CRT monitor - blurred text

[robarrieta]

I just put together the following system:

FX-55 CPU
1 Gig Mushkin RAM
2 eVGA GeForce 6800 GT GPU's in SLI
2 74 GB 10,000 RPM Raptors
ASUS A8N -Deluxe SLI Mobo
Audigy 2 ZS soundcard

Works great, the only problem I have is with the monitor, the 22" NEC FP2141SB. This monitor received rave reviews and it looks incredible for gaming apps. The only problem is that text resolution is blurry and out of focus. Also the blacks are not as crisp. The question I have is: Has anyone experienced a similar problem with this monitor or CRT's in general?

I have tweaked res rates, refresh rates, color, brightness, etc. to no avail...

Thanks.

 

[TRUMPHENT]

I had a Nokia Aperture Grill monitor lose focus. The first time, I chose a different refresh rate. The second time nothing worked. Is everything except "text" sharp? In my case, the entire display went blurry as if my glasses suddenly disappeared.

Look for fine detail in a static image you are familiar with. It sounds like your monitor may not be the problem unless it is blurring everything in the display.

My Nokia monitor now resides in the back of my pickup truck. I keep hoping that someone will save me a trip to the landfill. 3 months and no takers.

 

[robarrieta]

It's just the text really. Games and 3d graphics look great. Can't figure it out...

 

[imported_2x]

I also have the A8N-SLI and I had the same thing occur to me in a very specific instance. When I went from the Nvidia 66.93 drivers to the 71.50's from leadtek (my card is Leadtek 6600gt) I had fuzzy text when I went to a web page that had a java applet start up. As soon as java would kick in, the screen went fuzzy. So I went back to the original drivers and everything was OK. It did not effect 3d however. Point is it may not be your monitor. I would go to your local retailer, grab a regular cheap PCIe card, switch to non SLI single GPU, and try it out with NVIDIA's certified 66.93 drivers. If you get the same problem, then it's likely your monitor. This is probably much easier than returning a monitor. With this board and the 6800GT's being pretty cutting edge, the problem may lie somewhere less obvious. Good luck.

 

[ComatoseDelirium]

change the screen refresh rate to the lowest setting and work your way up till you find the highest refresh rate vs the best picture quality

 

[Thegonagle]

Sounds like your contrast and brightness are set too high. (Factory defaults are rarely the optimal "correct" settings.) Take these steps and see if it helps:

1) Turn off the room lights, and set a screen that is mostly black. Then, turn up the brightness a little to where the blacks start to wash out. Finally, turn down the brightness one click at a time and stop at the exact point where blacks go from slightly washed out to black. (This calibrates the monitor properly display to a 0% black signal level.)

2) Put some black and white text on the screen, turn the contrast down a bit, and look at the text. (It should be about as sharp as a CRT can display at this point.) Then turn the contrast up one click at a time, keeping an eye on the text, until it just starts to become noticeably more blurry. (This happens because the "white" beam (actually, red, green, and blue beams) starts to "overpower" the screen phosphors and bleed over to adjacent black areas.) Then back off a click or two, where it becomes as sharp as possible again. (This calibrates the monitor to properly display a 100% white signal level.)

3) You might need to go back and forth a few times between the brightness and the contrast to get the optimum settings, because the contrast setting sometimes affects the brightness and vise-versa.