Dale Schmidt

I purchased a off-brand 1999 Maxtech MX3000-400 computer for my wife. The color on the monitor is "washed out", not bright. The specs. indicate it has capability of 2 or 16 colors. I believe the video card is a SIS 3D 4MB AG(UMA)
What basic card can I replace it with that will provide her more color on the monitor? She doesn't need to run games, just something to make the e-mail pictures from the Grand kids look better.

Fr4665

A nice basic card would be in the 50$ area thers some Geforce2's that are nice(little outdated) but i would recomend a geforcefx5200, its good for games,cheap and does a great job for me basically the whole 5xxx series where the 5200 is the lowest in the catagory. also from the manufacturer ati check out the 9xxx series. my friend just got a 9000 pro and had a 8500 before(both ati cards) and hes loving it. a good place to find awsome deals on video cards is www.pricewatch.com or www.newegg.com

Sarkast

I seriously cant imagine that the card you mentioned can only support 2 or 16 colours. To me that looks more like the wrong drivers being installed. I had older cards than the one you mentioned and they supported at least 65k.

Try if you can find some updated drivers for the card. Of course it depends on what you intend on doing with the PC but maybe you can save yourself 50$.

Dale Schmidt

I sure would like to try a driver to see if it helps but I'm older than dirt (just getting comfortable with a dial telephone now I have to contend with wireless) so I don't know how to find one that will work because I don't know who made the card I have now! Need a few directions please!

UncleMacro

Are you absolutely sure that your current driver only supports 2 or 16 colors? To be sure open the "Control Panel" and then double click "Display" to bring up the "Display Properties" window. Click the "Settings" tab. The "Colors" control lets you select the number of colors and the "Screen Area" control let you select the screen resolution. Fiddle around with them and see if you can adjust things to look the way you want. If that doesn't improve your situation then click the "Advanced" button and see if there are any tabs which allow you to adjust the color.

Your monitor probably also has brightness, contrast, and other controls built into it which can adjust the monitor output. "Washed out" color is probably a misadjustment and not a driver problem. Pressing the buttons on the front of your monitor should bring up a simple user interface which allows you to make the appropriate adjustments.

If you can't improve things in "Display Properties" or by changing monitor controls then you might as well try a new driver. It might give you the controls you need. By any chance does your computer look like this? If so then your driver is probably here . Don't mess with your video driver unless you absolutely have to. Updating video drivers can be a real pain. You should always uninstall your old drivers before installing the new ones otherwise you can get into serious trouble. And I'm not absolutely 100% sure that I have found the correct driver. You need to be 100% sure before doing anything. If you decide that you need to fiddle with your video driver then first download and run Everest. You can use it to check exactly what kind of video system is in your computer.

Dale Schmidt

Thanks UncleMacro,
Yes that is the same computer my wife has. I'll follow your excellent instructions and see what happens. Thanks for the info on Everest. I hope I don't get too smart in my old age or I'll be a danger to humanity!

UncleMacro,

I just noticed you're located in San Diego. Beautiful city, it was the home port for my ship before we shipped out to Korea and I think I still have a watch in a pawn shop there!

Dale Schmidt

Thanks to all of you that replied to my problem. I reloaded the driver and now the colors are available. Great for the Valentine e-cards my wife got from our Grand kids!