Member Avatar for Paladine

Just curious if anyone else has one of these monitors? Why? Because I do, and it seems that no matter what video card I use, ATI or NVIDIA the screen picture is generally darker that it should be. Especially when gaming.

The only odd thing to note, is if I use my old Voodoo3 card I have clear and bright images. Gee I really miss 3DFx. Their cards were still the best.

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Dani AI

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Short summary tied to the thread: reports the Samsung 950p looks noticeably darker in full‑screen games with both ATI and NVIDIA cards, while an old Voodoo3 gives bright, correct images. already suggested driver gamma and PowerStrip; tried desktop gamma changes but says they don't carry into games. Below are likely causes and a focused troubleshooting checklist that addresses that exact difference.

Why this happens (brief): many full‑screen 3D apps change the GPU’s color/gamma ramp at runtime (the Win32 API is typically SetGammaRamp), or use different render paths (Direct3D, OpenGL, Glide). When a game writes its own ramp or uses a renderer that the desktop driver doesn’t intercept, desktop gamma sliders won’t affect it. The Voodoo3 behaving differently strongly suggests the game/driver path is the variable, not the monitor itself. For background reading on how gamma ramps work see Microsoft’s SetGammaRamp docs or the general gamma correction overview.

Practical checklist (do these in order):

  • Run the game in windowed mode. If it matches the desktop, the game is changing the full‑screen LUT.
  • Try different games or switch the renderer in the game (Direct3D vs OpenGL). Note which API shows the issue.
  • Check in‑game brightness/gamma sliders and any config/ini files for gamma settings. Some engines expose a numerical gamma value.
  • Create a per‑application profile in your video driver control panel and force a brighter gamma/vibrance for that profile.
  • Test with a different cable/type (VGA vs DVI) or another PC/card to isolate monitor vs GPU. Reset the monitor OSD to factory and disable any “dynamic contrast/auto‑brightness” modes.
  • If a utility (like the one mentioned) can force a profile that makes the game look correct, the culprit is LUT override by the game; otherwise the game may be continually rewriting ramps and you must use the game’s settings or a wrapper.

If nothing helps, try a driver rollback/update and consider professional calibration or a newer display for gaming. Avoid cranking CRT brightness indefinitely — excessive drive reduces tube life.

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Member Avatar for Dani

Sorry, only Sony's over here! I used to use an ATI Rage 128, then I had an ATI Radeon (the original, before the 8000 and 9000 series, etc), and then finally moved over to Nvidia Geforce territory.

Member Avatar for Tekmaven

Adjust your Gamma settings... nVIDIA and ATI's drivers should have settings for that.

Member Avatar for Paladine

Thanks, but I have tried the settings and they work fine for Windows, but in games not so well.

Oh well. Once my house is finished I buying an LCD Monitor anyhow.

Thanks for the help anyhow!

Member Avatar for Tekmaven

Another thing you may want to look into is a utility called PowerStrip. You can make a profile for games, and set it to extremely bright. Before you open the game, just activate the games profile (Powerstrip profiles can be set from a system tray icon) and run the game. When your done, go back to defaults.

Thats what I do..

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