Regarding the AC3D display:
- AC3D uses the OpenGL API to perform rendering of 2D and 3D views.
- OpenGL provides the concept of multiple contexts and context sharing, which are not always well implemented by video drivers, since games (primary application for OpenGL on low end graphics adapters) almost never use multiple contexts or shared context resources.
- When your video driver does not properly implement mutliple context support, you will see problems such as windows not redrawing (the grey background and 'see-through' windows).
Standard 2D applications (photo editing and such) do not use the OpenGL API (they use a 2D API). They will not show this problem. Most other OpenGL applications will also not show this problem (AC3D uses features most consumer-grade software ignores).
The graphics card is not the solution to your problem, no. The video driver is the solution. Purchasing an add-on card from a major vendor (ATI/nVidia) means you get easy access to a higher quality OpenGL driver implementation.
The tech who suggested you reconnect everything is very confused about your problem - he is providing hardware support, when what you need is updated software (drivers). What make/model motherboard have you purchased? The video drivers provided by motherboard vendors are often out of date (they ship what's available when they package the board and tend not to update the driver later).
If you can determine who manufactured the graphics chipset (not the motherboard), you many find updated drivers on their site. If the motherboard has a VIA chipset, you probably have an S3 graphics chip, in which case you need to go to VIA's site (not S3) to get the updated driver.
I don't expect you have an nVidia or ATI chip, since this is a basic problem which I would not expect to see in their drivers (and I guess it's not an intel graphics chip, since you said it's an AMD CPU).
At any rate, good luck. If you are not comfortable chasing down this stuff, please don't, since attempting to wrestle the wrong driver into place can cause trouble with (e.g., 'break') your computer.
-- Jeff
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