Gateway's FPD2185W: a 21in widescreen 2005fpw killer!

Can't wait to pick the monitor up after Christmas, going to be so sick. And on a side note, does anyone know how much it is after Monitor+Tax+2 Year Warranty with a BB Employ Discount?
 
I am incredibly happy with this display now.....it has not a single dead pixel, the gradients are good now using DVI, the text is CRISP, and gaming widescreen is awesome....
 
How is the pivot working for you guys?

When I rotate mine, it doesnt go a full 90 degrees anymore... more like 80-85 degees.

I am contemplating of exchanging it but don't want to end up with one with a dead pixel....

And when I set the display model in Best Buy a couple of days ago, that one rotates smoothly, while mine does make a loud noise while doing so.

Decisions, decisions....

Regarding the employee discount... In Canada, it is $ 650.00 b4 tax (reg 799.99) plus we get a massive discount on best buy's Performance plan. Don't know about the States.
 
vishank said:
How is the pivot working for you guys?

When I rotate mine, it doesnt go a full 90 degrees anymore... more like 80-85 degees.

I am contemplating of exchanging it but don't want to end up with one with a dead pixel....
.
Click to expand...


Mine works smoothly, although I have absolutely no reason to use the portrait mode....in fact, now that I have my DVI working correctly, I have the VGA connection hooked up to my linux box and can switch back and forth using the input selector button....pretty nifty.
 
DVI refresh rates changed via Nvidia custom resolution display panel.

No noticable changed observed. I don't think we can confirm if the refresh rate override works yet.
 
TheRapture said:
You are using the same display? Or you mean the images here posted look the same...? I assume you have the display, and that yours has the banding at either refresh rate using a dvi cable....did you reboot after changing everything *just for grins* ?
Click to expand...

It looks a little better but not much better, and yes I have had this monitor for over a month. The thing is is that 60 or 75hz should not matter regarding image quality.
 
Games like Doom3 and Q4 are limited to 60fps as most know. To get 75fps you might need to set in game refresh to 75, in Q3A, Q4, D3, you can do this by adding/editing the line in your config files to:

seta r_displayrefresh "75"

These things take some configuration....

All of those games are working perfectly, using Vsync ON I am getting 75fps in Q3A and Far Cry, in Q4 and D3 I get 60 of course, but since that is lower than the "refresh" of 75 it is very smooth and tear free....

Sorry to hear it is not working for all users, but forcing the refresh to 75 in the NV control panel has worked wonders for most users, including me...
 
whiteboy said:
DVI refresh rates changed via Nvidia custom resolution display panel.

No noticable changed observed. I don't think we can confirm if the refresh rate override works yet.
Click to expand...



It does for some, did you see my pics above? There is a rather large difference in banding between the two settings, using the exact same cable....of course if your display has the issue, both would look the same....have you guys tried using the VGA connection to show how much better it gets over the stock DVI setup?
 
this is very weird, I changed the refresh rate to 75hz using single link dvi-D cable, but the color banding is still there in photoshop. The single link dvi-D cable has the middle connections missing, so it has 18 pins instead of 24. I don't think this is the reason though, maybe I am not doing the refresh thing right. Can someone detail me as to how exactly u did it to make the banding go away. I checked the monitors own menu and under advanced, information, it says it's still at 60hz even though the nvdia diplay control says it's at 75hz. I am frustrated :mad:

btw, I am using 6800gt agp and I never upgraded the drivers since I bought it a year ago. I don't think this has any effects.
 
Ollvorr, first, have you tried the VGA connection to see if the banding improves?


and perhaps the cable type does have something to do with it...I am using a dual link DVI-D cable...
 
Ok I picked up this monitor a couple days ago and i really like it except I cannot for the life of me figure out how to force the refresh rate to 75hz from 60. I have an ati 9700pro card running the latest catalyst 5.12 drivers. I cannot get the refresh rate up to 75 hz.

Another thing I found is there are no drivers for this monitor. None on gateway's site at all. Yes there is ez tune software but no actual drivers because xp still see's this monitor as a plug n play monitor. Any suggestions?
 
