Fuzzy lines on the screen when playing games

[p dandy]

Hi, when i play games like Civ4 and F.E.A.R. everything looks great. However, when I play games such as X-Men Legends 2 or Doom 3, I see a fuzzy "bar" across the screen (kind of like that part is underwater). I think it's not a heat issue because F.E.A.R. runs hotter than X-men Legends 2. Have you guys experienced this before. I have a 7800gt with the most updated drivers. Could it be the monitor not working correctly with the new setup (monitor is from a different stock rig I've been using for 5 years).

I will try to post a screenshot of the problem when I get home.

 

[Turner]

I would say that if your screenie doesn't show the fuzzy lines, it's not the card or the program but your monitor. I'd try changing the refresh rate, but beyond that I havne't a clue.

 

[Heretic_Cata]

Is the line moving ?
If yes, then it might be a refresh thingy...
If no, then i guess it might be the monitor... (not sure though)
How old is it ?

Do you play those 2 games on a diferent resolution then civ4 ?

How thick is the "line" ? Lots of pixels or 1 pixel ?

 

[p dandy]

Is the line moving ?
If yes, then it might be a refresh thingy...
If no, then i guess it might be the monitor... (not sure though)
How old is it ?

Do you play those 2 games on a diferent resolution then civ4 ?

How thick is the "line" ? Lots of pixels or 1 pixel ?

Indeed, the bar moves up the screen. I can't get a screenshot of it though. All the pictures are crystal clear. The monitor is about 6 years old. I play all games on 1024x768 so there is no difference there. The line is a couple pixels. I am leaning towards monitor problem because I used to use another extremely old monitor from a P1 133Mhz and hooked it up to a P4 1.4GHz machine. I saw some bluriness there too. I haven't experimented with this recently so I'll check again. The monitor I'm using right now is from that P4 rig.

Thanks guys

 

[Heretic_Cata]

If it doesn't show on screenshots then it has to be a monitor problem ...
Also, you never told us the refresh rate ...
If it's 60-75 then your monitor is to old...
Mine has 6 years and a 1/2 so i assume that you see the 1 pixel thickness line that i always see when playing civ3, because it runs the 1024 resolution only at 60Hz wich sucks and is not very healthy ... The thing is i don't always see the line ... this is probably why you never see it on some games . I don't play that many games at 1024x768 resolution so i wouldn't know for sure.

But eventualy you can learn to ignore it ... i do, but my brother always sees it. If you have the posiblity then buy a new one - it's a lot healthier to have that refresh rate high.

 

[p dandy]

If it doesn't show on screenshots then it has to be a monitor problem ...
Also, you never told us the refresh rate ...
If it's 60-75 then your monitor is to old...
Mine has 6 years and a 1/2 so i assume that you see the 1 pixel thickness line that i always see when playing civ3, because it runs the 1024 resolution only at 60Hz wich sucks and is not very healthy ... The thing is i don't always see the line ... this is probably why you never see it on some games . I don't play that many games at 1024x768 resolution so i wouldn't know for sure.

But eventualy you can learn to ignore it ... i do, but my brother always sees it. If you have the posiblity then buy a new one - it's a lot healthier to have that refresh rate high.

Interesting enough, I went to display properties and saw that my monitor can only display at 60 refresh rate.

 

[Heretic_Cata]

Interesting enough, I went to display properties and saw that my monitor can only display at 60 refresh rate.

There you go. Then we have the same problem - our monitors are way too old.

 

[Turner]

Old doesn't necessarily mean bad. I don't know how old my monitor is. I got it two and a half, three years ago from work, and it was old then. I see Civ4, GTA San Andreas, and others just fine. If I had to guess, I'd say it's at least 5 years old.

 

[Heretic_Cata]

It totaly depends on the refresh rate - i heard it can't be percieved by the human eye if it excedes 70Hz (so i heard - no links, nothing too certain).

 

[Urederra]

side question...I don't want to open a new thread just for a quick question.

Are TFT screens healthier than CRT (sp?) ones?

 

[p dandy]

Are you talking about cancer risk here? Actually the first time I've ever heard of it was in that Flat screen monitor thread. I'm interested in knowing some feelings/details on this as well.

 

[Heretic_Cata]

The refresh rate basicaly hurts your eyes; it is very tireing (sp?) for the eyes, and as we know, what is tireing for the eyes give us bad head ackes (as the obvious symptom). The long term stuff would be yellow eyes and lots of veins seen clearly.
That is what i know about the low refresh.

About the CRT in general: IIRC the radiation it emits is stoped by the inbuilt filters in the monitor. (even my paddle powered comp has one) So i heard that there is a higher amounts of radiation emitted around the monitor... how should i explain this ... let's say that 150 degrees in front of the monitor is safer from the bad stuff... smthing like that ....

Also note that i didn't say that the risk is COMPLETLEY eliminated, it is only a lot lower.

I don't know much about LCDs so i don't know anything about the radiation it might emit... (which is why i didn't answer to Urederra right away)

 

[p dandy]

Ok, so turning on the v-sync got rid of that fuzzy line in Quake 4 and doom 3. Here's another problem that pops up and I would like to know if it's a monitor thing (I don't want to buy a new monitor if I don't have to). In doom 3 the game runs perfectly fine (no stuttering whatsoever even in large battle) but periodically it would start stuttering. It's not a "too many things to render" problem because I was just walking down a hallway. This also happens in Heroes of might and magic 5 demo. Probably 5 minutes in, the game will start stuttering. I will save and restart the game and it's back to normal. I was wondering if this has to do with the V-sync I enabled.

 

[Turner]

Turn it off and try that again. If it doesn't happen, probably it was the v-sync. If it does, then it's not the v-sync.

 

[p dandy]

I failed to mention that Heroes of Might and Magic doesn't have v-sync option. This also happens periodically in Civ4 and I don't think that has it either unless it's under the hood.