Tekforums
Chat => Entertainment & Technology => Topic started by: 8daysaweek.co.uk on December 03, 2006, 17:15:18 PM
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Ive recently bought a 19" Widescreen Display and am looking for a graphics card that will support a 1440x900 resolution.
The PC is an HP dx2000 MT (http://h20195.www2.hp.com/V2/pdf/5982-3652EEE.pdf) which has integrated graphics and doesnt support widescreen monitors. As can be seen from that PDF it has PCI slots (no AGP slot), so I dont think that PCI-Express cards are suitable? Ive seen here (http://www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk/VideoProblems2.htm#native) that ATI Radeon X1300 chips support 1440x900, but they all appear to be PCI-E.
This PC isnt used for any high-end graphics or gaming, and the integrated graphics have been fine up until now.
Im guessing that many newer cards will work, but as I cant find the supported resolutions listed on many, and those that do dont list 1440x900, Im reluctant to buy one, only to find I have the wrong thing!
So, Im looking for advice on where to buy the cheapest card that will definitely support 1440x900 please.
TIA :),
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PCI-E cards operate on a totally different form to AGP or PCI. Neither of the more modern cards would fit your computer. Unfortunately PCI is an old technology and I dont know personally of any card that would operate from one and handle the screen resolution you want.
Perhaps someone else has more arcane knowledge than me though in this area.
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PCI-E cards operate on a totally different form to AGP or PCI. Neither of the more modern cards would fit your computer.
Yes I thought so.
Unfortunately PCI is an old technology and I dont know personally of any card that would operate from one and handle the screen resolution you want.
Perhaps someone else has more arcane knowledge than me though in this area.
OK, lets hope so - thanks anyway.
If it becomes apparent that I need to upgrade to a new PC (Im still hoping theres a PCI card out there that will support the resolution ;)), bearing in mind the PC does nothing more than some number crunching, does anyone have any recommendations for a graphics card supporting 1440x900 once Ive bought a new PC with a PCI-E slot (assuming the one that comes with it may not support the resolution)?
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most cards will run that res, if you update the drivers
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Thanks for that, it gives me hope. Im looking for something slightly more definite though (if possible someone who has a cheap PCI card that they can verify does support 1440x900).
For instance, the max resolutions on this card (http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/119218) suggest that it should support 1440x900, but then someone on this (http://www.sapphiretech.com/en/forums/showthread.php?p=4843#4843) site suggests that its too old and wont support it :?
BFN,
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First site really says it can support *some* graphics resolutions up to 2048 x 1536, not that its capable of doing all of them. Really you would have to contact e-buyer and ask if it actually does support the resolution you want. Unless you can get hold of the specification sheet on the card.
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Thanks again for replying.
Unfortunately these are the circles I have been going in.
ebuyer (and other sites) say the only info they have is that published on the site, for more information contact the manufacturer. Going to the manufacturers websites they (and the specification PDFs) only list the max resolution (as seen in those examples above)
- hence my reason for posting here to see if anyone has experience with a cheap PCI card that supports this resolution.
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ati cards should support custom resolutions (http://www.dtvmax.com/powerstrip.htm), as far as I know, nvidia cards should as well. This apparently doesnt work on intel graphics chipsets, but it may be worth a go.
edit: Ive got a radeon 7000 downstairs, Ill see if itll work on that later (Im supposed to be painting the ceiling right now.)
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/97991/rb/23490974114 - a more modern chip.
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ati cards should support custom resolutions (http://www.dtvmax.com/powerstrip.htm), as far as I know, nvidia cards should as well. This apparently doesnt work on intel graphics chipsets, but it may be worth a go.
Ive already tried this, but I couldnt actually see anywhere within powerstrip to set a custom resolution :(
edit: Ive got a radeon 7000 downstairs, Ill see if itll work on that later (Im supposed to be painting the ceiling right now.)
Thanks for that. Ive also been painting recently, ceilings are not my favourite!
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/97991/rb/23490974114 - a more modern chip.
Yes, that looks fine - if it will support widescreen :?
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I would highly recommend you pay a visit to the Widescreen Gaming Forums (http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/) There may be a way to enable widescreen.
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Thanks Deaths Head. It seems from this (http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/wiki/index.php?title=FAQ#A_quick_note:_integrated_graphics) that it wont be possible to enable widescreen on my existing setup.
In the absence of any definitive replies yet, Im tempted to go for the Hightech card that sdp linked to earlier and hope for the best :?
BFN,
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Looking at the forum part of that site people are posting experiences with the 9250 and widescreen.