I spoke with a gateway representative and questioned her about the dead pixel policy and received some very interesting information. The customer service representative couldn't seem to find the actual policy but said she had 2 people working on trying to find the definite answer? But before then she had quoted the policy as having more than 20 dead pixels, then I could get a new monitor??? How generous, only 20 :eek:! So I would advise Everyone to buy one now, as who knows how long this great policy will last :D.



Peter logged in.
Connected to the server via Direct Socket
Peter has been assigned to the Sales Checkout queue.
Peter was added to the incident named Peter by Gem
Gem created an incident named Peter.
Gem says: Hi Peter, thank you for choosing Gateway.com. My name is Gem and I will be your eSales advisor today. My direct email address is [email protected]. May I get your first and last name, as well as your phone number?
Peter says: Peter --
Peter says: xxx-xxx-xxxx
Peter says: and i have a few questions reguarding your policy on dead pixels on your Gateway FPD2185W 21" Widescreen High-Definition LCD Flat-Panel Display
Gem says: if its a few nothing we can do, and its more then a few then we can you something new
Peter says: what? can you type that in better english
Gem says: have you already purchased one?
Peter says: no
Peter says: i was looking at purchasing one
Peter says: but want to know how many dead pixels before i can return it
Gem says: if its les then 20 pixels thats considered normal and if its more then 20 we can get you a new monitors
Peter says: WTH?!?!?!?!!? 20 that's just absurd
Peter says: i'm sorry i'm not mad at you
Peter says: but that's just plain crazy
Gem says: actally thats not a lot
Peter says: because your rival company dell has a policy of 6 dead pixels
Gem says: the pixels are very very tiny
Peter says: samsung has 0 dead pixels
Peter says: yes i know
Peter says: but you can notice them if you are a gamer
Gem says: no
Peter says: you are sure? because i'm looking for my friend and well i have a DELL 2005fpw and i would be able to tell
Gem says: let me double check
Peter says: are you still checking?
Gem says: yes
Gem says: I have 2 of us trying to locate this
Peter says: how can you answer a company wide policy without knowing the exact answer?
Gem says: I am doubling check myself
Gem says: checking*
Gem says: its different for LCD's TV's and Laptop screens
Gem says: ok so on the 21 inch its 11
Peter says: So which one is 20 the default for? I don't want to buy that one.
Gem says: 17
Gem says: inch LCD
Peter says: so do you have a manager that you can ask?
Gem says: for what I looked it on our internal info?
Gem says: its less then 11 for the 21 inch LCD TV
Gem says: less then 20 for the 17 LCD monitor
Peter says: well now you say that for your LCD TV are the policies the same for the LCD Monitors?
Gem says: I did not look up each specific LCD monitor so I assume that its the same for all. But the 21 in LCD TV is less then 11
Peter says: alright well could you please e-mail me the information when you have it
Peter says: it would appear that you have given me all the information that you can come up with
Peter says: Thank you for trying to figure out the answer to this problem
 
I have been following this thread for a while now, and I decided to bite the bullet and pick up this display last thursday. So far I have been loving it.

Mine has no dead pixels, and it did have a very small amount of backlight bleeding in the corners when I first got it. The bleeding could only be seen when the screen was pure black, but it seems to have disappeared completely after a few days.

EzTune also works very well, and my monitor has no problems rotating. After viewing fullscreen pictures in portrait mode, I can never go back to a non-widescreen monitor!

I've tried PS2 and Xbox through the component jacks and both look very good. All PS2 games I have tried look great and are bright. 720p widescreen xbox games like FIFA 06 and Freedom Fighters look superb. Also its worth mentioning that while some xbox games do come through as being a little dark, ingame gamma has helped for me, and I have heard that dark component output is a flaw in the xbox.

Also, interestingly enough, my PC has the same stats as OlIv0rIolI, except an x2 3800+ (though the 6800 gt agp is probably the important factor), and forcing the monitor into 75hz doesn't do a significant job if any of clearing up the banding (which isn't really that bad imo), however, my mouse response is much better.

