Screen clarity problem

[dingbat]

Hi.

I recently built a new pc and so far I'm very disappointed with the display. Nothing is "sharp", everything is ever so slightly blurred. Joe Schmoe walking by wouldn't notice it but when you're actually working on the thing it's very apparent indeed, so much so that my eyes are being strained.

Briefly:
Aopen EZ18 XCCube - includes nVidia GeForce 4 integrated
AMD Sempron
512 Mb RAM

I had bought an Iiyama E431S TFT monitor and am in the process of returning it because the picture quality was not up to par. I was in contact with the vendor and with Iiyama themselves and neither of them was able to provide a solution. In the meantime I've hooked up an old "14 monitor but the image quality is still terrible. So, I'm wondering if there's anything else going on?

Any and all suggestions would be very welcome. I do a lot of work on my pc and staring at a screen that doesn't give me a very, very clear display just isn't an option in the long term.

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Perhaps the video cable isn't up to par? DVI would provide sharper image than D-SUB. Doesn't your monitor have a sharpness control?

 

[dingbat]

Thanks for your reply. This old 14" monitor doesn't have a sharpness control but the Iiyama certainly did. I went through all the various tests to improve picture focus and clarity but none of them worked.

DVI would be better, certainly. However the point for me is that the quality right now should not be this bad.

 

[shadow_29]

hey did you try to adjustthe setings from the monitor like contrast,brightness,sharpness.did you try that from the video cards option too???.well would you mind explaining "sharp" according to you.is it just blurry edges??washed out image quality??.one is lcd monitors have 2 conditions that might reduce there "sharp" quality-one is a proper viewing angle and a low contrast count.so dont compare an lcd's image quality with a crt's,crt will always come out on top.the eason why the old 14" isnt up to "par" is might because it old like you said.

also the problem might be in your eyes,maybe you are comparing it to an earlier version that you had in your mind or something.might want to get your eyes checked just to be sure or get a second opinion.

 

[dingbat]

I tried all the adjustment settings on the monitor as well as all I could find on the machine. Are there any "obscure" ones that you think I might have missed?

"Sharp" to me means just that. Pin-sharp detail. The screen should not appear as if I'm squinting slightly. The effect is most noticeable on fonts, the taskbar at the bottom of the screen (XP) and icons.

The Iiyama monitor in question has an excellent reputation which is why I bought it. The 14" monitor is indeed old but the fonts look very, very similar to the way they appeared with the TFT which is why I'm now wondering if there's a more fundamental problem.

While it's a valid question, the problem is definitely not with my eyes.