I have a 1440x900 resolution Viewsonic VA1912wb monitor running on an ATI Radeon 9250. Whenever the resolution output is less than 1440x900, the monitor streches the image to fit the screen. Id like to be able to play old games (running at 800x600) so that they are centered on the screen, with black bars taking up the extra space.
My problem is that, even though image centering is selected in ATI Catalyst, a small image is STILL streched. The only image scaling options that I can find are in the image below.
To me, his issue sounds like a setting on his monitor rather than his graphics card which is causing images to be scaled if less than 1440x900
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Yes I agree, my monitor has a setting which would affect that.
I have a 1440x900 resolution Viewsonic VA1912wb monitor running on an ATI Radeon 9250
...sounds promising though, so Ive taken the plunge and bought that card. I will report back on my success or otherwise.
Thanks for everyones help :D
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Ive taken the plunge and bought that card (Hightech 9250 128MB 64bit PCI). I will report back on my success or otherwise.
OK, the card arrived yesterday and Im here to report success... and to ask another question ;)
The monitor didnt automatically receive the signal from the new card. I had to install the ATI software and disable the integrated card before the signal came through, but once it did it automatically selected 1440x900 and after 1 auto adjustment of the monitor, everything looks good.
However, I thought I remembered in the past that once a dedicated graphics card was detected on the system, the memory previously used by the integrated graphics card would be freed up? This hasnt happened though (see attached screenshot), and although its only 8mb were talking about Id like to know why.
TIA,
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Some on board graphics cards use their own memory but others use shared. In order to free up this you may need to go into the bios and minimise the memory available to the on board graphics chip. A very few wont allow you to reclaim all of it though.
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the only definate way to reclaim the ram is to disable the onboard gfx from the bios.
once disabled it should release the shared ram
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Thanks for the replies. Ive found that the new card/monitor doesnt display the POST information, so I am currently unable to get into the BIOS. This seems strange to me, particularly when the integrated card is disabled!
I will investigate further when I have some more time.
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maybe the new card just takes a sec to get going.... try hitting del (or whatever it is on your system) anyway, and you should be able to get into the bios :)
youll need to disable the on-board gfx, chances are if you dont youll end up with some freaky problems :s
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Normally its the delete key or F2
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Dont seem to be working (Neither F2 nor Delete).
Its frustrating that the Display (as shown in the screenshot above) says that no system resources are being used, but evidence suggests otherwise.
Unfortunately since fitting this graphics card, while the display is fine, the computer is actually running much slower - I expected the opposite after fitting a dedicated graphics card with 128mb RAM.
I feel the expense of a new computer coming on...
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Can you see the post with the onboard card?
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Find out where the bios reset jumper is on your motherboard, you might need it later;
1. Plug the monitor into the onboard plug.
2. Go into the bios.
3. Disable onboard graphics.
4. Save, exit, power down, plug the screen into the pci card.
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Your onboard graphics is still enabled. What you have done in the pic is disable it within Windows, nothing else. There is no need to be hasty and splashing out on a new PC. There is nothing wrong with this one. And is £XXX worth it for 8meg? ;)
Plug the monitor into the onboard vga port. You should then see your bios screen. Windows normally displays its boot screen across all displays which is why you should see it on you onboard and new vga card. You can press the pause/break key and it will/should pause the pc on the bios screen to allow you to see what key to press. Also, it may well display a graphic which hides the actual bios screen so it may be worth tapping the esc key.
Once you kow which key it is, tap the needed key once or twice per second when you power it up. Once in the bios it should be in integrated devices or such like.
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Thanks for those replies, which were helpful. I still have my old monitor hanging around at the moment and was able to plug that in. The BIOS doesnt give the option to disable the onboard graphics, but it does enable me to reduce the amount of memory reserved for it to 1mb.
The effect of this is that the full 512mb is now reported in My Computer > Properties :D and I have now disabled the Integrated and PCI Secondary monitors in Windows, so the signals arent going to those ports all the time.
The other thing the BIOS has let me do is change the priority of the monitors from Integrated > PCI to PCI > Integrated, and lengthen the amount of time the POST screen is displayed to let me hit F10 quick enough.
The thing is that instead of improving the performance of the computer (albeit I only expected the same or a slight improvement), since the PCI card was installed it seems to be running really slowly. Thats why Im thinking perhaps at sooner than Id planned I might look for a computer that will support this widescreen resolution out of the box.
Thanks again for all the help received :)
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Just thought Id add a quick update.
I downloaded the latest drivers for the card, uninstalled the ATI Catalyst software, and reinstalled, selecting only the drivers (not the Catalyst software for extra features) and this seems to have improved things :D
BFN,