# News graphics card. WinXP FUBAR. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 1, 2009, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-graphics-card-winxp-fubar/483967 "2009-02-01T08:13:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-graphics-card-winxp-fubar/483967/1 "2009-02-01T08:13:14Z")
I decided that to get the full experience from Fallout 3, I needed a new GPU. Oh dear. It’s hard for me to read the text I’m typing into this box. All letters look… jagged or smeared, sorta. Colors are off and lines look pixelated on the desktop. OTOH, Fallout 3 looks gorgeous and video content is crisp and clear, so obviously, it’s not the graphics card, nor connection, nor the screen. Suggestions please… Setup: ATI Radeon 4650 (by Asus) XP SP3. 3.0 Intel DualCore HDMI cabel Samsung 40" LCD with native resolution of 1360x768 (it took a while to force the GPU to this and it made XP look slightly better) ---
**Author:** ![gladtobeblazed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@gladtobeblazed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gladtobeblazed)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-graphics-card-winxp-fubar/483967/2 "2009-02-01T08:18:03Z")
Perhaps you need to turn on ClearType? > **[Microsoft Typography documentation - Typography](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/)** > > Develop fonts, find existing fonts, and license fonts from registered vendors. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-graphics-card-winxp-fubar/483967/3 "2009-02-01T08:29:57Z")
What video card did it replace? Did you remove the old drivers first? ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-graphics-card-winxp-fubar/483967/4 "2009-02-01T14:53:05Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > What video card did it replace? Did you remove the old drivers first? An nVidea card. Didn’t remove the drivers. Will do that and try out that clear type thingie. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-graphics-card-winxp-fubar/483967/5 "2009-02-01T16:40:00Z")
Checking back in with an update: Removed nVidea drivers and installed ClearType. Didn’t help. Checked settings in Fallout3 and noticed that it’s running on 1152x648.I changed to that setting for the monitor and now everything looks crisp and clear. And BIG. I want 1360x768 dangit. ---
**Author:** ![BorgHunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@BorgHunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BorgHunter)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-graphics-card-winxp-fubar/483967/6 "2009-02-01T17:13:10Z")
Are you certain that the screen’s native resolution isn’t Wide XGA, or 136 **6** x768? ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-graphics-card-winxp-fubar/483967/7 "2009-02-01T18:50:15Z")
> [@BorgHunter](#): > > Are you certain that the screen’s native resolution isn’t Wide XGA, or 136 **6** x768? I just checked the manual. It’s a Samsung LE40R51B and the manual clearly states 1360x76@60hz. Thanks for the suggestion though and thanks to averyone else who tries to help. I should add that while text looks crisper @1152x648, it’s kind of smeared in colors, i.e. there are contours around the black which are different colors. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2009, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-graphics-card-winxp-fubar/483967/8 "2009-02-02T17:25:22Z")
I’m taking the risk of bumping this since it went to the 2nd page on a Sunday… ---
**Author:** ![Turble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Turble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turble)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-graphics-card-winxp-fubar/483967/9 "2009-02-03T16:35:53Z")
Have you checked to see if there are new drivers available for the card? ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-graphics-card-winxp-fubar/483967/10 "2009-02-03T16:41:22Z")
You removed the old drivers, and I assume you isntalled the latest catalyst drivers directom from the amd/ati website, right? And on top of that, you are sure you are running your desktop at your LCD monitor’s native resolution, correct? Is there anyway you can take a pic of your monitor so we can see exactly what the problem looks like? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-graphics-card-winxp-fubar/483967/11 "2009-02-03T16:53:57Z")
> [@Charlie\_Tan](#): > > I’m taking the risk of bumping this since it went to the 2nd page on a Sunday… [I googled your monitor](http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/televisions/0,39030219,39193146,00.htm). You do realize this is a TV not a computer monitor? Your graphics game should look fine, screen text etc will be seriously compromised. The resolution you state for this 40" TV monitor is about the same as for a 17" PC monitor. Your graphics card is fine the problem is that your monitor is a TV. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-graphics-card-winxp-fubar/483967/12 "2009-02-03T17:10:13Z")
> [@Charlie\_Tan](#): > > I should add that while text looks crisper @1152x648, it’s kind of smeared in colors, i.e. there are contours around the black which are different colors. That’s just ClearType trying to do its job - it [uses different colors](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ClearType#How_ClearType_works) to smooth out the edges. But it only works if you’re using an LCD monitor at its native resolution. Sorry, no idea about the original problem. I did see a similar phenomenon (sort of an interlaced appearance, only at certain resolutions) when I was recently re-installing XP, but that was with the driver that came with XP. It went away after I downloaded the latest drive from the ATI (AMD) web site and installed it. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-graphics-card-winxp-fubar/483967/13 "2009-02-03T17:30:36Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > You removed the old drivers, and I assume you isntalled the latest catalyst drivers directom from the amd/ati website, right? > > And on top of that, you are sure you are running your desktop at your LCD monitor’s native resolution, correct? > > Is there anyway you can take a pic of your monitor so we can see exactly what the problem looks like? Yes, yes and yes. I’ve talked to the ATI suport drones and they have no clue. [Here’s a screen shot.](http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w275/pellepennan/screen.jpg) It’s a jpg but I assure you the frayed letters and general blurriness is there on the screen, not from a poor resolution image. > [@astro](#): > > [I googled your monitor](http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/televisions/0,39030219,39193146,00.htm). You do realize this is a TV not a computer monitor? Your graphics game should look fine, screen text etc will be seriously compromised. The resolution you state for this 40" TV monitor is about the same as for a 17" PC monitor. Your graphics card is fine the problem is that your monitor is a TV. ??? It’s a “HD Ready” set with HDMI, VGA and composite connections. It includes a tuner, so technically, I guess you could say it’s a “tv”, however, the resolution is standard XWGA which is the same as most 40" LCDs had a couple of years ago. That there are 17" monitors with the same resolution doesn’t mean a thing. I would put such a small thing 6’ away and expect to see what I’m typing, but nether would I put the 40" on my desk and hope to be productive. But above all, it worked perfectly with my old 128mb NVidea card and the computer didn’t crash when I clicked a .mkv which it tends to do now. So how is it not the graphics card when that’s the only thing I have changed on my computer. ---
**Author:** ![Casserole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b77776/32.png) [@Casserole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casserole)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-graphics-card-winxp-fubar/483967/14 "2009-02-03T19:20:05Z")
Ironically, a screenshot taken by the computer won’t show us what you see, since the problem is somewhere between the graphics card and the TV. So your screenshot looks perfectly fine to us 🙂 Check the screen mode function on your TV… is there a “Dot-by-dot” selection? ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-graphics-card-winxp-fubar/483967/15 "2009-02-05T17:09:41Z")
UPDATE I gave up. I returned the ATI card after talking to “Andy” at the support center nad with some guy at ASUS. Got the same spec card, also by ASUS, but with nVidea chip. It works like a charm. No tweaking, just connect, install drivers and re-boot. Five minutes work and It’s up and running. Thanks to those that tried to help. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-graphics-card-winxp-fubar/483967/16 "2009-02-05T17:35:03Z")
The issue sounded a lot like the card wasn’t installed properly, and by that I mean literally loose in the PCI-E slot. That’s a lot like what happens on old cartridge systems when you very gently pull up on the sides of the cartridge during gameplay, I’m guessing if the card wasn’t defective it was probably installed just a liiiitle bit off and not reading/writing correctly. Ah well, glad you got it to work.