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What specs to look for in a video card to run 22" monitor at high resolutions



 
 
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  #1  
Old August 24th 03, 04:51 AM
Steve Rossiter
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Default What specs to look for in a video card to run 22" monitor at high resolutions

Hi,
I'll be buying a 22" Mitsubishi Diamond Pro
http://www.necmitsubishi.com/product....cfm?product_i
d=232&division=MITSUBISHI and am now looking a various cards to drive
this monstrosity. Mitsubishi specs say it can go to 2048 x 1536 @ 86
and my job now is to match it to a card provide the signal. Although I
will probably have the screen set to 2048 x 1536 I figure if the card
can do this it will be able to provide viewing at lower resolutions
flicker free.
My needs are to provide clean displays of various large data sets in
2D, sometimes rotate them in 3D and a little low-tech gaming like Age
of Empires, Sim City. I'm a little confused because cards advertised
with 64 MB, 128 MB, or now 256 MB of memory all claim to be able to
display at resolutions near to my 2048 x 1536 benchmark so there must
be more than aggregate memory that determines ability to run large
monitors at high resolutions.
The Matrox P750 seems to a reliable choice for the job but lacks
some of the fun stuff of say the ATI AIW 9000 Pro or GeForce4 Ti 4600.
Will $150-$200 get me a reliable, flicker free card that can display
at high resolutions (that way I can see more of the data set) or am I
asking too much of a card in this price range?
One last question. What is the end result of setting the screen to a
resolution and refresh rate that the card doesn't list? For example,
the monitor mentioned above lists a capability to display 1800 x 1440
@ 92 Hz but the closest a Radeon 9800 Pro comes in terms of its spec
sheet is 1920x1080 @ 120. How would this display on the screen?
Thanks for the help with these questions.
  #2  
Old August 24th 03, 10:50 AM
Tim
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I have a Phillips 201b (20.1" vis?) running at 1600 x 1200 @ 75Hz with Large
Fonts.
Small fonts are just too small. Don't forget you can adjust the font size in
XP...

As Rick says, look for a card that will support the resolution you want at a
minimum of 75Hz. For an investment such as this, it is reasonable to see a
demo of the Card + Monitor.

I often wonder about the very point you ask - monitor manufacturers list odd
resolutions which are seemingly never tabled by graphics cards
manufacturers. I am currently looking at getting 2 x Phillips 20" LCD's -
but their native res is 1660 x 1200! Interpolation on LCD is an infinitely
worse thing than on a monitor. If the Mitsi has a Sony style shadow mask the
interpolation will also be bad - native resolutions are the only real way to
go. The reason why I originally opted for the Phillips was - 5 Year
warrantee + 0.22 mm dot pitch (although I have since seen this contradicted
and confirmed).

Alan's comment 2 x 19" is extremely good advice - dual monitors are
always more cost effective.
FYI: the Phillips 201B is now at a very competitive price - you may be able
to get two of these for 1 Mitsi. You will need a strong desk!

Rick: If you are around, how did you "Instead, I created two custom
resolutions (1440x1080 and
1400x1050) in my card driver."?

- Tim



"Steve Rossiter" wrote in message
...
Hi,
I'll be buying a 22" Mitsubishi Diamond Pro
http://www.necmitsubishi.com/product....cfm?product_i
d=232&division=MITSUBISHI and am now looking a various cards to drive
this monstrosity. Mitsubishi specs say it can go to 2048 x 1536 @ 86
and my job now is to match it to a card provide the signal. Although I
will probably have the screen set to 2048 x 1536 I figure if the card
can do this it will be able to provide viewing at lower resolutions
flicker free.
My needs are to provide clean displays of various large data sets in
2D, sometimes rotate them in 3D and a little low-tech gaming like Age
of Empires, Sim City. I'm a little confused because cards advertised
with 64 MB, 128 MB, or now 256 MB of memory all claim to be able to
display at resolutions near to my 2048 x 1536 benchmark so there must
be more than aggregate memory that determines ability to run large
monitors at high resolutions.
The Matrox P750 seems to a reliable choice for the job but lacks
some of the fun stuff of say the ATI AIW 9000 Pro or GeForce4 Ti 4600.
Will $150-$200 get me a reliable, flicker free card that can display
at high resolutions (that way I can see more of the data set) or am I
asking too much of a card in this price range?
One last question. What is the end result of setting the screen to a
resolution and refresh rate that the card doesn't list? For example,
the monitor mentioned above lists a capability to display 1800 x 1440
@ 92 Hz but the closest a Radeon 9800 Pro comes in terms of its spec
sheet is 1920x1080 @ 120. How would this display on the screen?
Thanks for the help with these questions.



  #3  
Old August 24th 03, 03:00 PM
Rick
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

"Tim" wrote in message ...
Rick: If you are around, how did you "Instead, I created two custom
resolutions (1440x1080 and 1400x1050) in my card driver."?


