Issues with colour using Radeon HD 4890

[RussiB]

Hi,

I'm really hoping someone can help shed some light on an issue I've had since picking up my new PC last weekend.

Essentially I have a fairly high spec PC but for some reason my graphics card isn't working properly and I can't seem to view images properly, they come out low in colour depth and resolution (hard to explain), it's almost like they are cartoony.

Here is my spec:
Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
3.10 gigahertz AMD Phenom II X2 550
256 kilobyte primary memory cache
1024 kilobyte secondary memory cache
6144 kilobyte tertiary memory cache
64-bit ready
Board: ASUSTeK Computer INC. M4A88TD-M EVO Rev X.0x
ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series (4890) [Display adapter]
Panasonic-TV [Monitor] (s/n 16843009) - Viera 1080p LCD 32@ TV

I am running the latest ATI drivers for my card, downloaded from the website and updated during a clean install after formatting using Hirens BootCD.

I first had Windows 7 32 bit running on my PC - managed to get a copy of 64 bit as thought that may help. No dice! I then bought a copy of Windows XP 64 bit as
I read that Windows 7 is no good with ATI drivers but this hasn't helped either.

I have gone through all the advanced settings on the CCC panel that I can, changing resolution (no issues pushing it up to 1920x1080 but just makes icons smaller), hertz freq, identifying monitors etc.

I am completely stuck.

The best way I can think of describing my issue is to imagine someone taking a photo and turning it into a watercolour using photoshop or similar - that is how all my images look now - very grainy and low in quality.

I've tried my computer on another monitor (a samsung 46" TV) and had the same issue, so I am pretty sure it's the card and not the TV/Monitor.

Any ideas?

 

[Snakeyeskm]

While, you could have a defective card, you should try reinstalling the ATI drivers. I would suggest the following steps after downloading a program called Driver Sweeper (Google search): –

1: Go to your control panel and uninstall programs. Find the driver and uninstall it.

2: Restart in safe mode and run Driver Sweeper, and sweep out the ATI driver section.

3: Restart
Normally you should not need to use driver sweeper, but given your issues and to eliminate any corruption in the originally installed drivers, I would strongly suggest that.

4: Install new drivers.

 

[RussiB]

Thank you for your message - I don't think it is the drivers because I did a clean install, but will certainly try and see if it makes any difference.

What are my other options, simlpy buying a new graphics card?