in the same directory, and VBRUN300.DLL needs to be available
in \Windows\System).

To use the program for this purpose, after installation, select the
leftmost of the 3 functions in the "Test" group (or "resolution" in the
drop-down menu) and then check both "mode" check-boxes.

When you display this pattern, you should see an absolutely perfect and
uniform field of alternating (but very, very fine) black and white
vertical bars each only one single pixel wide. If you see "moire"
distortion, or smearing, your display isn't adjusted correctly. Digital
monitors (with DVI interfaces) will always be "perfect". Analog
monitors will usually show an initial moire distortion pattern until
they are adjusted (dot clock frequency and phase). In most cases,
perfect adjustment can be achieved (and is "remembered" by the display),
but in some cases you can't achieve this. Note that the "auto"
(auto-adjust) function on almost all analog LCD monitors gets "close"
but usually does not get to the best possible adjustment.

[On many monitors, the dot clock frequency is called Horizontal size or
width. Phase is usually called Phase]

If you have an analog monitor and you don't use this program to adjust
your monitor, you are doing yourself a real disservice.

 

[Barry Watzman]

The other point that I meant to mention on this subject is that you MUST
run the video card only a the native pixel resolution of the LCD panel.
NO EXCEPTIONS OF ANY KIND ON THIS POINT, PERIOD.

 

[Barry Watzman]

If the monitor is analog only, then you can't use a DVI interface, and
your attempt to do so was just a use of the analog signals on a
different connector (A DVI-I connector has analog signals on it also).

 

[Barry Watzman]

The problem is far more likely the cable or dot-clock adjustment than
the video card.