Weird cheap video card quirk... - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

KnifeMissile · 11-16-2004, 03:57 PM

My cheap ass PCIex video card (ATI X300SE) claims to support 1600x1200 at 75Hz but this is a lie. The screen objects waver horizontally too much to be tolerable. As you can imagine, this pissed me off and I was expecting to go back to the computer store with my receipt, hoping to pay my restocking fee and get a refund. However, I try very hard to salvage the situation and figure out what's going on. Now, it still wavers at 70Hz but stops at 60Hz. Unfortunately, this is way too low to tolerate and I know this 'cause I have seriously tried to tolerate it in the past. So, I could go down to a lower resolution but the next one down is 1280x1024 which is intolerably too low. So, what can I do?
It turns out that my video card can support 1792x1344 at 75Hz. This is pretty close to my desired resolution and pretty much solves my problem. The resolution is a little high in that everything's a little on the small side but I do have more real estate, which is always good. So, this is my new resolution and, so far, it's okay. Even my media applications haven't complained, yet...

Has anyone else encountered bizarre failings and solutions to their hardware and tolerated it?

jonjon42 · 11-16-2004, 05:54 PM

could it abe a monitor problem?

KnifeMissile · 11-16-2004, 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonjon42

could it abe a monitor problem?

It's tempting to think that except that the computer before this new one was able to do 1600x1200 at 75Hz just fine with an ATI Rage128, so this new video card really has no excuse...

spade111 · 11-17-2004, 09:54 AM

Heya KnifeMissile,

I've seen the same thing when moving to a new card. Sometimes the component level circuitry that converts the image from a digital source to an analog feed for your monitor can induce these sorts of defects. Typically at the maximum refresh rates per resolution that a given DAC can support, distortion characteristics such as the 'waves' you pointed out, are common. Although in this case, I doubt that the ramdac is at it's ceiling. The ati website lists the x300se as having a dual 400mhz... which would max out at somewhere well above, depending on depth - 2048x1536x85hz.

I suspect that other components on the card, as a value part, chips on the card may not be of top manufacturing spec... (less shielding, more transistor crosstalk etc.), may be more susceptible to interferance, and contribute to the production of this wave effect. The fact that it shows up only at certain resolutions and refresh rates, reinforces this analogy.

Solutions - try running the card at a non-standard resolution. Get powerstrip an muss around with the timings ( note : do this only if you feel comfortable... this can seriously damage your card/ and or monitor ) and resolution modes / color depths. Tweaking just a little in one direction or another may help reduce or eliminate the effect. Compound resonance is a fickle beast.

ev

11-16-2004, 03:57 PM	#1 (permalink)
KnifeMissile Location: Waterloo, Ontario	Weird cheap video card quirk... My cheap ass PCIex video card (ATI X300SE) claims to support 1600x1200 at 75Hz but this is a lie. The screen objects waver horizontally too much to be tolerable. As you can imagine, this pissed me off and I was expecting to go back to the computer store with my receipt, hoping to pay my restocking fee and get a refund. However, I try very hard to salvage the situation and figure out what's going on. Now, it still wavers at 70Hz but stops at 60Hz. Unfortunately, this is way too low to tolerate and I know this 'cause I have seriously tried to tolerate it in the past. So, I could go down to a lower resolution but the next one down is 1280x1024 which is intolerably too low. So, what can I do? It turns out that my video card can support 1792x1344 at 75Hz. This is pretty close to my desired resolution and pretty much solves my problem. The resolution is a little high in that everything's a little on the small side but I do have more real estate, which is always good. So, this is my new resolution and, so far, it's okay. Even my media applications haven't complained, yet... Has anyone else encountered bizarre failings and solutions to their hardware and tolerated it?

11-16-2004, 05:54 PM	#2 (permalink)
jonjon42 Psycho Location: inside my own mind	could it abe a monitor problem? __________________ A damn dirty hippie without the dirty part....

11-17-2004, 09:54 AM	#4 (permalink)
spade111 Upright	yep... The video card Heya KnifeMissile, I've seen the same thing when moving to a new card. Sometimes the component level circuitry that converts the image from a digital source to an analog feed for your monitor can induce these sorts of defects. Typically at the maximum refresh rates per resolution that a given DAC can support, distortion characteristics such as the 'waves' you pointed out, are common. Although in this case, I doubt that the ramdac is at it's ceiling. The ati website lists the x300se as having a dual 400mhz... which would max out at somewhere well above, depending on depth - 2048x1536x85hz. I suspect that other components on the card, as a value part, chips on the card may not be of top manufacturing spec... (less shielding, more transistor crosstalk etc.), may be more susceptible to interferance, and contribute to the production of this wave effect. The fact that it shows up only at certain resolutions and refresh rates, reinforces this analogy. Solutions - try running the card at a non-standard resolution. Get powerstrip an muss around with the timings ( note : do this only if you feel comfortable... this can seriously damage your card/ and or monitor ) and resolution modes / color depths. Tweaking just a little in one direction or another may help reduce or eliminate the effect. Compound resonance is a fickle beast. ev