Poor image quality after bad reboot

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ZonePhoenix
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Joined: 09 Dec 2017, 19:55

Poor image quality after bad reboot

Post by ZonePhoenix » 19 Oct 2018, 21:53

A couple years ago (a long time i know) i was gaming and then started getting fps drops, so i hit the reset button and a flash went off in my case followed by a smell, and when it got into windows everything had become slightly blurry

After this i reformatted and tried some other stuff, then ended up building a new pc and even that was blurry which made no sense to me

Luckily i have a couple old screenshots from my old rig of how things used to output and i made this comparison photo of some taskbar icons but it affects everything including games

https://i.imgur.com/4HLMqSf.png

More old icons: https://i.imgur.com/zSSkGdc.png

The quality now is just really bad, it looks like the color and intensity of each pixel is now alot dimmer than before and even the taskbar background color is pixelated, kind of like the whole computer putting out the screen image as a compressed .jpg instead of a .bmp is the best way i can explain it

Ingame:
https://i.imgur.com/B0mNNzw.png
https://i.imgur.com/Vx4DaFV.png
https://i.imgur.com/Mp6BpXO.png
https://i.imgur.com/pYDGHdU.png

Has anyone ever experienced this and/or might know how to fix it?

ZonePhoenix
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Joined: 09 Dec 2017, 19:55

Re: Poor image quality after bad reboot

Post by ZonePhoenix » 21 Oct 2018, 04:23

Also i offer $200 to anyone who can offer information leading me to fix it

Shrib
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Re: Poor image quality after bad reboot

Post by Shrib » 25 Oct 2018, 04:52

Sounds like an issue with your graphics card. Have you tested a different GPU? Does this blurring apply to all applications, games etc?

So:

a) Try a different GPU/switch to integrated graphics to see if the issue persists
b) Reseat your graphics card first ensuring you clean it thoroughly
c) If the issue disappears when you switch to a different GPU, then I doubt you can fix your graphics card. Was your graphics card overclocked? You could try underclocking your graphics card below stock clocks (w/ MSI afterburner) to see if it alleviates the issue. Sounds like there could be an issue with your power supply too.

ZonePhoenix
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Joined: 09 Dec 2017, 19:55

Re: Poor image quality after bad reboot

Post by ZonePhoenix » 26 Oct 2018, 21:06

Yeah i tried like 4 different cards i can't figure it out

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Chief Blur Buster
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Re: Poor image quality after bad reboot

Post by Chief Blur Buster » 27 Oct 2018, 17:39

Hello,

Attempting a longshot theories:
Your images look like (A) but only if there's also a slight zoom to the screen image too.

(A) HDMI connection
1. If you're getting minor overscan cropping (e.g. beyond top/bottom/left/right edges)
What display are you using?
Have you tried a different display?
Are you using HDMI?
Are you using a television set?
There's a setting called HDTV overscan that needs to be disabled on the HDTV side.

https://www.maketecheasier.com/fix-overscan-on-tv/
https://www.howtogeek.com/252193/hdtv-o ... rn-it-off/
https://www.cnet.com/news/overscan-your ... n-your-tv/

This is a possible situation of coincidence, where a computer failure caused unrelated (or accidental) adjustments -- that caused new unrelated issues -- like this. You may have already fixed your original issue but still left a remaining issue (like this one) that still continues to this day.

(B) DVI Connection theory
1. If you're not getting overscan cropping
2. If you're getting perfect vertical resolution
3. If you're getting exactly half horizontal resolution
Then if 1/2/3 is simultaneously correct, you turned dual link DVI into a single link DVI, halving resolution. Possibly one of the two links on DVI got burnt out somehow. FIX: If you're using a dual-link DVI, try a new cable with a new port on both ends (new display & new GPU). Something in the 2nd wire of the dual-link DVI might have burnt out, either on one of the ports or on the cable. Unfortunately part of the chip behind the port (the GPU or the display) may have burnt out, so you may not just only need to replace the cable, but also need to replace one or both sides (the GPU or the display). Testing a different cable (VGA) or a different port may also help.