I'm hooked up using the $12 Radioshack DVI cable, and I haven't got around to trying out the VGA cable since I'm lazy. However, I am extremely happy with the gateway, and I can't wait to get a new video card(s) and a next gen console to fully take advantage of it.
 
kabttu said:
Just bought this monitor today at BB, love it so far. Have read through most of this thread and have changed the refresh rate as recommended. The only issue I have and I'm not sure if it's because of something I did or if I may have a defective unit, is whenever I try and use the USB port on the monitor with my flash drive, I get a 'USB hub has exceeded it's power' error. Anyone else having this issue?
Click to expand...

I have a similar problem. My USB ports just won't work anymore. I bought this display yesterday and had plugged my Razer copperhead into the display. It was working ok and then it stopped. Now Windows say that it doesn't recognise the USB device (Hub).

So I gave Gateway online support a try...much good that was! ***sigh*** the idiot that answered the call was totally incompetent. He took over my comp for an hour and played around like someone using XP for the first time. Finally, he asked me to pop the EZtune disk in the CD drive and he proceeded to reinstall the software over the existing EZtune. He said this woukld fix the problem...and since we were in a direct chat session the connection got lost we HE restarted te computer through the ''support software'' remote desktop thingy....lol....what a dolt!

Needless to say that this did NOTHING to fix the problem. I am now thinking about bringing this display back to BB and getting a refund. This customer service experience really freaked me out. It'S too bad cause there are alot of things that I like about this display.

I think I'll just go with the 23'' L2335 from HP or with the Apple 23''.

What do you guys think about those displays? You think I'll still be able to play games if I turn the res down? For apps it must be cool to have so much desktop realestate though!!!
 
Lepy said:
Also, interestingly enough, my PC has the same stats as OlIv0rIolI, except an x2 3800+ (though the 6800 gt agp is probably the important factor), and forcing the monitor into 75hz doesn't do a significant job if any of clearing up the banding (which isn't really that bad imo), however, my mouse response is much better.

I'm hooked up using the $12 Radioshack DVI cable, and I haven't got around to trying out the VGA cable since I'm lazy. However, I am extremely happy with the gateway, and I can't wait to get a new video card(s) and a next gen console to fully take advantage of it.
Click to expand...

So lepy, ur display still shows banding at 75hz as well. I haven't tried vga yet, and I don't have another video card to compare against. Does anybody with 6800gt have the same problem?
For those of u who solved the banding issue, what graphix card r u using?

Also where can I buy some dual link dvi-D cables, the ones at best buy cost $80 for 6ft! :eek:
 
OlIv0rIolI said:
I feel kinda sorry for those who returned their monitor because of color banding problems, just shows that patience is the key especially with new products
Click to expand...
I was about to leave to take it back in a few hours because of the banding, checked the thread and now I'll just replace it for another and hopefully get a panel that doesn't tint /everything/ pink even when I set red to 0.
 
OlIv0rIolI said:
For those of u who solved the banding issue, what graphix card r u using?

Also where can I buy some dual link dvi-D cables, the ones at best buy cost $80 for 6ft! :eek:
Click to expand...



I am using a 7800GTX....
 
TheRapture said:
and perhaps the cable type does have something to do with it...I am using a dual link DVI-D cable...
Click to expand...

It doesn't. I've used a single-link and dual-link cable with no change in banding. I also added 75Hz and saw no improvement in banding with DVI. No problems with VGA, however. I added 75Hz as an available option under VGA, and it seems to be working fine.

Higher resolutions and refresh rates dictate which DVI cable you should use. The maximum clock frequency of a single-link cable is 165Mhz. The native resolution of the FPD2185W is 1680x1050 @ 60Hz which gives a clock frequency of 105Mhz. If you include 5% blanking, the frequency goes up to 111MHz. At 1680x1050 @ 75Hz the clock frequency is 132Mhz, or 138Mhz with 5% blanking. There is no need for a dual link DVI cable on this monitor.

I've also got a 7800GTX.

