Questions about on-board graphics, Terrtex and Windows 7...

[NiallGray]

As you may or may not seen, my Windows XP desktop has died (again) and with it my latest version of my route.

I've always built it on the XP machine because every time I attempted to use myW7 desktop, I would get a fuzzy terrtex issue (see old pic below).



I tried to go into RE last night and have a go at working on the W7 machine but everywhere there were these fuzzy ground textures.  After a few minutes I gave up, they give you a damn headache!

When I asked a while back I was told it was my on-board graphics card that caused the problem. It's annoying as I play OR on the same computer and it works (and looks) great, as you can see by the below pic.



So, a few questions...

1) Has anyone ever overcome the terrtex issue or is it a case of I'd have to splash out on new graphics card? If so, I know W8 has issues with certain cards, but what about W7?

2) Has anyone ever build a route on a laptop? If so, the pros and cons?  I might be able to get use of an older XP laptop but I'm guessing that if it's suitable specs for route building on, I'd need one of those USB numpads for object rotation, yes?


Any useful help appreciated. I've come so far with my route and despite the problems I've endured to this point with the route and hardware, I don't want to give up on it. I want to asses my options while I wait to see if the old PC is fixable.


Niall

EDIT: Before anyone mentions XP and microsoft support, I know.