video card choice?

[LCHIEN]

I just bought a 20" wide screen LCD display for $182 shipped. 1680 x 1050 native resolution. Apparently a mistake because my old Radeon 9000 board doesn't have any widescreen modes.

Apparently I need a new video card (are there new ATI drivers that will make my card do 1680 x 1050?) I think, what the opinions on what to get.
AGP-something because I have an AGP slot (no PCI express). My PC - AMD Athlon 64 3000+ 1 GB RAM Win XP-Pro

Nvidia GeForce 6200 128MB for around $65? I can't find a listing of the video resolutions it supports but it seems to be a popular card.
Not doing any heavy gaming or anything like that.

or what else should I consider?

[LinuxRandal]

Stupid question, but have you installed the moniter driver? (inf file)

[LCHIEN]

Stupid question, but have you installed the moniter driver? (inf file)

Think it will work?

[LinuxRandal]

I haven't used a Windows system in a while, but on my old one, it was needed to tell the os that it was a widescreen moniter, so the video card would display it.

[Kristofor]

I doubt you actually need a new card... Try the updated catalyst drivers http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/x...rer300-xp.html first at the very least.

Kristofor.

[gary]

where did you find a 20" lcd for $182 shipped - that's a good deal.

[Hellrazor]

AMD64 3700+, 1gig DDR, 256m ATI Radeon 9600 on a 22" SyncMaster LCD.

[LinuxRandal]

Any word back? (hoping new drivers didn't hose his system)


If you need a new card, I think you should put a note in Ken's birthday boys thread.

[LCHIEN]

Hmmm, I actually have a ATI RAdeon 9600 here in my hand, a hand-me down from my son...

[LCHIEN]

where did you find a 20" lcd for $182 shipped - that's a good deal.

www.Buy.com

They seem to have a lot of good deals, I'm on their e-mail list

[Jeffrey Schronce]

Hmmm, I actually have a ATI RAdeon 9600 here in my hand, a hand-me down from my son...

I have ATI Radeon 9600 in the wifes computer and she uses widescreen Dell with 1680 x 1050. It did take installing the driver from Dell to get it to work. Actually I can say that for all my Dell monitors . . . had to install the drivers. Guess it is a DVI thing.

[mpc]

ATI driver software has options to hide resolutions not supported by a monitor... but what tells it the supported resolutions in the first place? It can get that from Windows or from the monitor itself if the monitor is DDC compliant.

Try this: right click on the Windows desktop, select Properties. Click on the Settings tab at the top/right - basically where you've been trying to change the resolutions. Instead, click on the Advanced tab. A page with several tabs should open. Some will have an ATi logo/icon on them... if not, you are not running ATI's Catalyst drivers - probably have the default Microsoft/ATi setup. If you do have the tabs, go to these two:

Monitor: For flat-panel LCDs, it's best to use a lower refresh rate - there's no "flicker" issues on LCDs unlike CRTs. 60 hertz works fine; some LCD panels actually limit their resolutions at higher refresh rates. What type of panel is listed in the upper "Monitor Type" box? "Plug and Play Monitor" means the LCD and video card can exchange info... so the resolutions should be auto-listed. You'll also see a checkbox for "Hide modes that this monitor can not display." Clearing that might allow you to force a resolution but you really shouldn't need to uncheck this when everything else is properly installed/setup.

ATi Displays. Click on the word "Monitor" or "FPD" to see the specific setup. Then go to the Attributes tab. You'll see a round box for DDC setup if the monitor supports it; turn this ON (checked) if available. That'll help a lot. Go to the Troubleshooting tab and make sure the various boxes are not checked.

mpc