NVidia poor 2D

JoeHead

Distinguished
Dec 31, 2007
366
0
18,780
I'm tossing my GF2 (to my son) and getting a Radeon. Going blind trying to read the text. Complained to Viewsonic (P815 21") and come to find out it's Nvidia. Just saw a review where to text is not as crisp. And to back it up a friend just went ATI to Nvidia and now he thinks he needs glasses.

If you read as much as I do on the web you might want to think of Nvidia. Can still fragg at 1024 and 32 bit w/ even better quality.

<b> Fragg at will!!! </b>
 

noko

Distinguished
Jan 22, 2001
2,414
1
19,785
I've seen that problem with my friends computer Dell system, the 2d was not good at all. So with his 19" monitor he used 800x600 resolution. His game play was good but 2d at anything over 1024x768 as far as I saw was unusable. Now I've read not all GF2 2d is the same such as the Gladiac was suppose to be the best using the nVidia chipsets also GF3 will soon be out and I hope that problem will be solved forever. I've would have bought a GF2 card except for the 2d issue was too major for me.
 
G

Guest

Guest
That is weird, I run my tnt2 on a 19in at 1280x1024 and 1600x1200 without a problem like that.
 

noko

Distinguished
Jan 22, 2001
2,414
1
19,785
Appears that different manufacuturer of nVidia chipset cards have different overall quality of 2d. Best bet is to try one before buying, like a friends or a good hardware review which included 2d quality test.
 

noko

Distinguished
Jan 22, 2001
2,414
1
19,785
I did help someone to build a KT7 with a 750@850 Thunderbird while we where at work. He uses and still uses a TNT card, its 2d wan't bad at all, we compared it to the Voodoo3 3000 in the company computer (neat haveing a gaming card in the work pc) the Voodoo was better but not by that much. So maybe the 2d issues deals with the GF2 line of cards by nVidia not being very specific or tight about 2d circuitry specs using there GF2 chips.
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by noko on 02/24/01 05:49 AM.</EM></FONT></P>
 
G

Guest

Guest
I guess with 2d-performance you mean the video signal quality and not the speed? Why should there be a difference between 2d and 3d apps?
I'm using a very cheap GF2 MX with a sony Multiscan 17sf (quite old). I just tried to set it to 1280x1024 and it looks very crisp (although it flickers like hell since the monitor just manages 60 Hz at that res)
maybe your card has a bad signal filter (if it needs one anyway)?
I've heard for best 2d and signal quality matrox is recommended

good luck
 
G

Guest

Guest
I've got a GF2mx with an optiquest Q95 (19") in 1280x1024 and I agree that the quality isn't as good as some other solutions, but I haven't bled out of my eyes because of it. :) Actually the problem I've had with it is that it's only running at 75hz when both are capable of doing 85hz. (can't get it to change to 85). Even though the official "they" say that 72hz is all you need, I find a big difference between 75 and 85hz. A while back I was playing a game on my dad's computer (dell 20" /w V3) and kept finding my eyes hurting after. I wasn't exactly sure why but then I found out that the card was dropping into the default 75hz when in the game's particular res (the monitor has a feature that tells the refresh rate). I didn't think It would do much, but I changed it to 85 and my eyes stoped hurting! Perpaps you are having a refresh rate problem?
 
G

Guest

Guest
It might be that your video has mediocre DAC converter.
After all, the image you see on the monitor is the combination of analog video signal from the DAC and monitor itself (like how masking is done).

Sometimes it happens - I have one PC with VideoSonic and
videoboard is Savage4 - 1024x768 is really nice,
1280x1024 - unusable as text becomes 'fuzzy'.

Never had Matrox, though.

NT_Buddy
 
G

Guest

Guest
One more thing - try 85 Hz, 100 Hz, etc - sometimes it's so much better that you will consider to go for lower resolution with better refresh rate.

