LCD / Graphics Card Question

[Jako]

I am looking to purchase this LCD Monitor, thing is, down lower on the page it says, "To optimize this monitor's performance, your system must be able to support WSXGA+ resolution (1680 x 1050)."

How do I know if my graphics card will support this. Right now I have an Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller running on a 2.8 Ghz with 1 GB of Ram.

Will I be able to run this monitor? I don't have a DVI on my graphics card, so I will have to use analog which isn't a big deal as they are very similar. But going back to the resolution, when they mentioned "1680 x 1050" and I noticed in my Display Properties allows me to go to a max of 1600 x 1200. Any suggestions? Will I be ok?

 

[dgridley]

Keep in mind I know "nothing" about this sort of thing, but am contemplating the purchase of an LCD monitor as well and have a card with DVI.. after googling reviews on the card, I see there are problems using this card with certain LCD monitors. You might try doing the same and search for reviews, particularly on hardware forums that may help. I'm sure someone has already posted if they've experienced a problem with that combination.

 

[primacomputer]

Having a video card/driver that supports the monitors native resolution is absolutely critical to having a clear high resolution display, in particular on a large monitor when you want to run at the maximum possible resolution. I realise that a lot of the world are running 1024x768 scaled to 1280x1024 monitor, but that doesn't change the fact that it looks bad to someone who's not half blind.

The best thing to do is to check your video driver to see what modes it supports. There are often significant limitations in Windows drivers vs what the card can actually do. Be sure to check the frequency as well as depth and resolution. It's not unheard of to have a card that supports the resolution but not as a frequency the monitor can support.

Worst case scenario you should be able to run at 1600x1024 leaving a few mm border around the edge of the picture. It would be a good idea to check with Dell and ensure that you can turn off any auto expanding features the monitor might have. 1600X1024 scaled to 1650x1050 looks even worse than 1024x768 scaled to 1280x1024.

 

[Jako]

Intel graphic cards are the worst... Spend $100 and pick up a decent video card. You will notice better performance right away. :tu:

Any you can suggest?

 

[jstep]

Currently you are only using integrated graphics, you can pick up something decent under $100 pretty easily, newegg.com is a good place to go

 

[primacomputer]

Any you can suggest?

Nvidia or ATI are always good choices. Installing a new card would allow you to pick one that best matches the monitor as well. It looks like Dell has some cards that they say work well with the monitor.
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/lea...desktops&~mode=popup&~series=optix&~tab=other