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dugn
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2009
- Messages
- 398
Forgive the added detail, but I've seen that often helps with these kinds of questions...
I've been spoiled with my 2003 Sony SDM-P232 1920x1200 DVI-D LCD for years. It's still working fine, but while building a brand new machine (see old and new specs below), I came across a strange flickering with the new machine - which seems to suggest Win7 doesn't have a perfect enough INF to accurately drive my ancient Sony to prevent the flickering. Or, I just need to buy a new monitor.
The Problem
The flickers are 'flashes' or blinks (<10th of a second) that would happen randomly every 3-60 seconds (it's not a driver reset, which lasts a lot longer). They were happening every time the NVidia card spun up or spun down the Core, Shader or Memory clocks in 2D (desktop) mode (ATIs didn't exhibit this beahvior). Depending on how much active graphic content was on the screen (IE or an application), the GPU cores would spin-up or spin-down (as seen in CPU-Z and EVGA Precision) causing the flicker. This never happened on my ancient WinXP machine. So, for XP - this monitor works great. But on a new Win7 machine with all new parts, I've got flicker. There's no flicker in 3D gaming (or at least, I don't see it - and I've looked hard).
I did software/driver troubleshooting (in-box drivers, no drivers, NVidia 190.62 drivers + Win7 RTM rebuilds from scratch) to no avail. Then I did hardware swaps (DVI-D cables, power cables, PSU, Motherboard, GPU). Replacing the NVidia GPU with ATI solved it, but I prefer NVidia. After swapping everything else, I finally swapped the monitor and the problem seemed fixed; absolutely no flickering with all of my new hardware.
So, although I absolutely hate this loaner Viewsonic VA2626WM, at least it doesn't exhibit the problem - which saves me from returning otherwise good parts before the 30-day RMA window where I'd be stuck with them. The bummer is that it seems my trusted Sony won't be able to join my new machine.
New Monitor Needed
So now my dilema: Which new 1920x1200 DVI-D should I buy for a clean, crisp work desktop and gaming (no professional digital photography level work, but I'll take it if it's affordable). It needs to be black or mostly black (to match rig and decor). Annoying or brightly-colored lights would be a minus. HDCP would be a bonus. I don't care as much about menu complexity since i hope to 'set it and forget it'. Around $500 or less would be great (but I just spent a bundle on a rig, so I'll splurge if it's that good).
None of the 10 1920x1200 monitors at NewEgg impressed me with their reviews - even the $1100 model had detractors. I like the way the Samsungs look when I see them on display. In these forums, I see a lot of talk about Dell and some LG's, but I'm looking for specific recommendations based on my needs above.
Alternately, if this all boils down to the need to modify my Sony INF so Win7 handles this monitor correctly, I'd be glad to do that (doubtful, but heck - if a change to a text/INF file works, even better!). Using no INF, NVidia's control panel sees my Sony with all of its features while Win7 only sees it as as Generic PnP Monitor. Either way, I get flickers. Even adding two lines for an x64 section needed for Win7 (which allows Win7 to name the monitor correctly in Device manager and load teh ICM), the flicker remains.
So, can someone with more INF/Win7 driver knowledge help me fix this? Or is it likely unfixable (Win7 may have a demand for the monitor or the INF that I just won't be able to fix) and just go out and buy a new monitor?
Unless this is a simple INF hack, I don't want to fight this anymore.
Monitor recommendations anyone?
I've been spoiled with my 2003 Sony SDM-P232 1920x1200 DVI-D LCD for years. It's still working fine, but while building a brand new machine (see old and new specs below), I came across a strange flickering with the new machine - which seems to suggest Win7 doesn't have a perfect enough INF to accurately drive my ancient Sony to prevent the flickering. Or, I just need to buy a new monitor.
The Problem
The flickers are 'flashes' or blinks (<10th of a second) that would happen randomly every 3-60 seconds (it's not a driver reset, which lasts a lot longer). They were happening every time the NVidia card spun up or spun down the Core, Shader or Memory clocks in 2D (desktop) mode (ATIs didn't exhibit this beahvior). Depending on how much active graphic content was on the screen (IE or an application), the GPU cores would spin-up or spin-down (as seen in CPU-Z and EVGA Precision) causing the flicker. This never happened on my ancient WinXP machine. So, for XP - this monitor works great. But on a new Win7 machine with all new parts, I've got flicker. There's no flicker in 3D gaming (or at least, I don't see it - and I've looked hard).
I did software/driver troubleshooting (in-box drivers, no drivers, NVidia 190.62 drivers + Win7 RTM rebuilds from scratch) to no avail. Then I did hardware swaps (DVI-D cables, power cables, PSU, Motherboard, GPU). Replacing the NVidia GPU with ATI solved it, but I prefer NVidia. After swapping everything else, I finally swapped the monitor and the problem seemed fixed; absolutely no flickering with all of my new hardware.
So, although I absolutely hate this loaner Viewsonic VA2626WM, at least it doesn't exhibit the problem - which saves me from returning otherwise good parts before the 30-day RMA window where I'd be stuck with them. The bummer is that it seems my trusted Sony won't be able to join my new machine.
New Monitor Needed
So now my dilema: Which new 1920x1200 DVI-D should I buy for a clean, crisp work desktop and gaming (no professional digital photography level work, but I'll take it if it's affordable). It needs to be black or mostly black (to match rig and decor). Annoying or brightly-colored lights would be a minus. HDCP would be a bonus. I don't care as much about menu complexity since i hope to 'set it and forget it'. Around $500 or less would be great (but I just spent a bundle on a rig, so I'll splurge if it's that good).
None of the 10 1920x1200 monitors at NewEgg impressed me with their reviews - even the $1100 model had detractors. I like the way the Samsungs look when I see them on display. In these forums, I see a lot of talk about Dell and some LG's, but I'm looking for specific recommendations based on my needs above.
Alternately, if this all boils down to the need to modify my Sony INF so Win7 handles this monitor correctly, I'd be glad to do that (doubtful, but heck - if a change to a text/INF file works, even better!). Using no INF, NVidia's control panel sees my Sony with all of its features while Win7 only sees it as as Generic PnP Monitor. Either way, I get flickers. Even adding two lines for an x64 section needed for Win7 (which allows Win7 to name the monitor correctly in Device manager and load teh ICM), the flicker remains.
So, can someone with more INF/Win7 driver knowledge help me fix this? Or is it likely unfixable (Win7 may have a demand for the monitor or the INF that I just won't be able to fix) and just go out and buy a new monitor?
Unless this is a simple INF hack, I don't want to fight this anymore.
Monitor recommendations anyone?
.