Changing Color Depth on Windows 10?

Question

I have a Dell Inspiron 3583 (laptop), and the Display Information in Settings lists my color depth as 6-bit. However, under List All Modes for my graphics driver, a color depth of 32 bits is listed, so I was wondering if I could increase the color depth of my monitor. If I'm understanding this correctly, Windows 10 lists the color depth as the bits per channel, so shouldn't it list 8 bits as my color depth? Sorry if I'm misunderstanding how this works. Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Hi Christina. I'm Greg, 10 years awarded Windows MVP, specializing in Installation, Performance, Troubleshooting and Activation, here to help you.

Here's everything you need to know about changing color depth in Windows 10:

https://www.thetechlounge.com/color-depth-and-i...

https://www.surfacetablethelp.com/2017/02/how-t...

https://www.nvidia.com/content/Control-Panel-He...

https://www.dummies.com/computers/pcs/set-your-...

https://www.coolblue.nl/en/advice/adjust-colors...

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-adjust-the-colo...

https://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/global/chan...

I hope this helps. Feel free to ask back any questions. Please report back results for all steps given so I know what else to suggest if necessary.

______________________________________________

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Answer 2

I updated the driver and Display Information still listed 6 bits. When I uninstalled the Intel driver, the color depth increased to 8 bits, but when I reinstalled the driver, the color depth went back down to 6 bits. I don't have an AMD graphics card. What else could I try?

Answer 3

There are two types of 'color' depth. What you are looking at in Windows Display is the output bit depth, and 8bit is as good as that gets

on most systems (there may be tweaks\hacks\OC's that result is a slightly higher depth). This is more about printers, etc.

32 bit color depth is Desktop\monitor color depth, and if you open your Intel UHD 620 Control Panel > Properties > Color Settings

section you should see 32 bit color depth listed there.

Having said that, your Intel graphics should be showing 8bit in the Display Settings Window you have open. This could be a limit

on your machines output, but... have you tried updating or reinstalling your Intel graphics driver

(download the driver provided by DELL for your model) ?

I see they released a new driver at the end of last month and it is labeled urgent.

https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-au/product-support/product/inspiron-15-3583-laptop/drivers

Also, update the driver for the AMD dedicated graphics card while you are there if you don't already have the driver released in May 2020.

.

Answer 4

• If you have not already, you may want to try DELL support and forums, but...

Have you checked all of the links provided by Greg for other possible reasons and fixes for this 6bit issue ?

• When the Intel driver is installed are you seeing 32bit color depth in the Intel Control Panel ? If so, the image

and color on your monitor should be OK.

• Is the overall image quality on your monitor or prints (if you are using a printer) as good when the Intel driver is

installed and Display Settings is showing 6bit when compared with no driver and Display Settings showing 8bit

(still trying to figure out if this is just the driver misstating the output bit rate) ?

If the driver supplied by DELL for your UHD 620 graphics is causing this 6bit thing you could try allowing

Windows Updates to install your graphics driver instead (not generally the best option) of using the DELL driver.

If you uninstall the Intel UHD graphics driver, reboot and run Windows Updates it should install\reinstall your gpu driver.

Or, you could try using Device Manager to uninstall and 'update' your Intel Driver.

(R\click on Start > click on Device Manager > Display Adapters. R\click on the Intel UHD 620 graphics, and select Update driver.)

"I don't have an AMD graphics card."

• I guess that was for one of the other 3583 sub-models then.