2040u and Matrox quality: flaky text and shimmering

[SeanTek]

I went through several different cards before falling back on my good old G400 MAX. With my new monitor (Mitsubishi 2040u), though, I am encountering some problems with display at high resolutions.

At 1600x1200, I notice a "shimmering" effect not unlike that described with Radeon cards (see the forums at www.rage3d.com). At higher resolutions, the text is not razor-sharp. Sometimes I see "purplish things" where the text should be clear: the solid black lines are not entirely black and the blue lines are not entirely blue (typically these occur on select verticial lines). Is this a symptom of the video card or the monitor? I have tried changing cables and playing with refresh rates. I am not entirely convinced that it is the monitor because I did not have these problems on a GeForce 2 GTS card, even though that card exhibited a lot of ghosting.

For those who have it, I also wanted to know how the G400 MAX's quality compares with the G450. From what I understand, the basic, primary RAMDAC remains the same.

[Hunsow]

Definately the monitor. The reason that this problem didn't occur with a GeForce is that it cannot display as sharp. I would explain further but I have no time.

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[FrankDC]

I have a 2040U and haven't seen any shimmering problems at 1600x1200. One thing that's unusual, though -- I actually get a better picture using the supplied 15-pin Dsub cable instead of my high-end BNC cable. The image with BNC had a little too much contrast for my taste, even after adjustment.

Try another monitor cable, or adjusting convergence, color purity or other settings on the monitor. If nothing else works I'd return the 2040 and get another one.

Oh and one other thing -- the 2040 has a maximum dot clock of 240MHz. This is just enough for 1600x1200@85Hz. Don't use anything over 88Hz at that resolution.

[Scout255]

adjust the convergence in your monitor controls to your taste, this will align everything so that black is all black, and green is all green

[Arsa]

Definitly color convergence.
Also try to degauss it.

[mainframe]

hi for all those with the shimmering defect..
try this and see if it helps you too..

Open the matrox display properties, go to settings, advanced, monitor_settings, slect_customization_from_the_matrox_list and select a VESA setting that your motherboard can support from Standard Monitor Types - provided that your monitor is not among the matrox monitors listed.
Go through the on-screen instructions to test, save and apply these settings..