On my Matrox I used their tweak utility which allows for creating
custom resolutions, and for my other system (Nvidia) I modified
NV4_DISP.INF prior to installing the driver. The file format, at
least for Win2000/WinXP is self-explanatory and adding custom
resolutions via Notepad is easy.

Rick


  #4  
Old August 24th 03, 05:53 PM
Steve
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Thank you for the help (especially Rick). The idea of two 19" monitors
is something to think about.
  #5  
Old August 25th 03, 03:29 AM
Tim
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Posts: n/a
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Excellent - thanks.
- Tim

"Rick" wrote in message
...
"Tim" wrote in message

...
Rick: If you are around, how did you "Instead, I created two custom
resolutions (1440x1080 and 1400x1050) in my card driver."?


On my Matrox I used their tweak utility which allows for creating
custom resolutions, and for my other system (Nvidia) I modified
NV4_DISP.INF prior to installing the driver. The file format, at
least for Win2000/WinXP is self-explanatory and adding custom
resolutions via Notepad is easy.

Rick




  #6  
Old August 26th 03, 11:08 PM
Ben Pope
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Rick wrote:
"Steve Rossiter" wrote in message
...
Hi,
I'll be buying a 22" Mitsubishi Diamond Pro
http://www.necmitsubishi.com/product....cfm?product_i
d=232&division=MITSUBISHI and am now looking a various cards to drive
this monstrosity. Mitsubishi specs say it can go to 2048 x 1536 @ 86
and my job now is to match it to a card provide the signal. Although
I
will probably have the screen set to 2048 x 1536 I figure if the card
can do this it will be able to provide viewing at lower resolutions
flicker free.



Indeed, my definition of flicker free is around 80Hz, but ambient lighting
affects that slightly - I'm running 85Hz right now.

Don't assume you'll be setting your res to 2048x1536 until you try it!
I have the same basic monitor (22" Mitsu 2040U) and IMO text is
way too small even at 1600x1200. At 2048x1536 you'll likely need
a constant supply of Advil if you work with text apps for extended
periods. Instead, I created two custom resolutions (1440x1080 and
1400x1050) in my card driver. Both maintain the proper 4:3 aspect
ratio while keeping text big enough to not cause eyestrain.


I'm personally using 1600x1200@85Hz on a 19" Sony G400 and don;t experience
any problems. I think the eye strain issue lies in a combination of
factors, especially dot pitch and refresh rate should be considered.

My needs are to provide clean displays of various large data sets
in 2D, sometimes rotate them in 3D and a little low-tech gaming like
Age
of Empires, Sim City. I'm a little confused because cards advertised
with 64 MB, 128 MB, or now 256 MB of memory all claim to be able to
display at resolutions near to my 2048 x 1536 benchmark so there must
be more than aggregate memory that determines ability to run large
monitors at high resolutions.


Don't pay much attention to the amount of video memory. Even
32MB is more than enough for 2048x1536 @ 24 or 32-bit color.
Additional video memory is used to store textures for 3D apps, but
only a tiny number of current apps use more than 64MB for texture
storage.


Agreed.

More important is the speed of the video card's RAMDAC. To
display very high resolutions at a decent refresh rate you'll need a
card with at least a 360MHz RAMDAC. Higher-end Matrox,
Nvidia and ATI cards all qualify.


Agreed. My Voodoo3 could do 1600*1200@85Hz, I think the RAMDAC was 300MHz.

The Matrox P750 seems to a reliable choice for the job but lacks
some of the fun stuff of say the ATI AIW 9000 Pro or GeForce4 Ti
4600.
Will $150-$200 get me a reliable, flicker free card that can display
at high resolutions (that way I can see more of the data set) or am I
asking too much of a card in this price range?


For $200 you can certainly get a good, flicker free display, but
above ~1600x1200 you'll see a difference with a more expensive
card (e.g. Matrox Parhelia).


The quality of the RAMDAC is important, I know some older nVidias suffered
from crap RAMDACS.

One last question. What is the end result of setting the screen to a
resolution and refresh rate that the card doesn't list? For example,
the monitor mentioned above lists a capability to display 1800 x 1440
@ 92 Hz but the closest a Radeon 9800 Pro comes in terms of its spec
sheet is 1920x1080 @ 120. How would this display on the screen?
Thanks for the help with these questions.


Throwing unsupported resolution/refresh rate combos at a monitor
is never a good idea. Make a list of the highest refresh rates the
monitor supports at all resolutions, then start at 75Hz and work
your way up from there. Most cards have a refresh rate tweaking
utility either included with the driver or available separately. So
in
your example you'd run 1920x1080 @ either 85 or 90Hz.


I like 80Hz as a minimum. I think UK Health and Safety says 72Hz minimum -
although practically every monitor you see runs the default and rather
painful 60Hz.

Ben
--
I'm not just a number. To many, I'm known as a String...


 




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