Clearing stuck pixels is a piece of cake. I found one on my latest Gateway, downloaded UDPixel (find the link at widescreengamingforum.com), ran it with a 10ms cycle time over the pixel, and gently rubbed the monitor with a microfiber cloth (qtip would also work, I suppose). Within a few seconds, the pixel was unstuck, and responding to all colours.
 
Cool Scunner, if I ever find a stuck pix, I'll try that. Good to know dual link isn't a factor yet either....


I am sure glad my DVI is working better now though, it seems the 75hz DVI fix isn't good for all though....maybe something in the firmware or interpretation the display is doing....
 
Scunner said:
Clearing stuck pixels is a piece of cake. I found one on my latest Gateway, downloaded UDPixel (find the link at widescreengamingforum.com), ran it with a 10ms cycle time over the pixel, and gently rubbed the monitor with a microfiber cloth (qtip would also work, I suppose). Within a few seconds, the pixel was unstuck, and responding to all colours.
Click to expand...
I have one stuck white pixel on this new one, tried doing that but I haven't had any luck as of yet.
 
TheRapture said:
It does for some, did you see my pics above? There is a rather large difference in banding between the two settings, using the exact same cable....of course if your display has the issue, both would look the same....have you guys tried using the VGA connection to show how much better it gets over the stock DVI setup?
Click to expand...

no :( sry I am like really lazy right now. Regardles, I would never use VGA because of the text issues.

Scunner said:
It doesn't. I've used a single-link and dual-link cable with no change in banding. I also added 75Hz and saw no improvement in banding with DVI. No problems with VGA, however. I added 75Hz as an available option under VGA, and it seems to be working fine.

Higher resolutions and refresh rates dictate which DVI cable you should use. The maximum clock frequency of a single-link cable is 165Mhz. The native resolution of the FPD2185W is 1680x1050 @ 60Hz which gives a clock frequency of 105Mhz. If you include 5% blanking, the frequency goes up to 111MHz. At 1680x1050 @ 75Hz the clock frequency is 132Mhz, or 138Mhz with 5% blanking. There is no need for a dual link DVI cable on this monitor.

I've also got a 7800GTX.
Click to expand...

So what would account for the monitor not detecting 75Hz correctly, and the banding disappearing on some and staying on others?

I have a white pixel (on black bg) stuck also, no luck in flashing that out.
 
whiteboy said:
So what would account for the monitor not detecting 75Hz correctly, and the banding disappearing on some and staying on others?
Click to expand...

My guess is either a hardware problem on the DVI receiver (monitor) end, or the monitor's decoding software is doing a crap job of decoding the video stream.

I spent a while today reading the DVI specification, to see if it would provide any clues, but nothing jumped out.

It's not likely to be the actual LCD panel's fault (I think it's a Samsung?), because VGA renders grayscale gradients to a higher degree of accuracy. I'll keep digging. There's bound to be some information somewhere on likely causes of these problems.
 
If this would only come down a little in price I'd get it in a hearbeat, maybe like $499...
 
Scunner said:
My guess is either a hardware problem on the DVI receiver (monitor) end, or the monitor's decoding software is doing a crap job of decoding the video stream.

I spent a while today reading the DVI specification, to see if it would provide any clues, but nothing jumped out.

It's not likely to be the actual LCD panel's fault (I think it's a Samsung?), because VGA renders grayscale gradients to a higher degree of accuracy. I'll keep digging. There's bound to be some information somewhere on likely causes of these problems.
Click to expand...

Great, those bands are making me feel so hazy I don't know where I am lol
:rolleyes:

Thanks, if I had the time I would, but I barely know crap about DVI specifications, etc.
 
I think this monitor is wearing out my eyes much more quickly than my old one..

The brightness level required to stop the buzzing is killing my eyes.. this display is going to have to go back. Guess i'll have to spend more if I want features like this without the headaches.
 
Andrmgic said:
I think this monitor is wearing out my eyes much more quickly than my old one..