I still remember when I tried 100 Hz... IT IS A DIFFERENCE

NT_Buddy
 

phsstpok

Splendid
Dec 31, 2007
5,600
1
25,780
...and sometimes the opposite is true. Video cards can be straining to produce hi-resolution at high refresh rates. Sometimes text is sharper at lower refresh rates.
 

phsstpok

Splendid
Dec 31, 2007
5,600
1
25,780
Going blind trying to read the text

I think it varies manufacturer to manufacturer and card to card. My VisionTek Geforce 256 is much sharper than my old ATI All-In-Wonder. Trust me it has to be sharp. I'm still using a 15" MAG monitor and I use it at 1024x768. It's even sharp at 1280x1024 but I can't stand the 60 hz refresh at that resolution.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by phsstpok on 02/24/01 04:48 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
 

JoeHead

Distinguished
Dec 31, 2007
366
0
18,780
WOW! Tahnks everyone. I ussually set it at 85 or 100 MHz. At 100 it gets awfull dark. My brightness is already up there all that is left to do is change the default props. in the NVidia drivers.

I also am using 15 pin to 5 BNC's which I got to help this prob. No luck.

Wish me luck with the Radeon. Just installed it and seem to be having driver probs. Put the new drivers in right off and then started to freeze. During the installation there were many MANY newer files already existing that I did not replace. Maybe I should have. I'm about to try the unofficial DX8 drivers.

I'M A GLUTTEN FOR PUNISHMENT. (VIA, Athlon and now ATI too - what else could I add that could be unstable???)

I'll report back with 2D quality once I get a stable machine again.

<b> Fragg at will!!! </b>
 

noko

Distinguished
Jan 22, 2001
2,414
1
19,785
There are a number of GF2 owners that converted to a Radeon at <A HREF="http://rage3d.com" target="_new">http://rade3d.com</A>. Don't hesitate to ask there for assistance, many will respond positively to your answers and help you along. There are over 60,000 posts dealing just with the Radeon. From Technical, Video, General and Tweaking to get you the most stablest to fastest setup possible. Anyways check us out there, it is quite a friendly community and don't forget to come back here.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by noko on 02/24/01 07:58 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
 

JoeHead

Distinguished
Dec 31, 2007
366
0
18,780
WOW!!!

I have it working now and after hours of playing and a little browsing teh card is incredible. What a difference. And you know what ... it all plays well still at the same settings. OH and now I don't have to brighten the [-peep-] out of the display so I can see well in games. Well I didn't play CS yet. I like to brighten that one so I can see in the dark. Nothing like getting shot by a dude you can't even see.

And Thanks for the link. I will be checking it out!!!

Oh by the way I went to the unofficial drivers and it was more stable then I changed the VxD setting in the via drivers to normal (opposed to turbo) and it it great now. If only Me was stable. W2K is great but it messed with my audio level (way too loud w/ little volume) and only one game didn't load (NFS III or HS - forget which one) but I didn't look for a fix either.

I can see I can see!!!

<b> Fragg at will!!! </b>
 

blah

Distinguished
Dec 31, 2007
2,694
0
20,780
Have no idea what you guys are talking about. I am sitting right now in front of 2 years old Dell 17 inch, Asus 7700 at 1152x864x32x75 with image as sharp as if it were a laptop… heh, maybe you need some eye checkup or something.

K7 + KT7A + MX300 + VooDoo3000 = :smile:
P3 + CUSL2-C + MX300 + Asus7700 = :smile:
 

noko

Distinguished
Jan 22, 2001
2,414
1
19,785
Remember while in WinMe with the Via AGP driver in Normal will set your AGP speed to 1x. On the KT7 most people don't have much problems with running AGP 4x with the Radeon. If you set your <b>AGP 4x Mode</b> to <b>disabled</b> in your bios and then set your Via AGP driver to <b>turbo</b> in WinMe then you will have AGP 2x speed which will give you about 5-10% performance boost in games and graphical benchmarks. AGP 4x in most cases (especially games) doesn't show much if any improvement. NFS will run pefectly if in the ATI driver settings <b>Direct</b> 3d Z-buffer is set to <b>16;24;32</b> and check the 8 bit stencil setting as well. Which driver set are you using in WinMe? W2k? There is a certified WinMe driver set at MicroSoft if you want to try those out.