So Wednesday, hoping to discover a very obvious and well-known cause to the problem, I posted about my sparkly monitor. Alas, no simple culprit was to be found. The hundreds of emails suggested either a faulty monitor, monitor cable, or video card, but none of the three suggested causes outweighed the others. That is to say, no clear answer was presented.

A good number of the emails suggested that, because the blinking pixels moved with the images, then the video card was obviously to blame. I can now tell you, having swapped the Viewsonic and Cintiq between the two video cards, that that is not the case. After shutting down the computer, swapping the displays (monitor A to video card B, and vice versa), and restarting the computer, though my icons and start menu were now on the Cintiq, the sparklies remained on the Viewsonic. So the video card as a suspect is out.

Later today I’ll dig through my computer stuff and find a spare DVI cable, and see if that alleviates the issue. Otherwise, it’s time for a new monitor.

I’m still devouring Lord of the Rings Online on a near daily basis. My regular group and I just hit level 21 last night. As it’s a new game, and really just getting rolling with content updates and patches, I’m happy to take my time leveling. I know that there isn’t a ton of 40+ content yet, so if it takes me a while to get there, I’m probably better off. I’ve taken up metal-smithing, and collecting titles and deed rewards is a little obsession of mine.

Some of the graphic assets in the game are gorgeous. I’ve seen shields and armor on some higher level characters that are just beautiful.

On the other hand, we have seen some pretty ridiculous hats. I mean really… this head wear is nearly a crime. Thank Thorin’s beard for the “show helm” toggle.