(C) Other theory
Have you ever tested a different computer monitor? And at native resolution too?
Head of Blur Busters - BlurBusters.com | TestUFO.com | Follow @BlurBusters on Twitter

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ZonePhoenix
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Joined: 09 Dec 2017, 19:55

Re: Poor image quality after bad reboot

Post by ZonePhoenix » 28 Oct 2018, 02:50

Yeah ive tested 4 different monitors and upto 4-5 cables

Ive also looked at 2 different skylake rigs and my brothers ryzen rig and none of them can compare to my original rig before the blowout

I found screenshots online from another guy that looked like he was outputting the same quality as my old rig, i just cropped a small amount from the game the division and compared it to my own

https://i.imgur.com/LqjFWWK.png
Mine is on the left (png source) his is on the right (jpg source)

I messaged him on reddit and he said he had an r9 390 and i5 4460, that's about all the info i got and he hasn't replied since

So what blows me away is why ive seen several brand new rigs output like shit and some older rigs output really clean quality

The difference is immense too, its really hard to play any shooter now with any kind of accuracy because every pixel represented has a noticeable blur and is lacking in color intensity

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RealNC
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Re: Poor image quality after bad reboot

Post by RealNC » 28 Oct 2018, 06:46

Did you, like, enable FXAA globally in the nvidia panel's 3d settings or something? Because that's what this looks like to me, tbh.
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ZonePhoenix
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Joined: 09 Dec 2017, 19:55

Re: Poor image quality after bad reboot

Post by ZonePhoenix » 28 Oct 2018, 20:59

RealNC wrote:Did you, like, enable FXAA globally in the nvidia panel's 3d settings or something? Because that's what this looks like to me, tbh.
No

And that wouldn't make the desktop blurry also, that would only apply to games

There's something very sketchy happening at a hardware level here and i think most people have no idea what im talking about because they haven't actually seen the difference between a good and bad output with their own eyes

And ive still got the $200 for anyone with the info leading me to fix it

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Chief Blur Buster
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Re: Poor image quality after bad reboot

Post by Chief Blur Buster » 28 Oct 2018, 23:10

(1) Series of questions
-- Did you uninstall & reinstall GPU drivers
-- Did you reinstall Windows completely from scratch when you did a system rebuild?
-- What was the graphics card you had when things malfunctioned? And what is your current graphics card right now? (just wondering if it remained the same vendor)

Asking the above, because I'm trying to think of possible screwy registry settings (etc) specific to the card that remained. Something may still remain screwy in some kind of a cause-and-effect or a "collateral damage" event (e.g. something else unwittingly accidentally messed up during an earlier attempt to fix other things). It might be hardware but let's not rule out hidden/undocumented software settings.

(2) Have you booted into Safe Mode with nothing running in System Tray (hold SHIFT key)
...Trying to rule out possible utilities that process the screen framebuffer

(3) ALSO: Have you temporarily brought in a different system (e.g. somebody's laptop) to see if the desktop is suddenly clear on the display your desktop computer is connected to? This will speed up troubleshooting if we have a 2nd "sharpness verified" Windows 10 source that is functioning well. This will at least "vet" the display and cable, so you're using a trusted display & a trusted cable.
--> If you have not done this yet, please do so before doing anything else <--

(4) When you view this http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/clock_phase.php (looks normal on 1:1 pixel mapping)....
-- Do you see a series of bands? Vertical-only? Horizontal-only? Both horizontal/vertical? (grid/plaid effect).
(suggestive of mis-scaling in either X or Y dimensions)
-- Or do you see consistent haze/blur
(suggestive of some pre-filtering effect)

Cover (1)/(2)/(3)/(4) to as much depth as you can. Thanks!
Head of Blur Busters - BlurBusters.com | TestUFO.com | Follow @BlurBusters on Twitter

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Forum Rules wrote:  1. Rule #1: Be Nice. This is published forum rule #1. Even To Newbies & People You Disagree With!
  2. Please report rule violations If you see a post that violates forum rules, then report the post.
  3. ALWAYS respect indie testers here. See how indies are bootstrapping Blur Busters research!

ZonePhoenix
Posts: 42
Joined: 09 Dec 2017, 19:55

Re: Poor image quality after bad reboot

Post by ZonePhoenix » 29 Oct 2018, 01:34

1. Yeah i uninstalled and reinstalled, used DDU, etc

Ive since reformatted and also seen 2 skylake rigs and a ryzen rig and none of them were good compared to my old rig pre blowout

The gpu was a 980 and im still using it

2. Yes

3. I haven't tested on a laptop, seen plenty of different desktop rigs though

4. This is what im outputting on that lagom test https://i.imgur.com/4asYUlQ.png

According to that my result is indicative of wrong screen resolution even though my resolution is correct

I dont know if there's just something fucked up signal wise coming from the pc but ive seen 3 new rigs in a row where this has been the case and that makes me wonder why this is even a thing

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