The brightness level required to stop the buzzing is killing my eyes.. this display is going to have to go back. Guess i'll have to spend more if I want features like this without the headaches.
Click to expand...
The ideal brightness for normal use is 110cd/m^2 if I remember correctly. Considering 100 should be 300cd/m^2 or so, the 80+ to get rid of the buzzing probably isn't too good for the eyes.

I have mine at 35 and find it more than bright enough. Of the three of these monitors I've used, none experienced the buzzing from the power supply so you might want to try swapping for another one so you can turn the brightness down to a more comfortable/safe level. (Well there was buzzing, but only if I put my ear up to the back of the monitor and I have what I consider to be very good hearing.)
 
Found some info on likely source of the buzzing noise:

This sound emanates from the backlight inverter and depends on the selected brightness value, but also on the vertical frequency.

Failure or not? This is something one can argue about and manufacturers react very differently to claims. Some exchange the monitor no questions asked, other refuse to repair since the sounds are within the specified range.

Next to the settings of vertical frequency and brightness, how good you can hear these sounds also depends on the acoustical shielding of the monitor, or in other words, how large the ventilation slots in the casing are.

The technical background is as follows:

The backlight inverter is the culprit here. It serves as power supply for the lamps. It generates the high frequency alternating voltage required for running the lamps. The frequency of this alternating voltage is way above the range of human audibility. But it is also used for changing the lamps' brightness and this works as follows: The brightness is changed by a so called pulse width modulation, which means that the lamps are rapidly turned on and off at a varying ratio of turn-on time and turn-off time. The longer the On time is compared to the Off time, the brighter it gets. The frequency used for this modulation lies within the human range of audibility however, namely at around 100 to 400 Hz. And that is exactly the problem.

This periodic "turning on and off" of the lamps causes a corresponding fluctuation of current, particularly in the transformer of the backlight inverter. This results in a mechanical resonation in the transformer which then, in turn, becomes audible. This effect corresponds to that of 50 Hz power transformers which are well known for their buzzing sound, too. These are usually encapsulated in order to reduce the mechanical resonation of the coil.

Unfortunately, all backlights inverter work according to this principle. How much one will hear the mechanical resonations depends on the design of the inverter and on how tightly the casing is sealed, of course.
Click to expand...

http://www.prad.de/en/monitore/shownews_faq104.html
 
i'm going to buy one of these things from bestbuy when i get back into town.

has it been pretty much decided that an el-cheap-o DVI cable will work the same as an expensive one? where is the cheapest place to pick one up, newegg?


i had 3 2005FPW's in the course of 20 days but i decided to get a refund due to the fact they sent me 3 defective units in a row and it was the end of my return period. i hope i have better luck with this gateway unit.

the biggest advantage in my mind is that i can return this to bestbuy right down the street, rather than call up india and fight with someone who doesn't speak english for 3 hours.
 
Ankle said:
The ideal brightness for normal use is 110cd/cm^2 if I remember correctly. Considering 100 should be 300cd/cm^2 or so, the 80+ to get rid of the buzzing probably isn't too good for the eyes.

I have mine at 35 and find it more than bright enough. Of the three of these monitors I've used, none experienced the buzzing from the power supply so you might want to try swapping for another one so you can turn the brightness down to a more comfortable/safe level. (Well there was buzzing, but only if I put my ear up to the back of the monitor and I have what I consider to be very good hearing.)
Click to expand...

I care about my eyes alot nowadays since I got glasses because of monitors. How do u figure out what brightness u should use for monitors given 300cd/cm^2
 
anasazi said:
i'm going to buy one of these things from bestbuy when i get back into town.

the biggest advantage in my mind is that i can return this to bestbuy right down the street, rather than call up india and fight with someone who doesn't speak english for 3 hours.
Click to expand...



I bought mine from my local Office Depot, they have the 14 day no questions return policy....if you can't make up your mind in that time...geesh :p

I knew by the second day, it wasn't going back. I seem to have a good one, no dead pixels, minimal to almost no backlight bleed, and the 75hz DVI "fix" for banding worked great for me.
 
