Why is quality semi-poor on my Samsung LCD?

In May I purchased the Samsung 710N-BK 17" LCD monitor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824001171

I've been having a few problems with it. First of all, it is on an analog connection, so I'm wondering if that is the only cause, or there are other problems/issues. I am running an ATI Radeon 9600 as my display adapter.

1. Text seems somewhat fuzzy. The worst areas are anything with a gray background and black/dark foreground - it's terrible!

2. Warcraft 3 (and only Warcraft 3) has issues displaying dark colors. In the game, if I look at a part of the map under the Fog of War the colors "shift" vertically a lot. Have you ever seen a recording of a CRT monitor screen, and it you can see the refresh rate pulsating down the screen? It's kind of like that with the dark colors. I've messed with the refresh rate and it doesn't matter. Like I said, this is ONLY a problem in Warcraft 3.

Another thing: I'm running at the max and recommended resolution (1280 x whatever) in both Windows and Warcraft 3. Lowering the resolution makes the problem far, far worse in Warcraft 3.

What gives here? Do I just need a DVI connection? Is it my graphics card? Thanks for any help.

 

Try this: r-click desktop >Properties >Appearance >Effects >Make sure the “Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts:” check box is checked and set to Clear Type.

I prefer MS Reference SansSerif as my default font but its my eyes.

If still no joy, try this:
Go here and download/install the ClearType Tuner MS Power Toy.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx
Then use the applet in Control Panel to fine tune.

Get used to having your monitor at native.
If you 'go off the reservation' it gets ugly.

ATI Radeon 9800XT 256MB AGP retail (Cat. v5.9 CCC)
DV-I: Samsung SyncMaster 213T Black 21.3” TFT Monitor #1 [1600x1200 60Hz] native
VGA: Samsung SyncMaster 213T Black 21.3” TFT Monitor #2 [1600x1200 60Hz] native

Happy trailz,

 

Sorry, I forgot to mention that I did turn on ClearType.

Normal text looks fine, but the problems occur with greyish-on-dark text. In fact, a perfect example is the top of this forum, where it lists MajorGeeks Support Forums > Help & Technical Forums > etc. Unless I concentrate on the text it looks like it "merges" with the background somewhat - there's not enough contrast. It's hard to describe, it just doesn't look very "distinct".

Once again, maybe it's just because of my analog connection. I'm trying to figure out if it's only that, or something else too.

 

Have you run the calibration software that came with the monitor? my LG monitor didnt look great with factory settings but I spent close to an hour calibrating everything from brightness, contrast to colour and its made a hell of a difference.