Ok so I want to buy a new monitor, a widescreen that is. I was first looking into buying this 19" samsung from new egg, but upon inspecting the reviews I saw that because of its odd resolution alot of old graphics wouldnt be compatible with it. By the way I have a Geforce 3 ti500. So basically I need to know if my graphics card can run the monitors resolution of 1440x900? My guess is that probably not? also I stumbled upon another samsung monitor this one a 20" widescreen at new egg which has a higher resolution and upon reading the reviews there was no talk of compatibility issues, its resolution is 1680 X 1050. Can my graphics card support that? Im sorry but im quite noobie at this. Your help is greatly appreciated, I'm stumped here. By the way here are the links to the monitors. 19" http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ... 20" http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ... Once again your help is extremely appreciated.

A quick look on google showed that your video card spec are: DVI connector Onboard DVI connector up to 1280x1024 resolution The monitors showed: 19" res 1440 x 900 20" res 1680 X 1050 If I were you I would try and match the right card "a new one" to which ever screen you deside on...just my 2 cents, lets see what others have to say on it ? Keep the old stuff running

All LCD displays have a specified "optimal" or "native" resolution at which the display looks the best - at other resolutions the display will not look as good, and the text will not be as crisp and clear in Windows. However, I have found how good they look in other resolutions varies quite a bit. E.g. Samsung monitors I've seen will still look very good in most other resolutions - a lesser quality make may not. The older your video is, the less likely it is to have the high resolution settings available that recent LCD monitors specify as the "optimal" or "native" resolution, and the less likely it has to have lesser similar wide screen resolution width to height ratios available. If you choose a resolution that has a standard ratio of height to width, the wide screen display will looked streched, usually horizontally, except when you are playing video meant for the widescreen format. When you first connect an LCD monitor, Windows assigns the Plug and Play Monitor setting by default, but that set of settings was put together way back when XP was first released and was designed with mostly CRT monitors in mind, and it probably has not changed much since, if any, in newer XP versions. Your LCD monitor is often not capable of supporting some of the higher settings Plug and Play Monitor provides, particularly high vertical refresh rates, and sometimes higher resolutions. Using Plug and Play Monitor settings the LCD monitor can't support properly can result in no display or a scrambled display, or if you are able to get a display using a setting it wasn't designed for, or if you choose settings the video and it's drivers can do but are not shown to you in Windows by default, that can damage the monitor. Your LCD monitor comes with monitor drivers. If you load those drivers, Windows will by default only show you the resolutions and other settings that both the monitor and the video and it's video drivers you have are capable of. In the case of your video card it appears you wouldn't be able to display any resolution higher than 1280 x 1024 (that's a standard width to height ratio, not a widescreen one), or thereabouts - you would have to choose a resolution that is less, and one with a widescreen ratio would look best. Consider the no cost option. If you already have a CRT monitor that works well, I recommend you keep using it until it is no longer usable. Getting an LCD monitor simply because it takes up less space is not a good reason to get one. CRT monitor displays look equally good at any resolution its drivers will allow. If you are hell bent on buying an LCD monitor.... - get a better brand and possibly pay more for one with the same specs rather than getting a lesser brand that is less likely to look good in other than the optimal or native resolutions. - If you want to see what a particular model looks like in other than the optimal or native resolutions, find a local place that has that model on display and try those other resolutions by changing settings in the Display Properties in the computer it is connected to. - have you considered whether you would actually be using the high resolutions you quote? 1440 x 900 and 1680 x 1050 will make things on a 19" or 20" screen look awfully tiny, and some can't cope with that situation and wouldn't crank up the resolution that high. If I were you I would go for the 19" rather than the 20", or there may be lesser models that have a lower optimal or native resolution that will cost you less money. - try the monitor with your existing video, using the drivers that come with the monitor. If you don't get a satisfactory display in some resolution other than the optimal or native one, you will have to upgrade your video card. - Turn on Clear Type in Windows XP - makes type on LCD screens look clearer http://www.microsoft.com/typography... - If you get a Samsung monitor, if it comes with MagicTune, I recommend you use it.

The response time - the time it takes a pixel to change from one color to another - of LCD montors is MUCH slower that that of CRT monitors - motion and video will always look better on a CRT monitor. The lower the response time of your LCD monitor - xx ms - the better motion and video will look.

LinuxOS2, thats if you use dvi. If you use analog there is alot more resolutions it supports. Heres a link to that, if you scroll down there is both "dvi display resolutions supported" and also "resolutions supported" http://www.hothardware.com/viewarti... Tubesandwires, my graphics card doesnt only support those resolutions mentioned, look above. Also yes my 17" CRT is still in working conditions but I was just on newegg.com and there were good deals on monitors, plus I watch alot of videos and movies on my computer so thats another reason, also saving space and electricity doesnt hurt. Yes I want to upgrade my graphics card but not now, so I was just wondering if if my grpahics card would support that monitors I mentioned. So please give me your input with the new link I provided with the resolutions my graphics card supports. Thanks for all the help.

Yes, that does show your card is capable of more than 1280 x 1024. You should try the LCD monitor with your video card and the proper monitor drivers loaded in any case. Sometimes the quoted resolutions are not the only ones the video is capable of - they just list the standard resolutions. You could also look at the NVidia specs for that same chipset. Other widescreen resolutions that may not be exactly the same as the optimal or native settings often look okay too, even if they are slighly stretched or compressed horizonatally. The optimal or native resolutions you quoted are both a 1.6 to 1 width to height ratio. CRT monitors tend to support much higher Vertical refresh rates than even new LCD high end monitors can - the higher the monitor is capable of, the better motion and video will look, and you will note that after a certain point the card cannot support the high vertical refresh rates lower resolutions can.

So your saying that yes it will support it? I think Im going to get it. Somebody left a review and it said that it worked perfectly on his geforce 4, so my guess is that it should support my geforce aswell. So should I install the drivers that come with the monitor? I herd that for some reason they make the nvidia control panel freeze?