OlIv0rIolI said:
I care about my eyes alot nowadays since I got glasses because of monitors. How do u figure out what brightness u should use for monitors given 300cd/cm^2
Click to expand...
Don't know, if they listed the minimum brightness I could figure it out. You can measure it using a spectroradiometer, I don't suppose anyone has one laying around? I would like to know what setting equals 110 as well.
 
I read somewhere that 120 cd/m^2 (or 120 nits) is the equivalent of a 100 watt bulb. Granted, you're probably not staring at a constant brightness, but the thought of staring at a 100w bulb for hours on end doesn't appeal to me.

Since I can't stand the buzzing when I lower the brightness, maybe #3 needs to go back and hope that #4 is free of buzzing and won't sear my retinas.
 
can somebody tell me what step did u use to get 75 hz refresh rate, mine saids its at 75hz in the video card driver but not on the monitor information menu. My monitor internal menu says its at 59.7hz. :confused: also did u guys ticker with other settings like calibration before attempting 75hz.
 
kabttu said:
Just bought this monitor today at BB, love it so far. Have read through most of this thread and have changed the refresh rate as recommended. The only issue I have and I'm not sure if it's because of something I did or if I may have a defective unit, is whenever I try and use the USB port on the monitor with my flash drive, I get a 'USB hub has exceeded it's power' error. Anyone else having this issue?
Click to expand...

Do you have the monitor's USB upstream connected to a USB 2.0 port on your PC? Do you get the same results when you connect the peripheral directly to the PC? You should also check the Hub's power This can be done by going to device manager, select USB controllers, look at the all of the USB Root Hub settings under the power tab. It should read 500mA per port. If all do, then I suspect that your device is over the max power spec.
 
Wolf355 said:
I have a similar problem. My USB ports just won't work anymore. I bought this display yesterday and had plugged my Razer copperhead into the display. It was working ok and then it stopped. Now Windows say that it doesn't recognise the USB device (Hub).

So I gave Gateway online support a try...much good that was! ***sigh*** the idiot that answered the call was totally incompetent. He took over my comp for an hour and played around like someone using XP for the first time. Finally, he asked me to pop the EZtune disk in the CD drive and he proceeded to reinstall the software over the existing EZtune. He said this woukld fix the problem...and since we were in a direct chat session the connection got lost we HE restarted te computer through the ''support software'' remote desktop thingy....lol....what a dolt!

Needless to say that this did NOTHING to fix the problem. I am now thinking about bringing this display back to BB and getting a refund. This customer service experience really freaked me out. It'S too bad cause there are alot of things that I like about this display.

I think I'll just go with the 23'' L2335 from HP or with the Apple 23''.

What do you guys think about those displays? You think I'll still be able to play games if I turn the res down? For apps it must be cool to have so much desktop realestate though!!!
Click to expand...

Did you try plugging the monitor USB upstream to a different port on your PC? It could be a strange Windows PnP issue ... I've seen this on peripherals that won't work on some ports but do on others directly connected to the PC. If this doesn't work, it sounds like the integrated USB hub on the monitor has failed. Gateway should be able to send you out a new monitor for that issue no problem.
 
duker733 said:
Ok I picked up this monitor a couple days ago and i really like it except I cannot for the life of me figure out how to force the refresh rate to 75hz from 60. I have an ati 9700pro card running the latest catalyst 5.12 drivers. I cannot get the refresh rate up to 75 hz.

Another thing I found is there are no drivers for this monitor. None on gateway's site at all. Yes there is ez tune software but no actual drivers because xp still see's this monitor as a plug n play monitor. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Ok above is my first post. How the hell do I get my computer to force 75hz refresh rate on this thing? I really want to try it out.
 
duker733 said:
Ok above is my first post. How the hell do I get my computer to force 75hz refresh rate on this thing? I really want to try it out.
Click to expand...


Use your vid card control panel to force 75hz, you have to UNcheck the little box that says "show only supported refresh rates" or something like that, or you can go into the advanced panel and specify a custom resolution and refresh rate. Force 75hz at the native resolution. Does that make any sense?
 
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