Help with PC monitor resolution (Win7, 30" monitor, pathetic graphics card)

[redfishsc]

First off, I'm glad that this is a place I'm less likely to get the smug cultists respond with "get a Mac".

I recently bought a 30" monitor that is capable of 2560X1600, and I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be able to get this out of this monitor. Things look pretty bad on it right now, very pixelated, poor definition. I'm running Win7, 64bit (home edition). I cannot get the screen resolution any higher than 1280X800.

I cannot even get 1080p out of this thing. It goes haywire (monitor gibberish). If I set the resolution to even 1920X1080, the monitor turns black and shows only colorful bar-code shapes (similar to the old 1990's screen savers).


My graphics card is shown on the computer as a GeForce 9200, but I think this was originally an 8200 that was "updated" with a new driver to "9200", according to some info I've read on some forums.



The computer (mini-tower) only has an HDMI output, and the monitor only has a DVI port. I'm using an HDMI-to-DVI cable (dual-link), although I'm being told that the HDMI output of my card is only capable of single-link.

I have used a single-link cord as well, no change.

This is the computer:
Acer Aspire AX1200-B1792A Desktop PC Athlon X2 4850e (2.5GHz) 4GB DDR2 320GB HDD Capacity 22" Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit - Newegg.com

Can anyone help me get at least a little better resolution out of this?

Thanks!

 

[Joelgp83]

Out of curiousity, what happens if you try to hook it up to an actual HDTV?

Secondly, the nasty look at 1280x800 is normal, assuming the display's "native" resolution is in fact 2560x1600. It has to do with how lcd/led technology works -- the device can really only display in the "native" res, and tries to upscale/downscale, albeit very horribly, any signal that isn't native.

Thirdly, this could be a driver issue. If the current driver wasn't actually written with this card in mind, it could be talking to it wrong. Getting an offical driver from nVidia's web site may fix the issue.

If all else fails -- if the computer is a mini-tower, you may be able to simply buy a "low-profile" version of another video card, preferably one with more outputs (and in my opinion, a Radeon HD series card) and replace the Geforce 8200/9200 in there with it, and try that.

Hope this can help you to "resolve" the issue!

 

[redfishsc]

Out of curiousity, what happens if you try to hook it up to an actual HDTV?

I don't actually own an HDTV, so I don't know. When I was finishing grad school (about the time everyone switched over to digital broadcast), I never bothered to upgrade my tube tv, and tossed it in the dump. Didn't have time for tv then, don't now, except for the 2-3 hours a week we watch in movies or shows (poorly written/produced sequels on Netflix, or Hulu)

Secondly, the nasty look at 1280x800 is normal, assuming the display's "native" resolution is in fact 2560x1600. It has to do with how lcd/led technology works -- the device can really only display in the "native" res, and tries to upscale/downscale, albeit very horribly, any signal that isn't native.

Yeah that makes sense. You get a similar effect when you have to boot Windows in low-res mode even with really old school monitors.

Thirdly, this could be a driver issue. If the current driver wasn't actually written with this card in mind, it could be talking to it wrong. Getting an offical driver from nVidia's web site may fix the issue.

Did try this, and Nvidia did install a new driver when I went to update it... but nothing changed unfortunately.

If all else fails -- if the computer is a mini-tower, you may be able to simply buy a "low-profile" version of another video card, preferably one with more outputs (and in my opinion, a Radeon HD series card) and replace the Geforce 8200/9200 in there with it, and try that.

Hope this can help you to "resolve" the issue!

Lol nice pun.

Yeah I fear playing "won't fit, nope won't fit, nope won't fit", or worse "whoops, way too much for the pathetic 220w power supply on this crapola mini-tower".

If i have to update both the power supply and the graphics card, I'm just setting this system aside with a cheapo monitor, and getting a replacement computer.


Could anyone suggest how to look for a computer with a graphics card that can easily handle the 2560X1600? There are SO freaking many different graphics cards out there that I have no freaking clue how to know which is appropriate.

 

[mikedt]

First off, I'm glad that this is a place I'm less likely to get the smug cultists respond with "get a Mac".

I recently bought a 30" monitor that is capable of 2560X1600, and I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be able to get this out of this monitor. Things look pretty bad on it right now, very pixelated, poor definition. I'm running Win7, 64bit (home edition). I cannot get the screen resolution any higher than 1280X800.

That's quite low, most cheap laptops can do that resolution.

I cannot even get 1080p out of this thing. It goes haywire (monitor gibberish). If I set the resolution to even 1920X1080, the monitor turns black and shows only colorful bar-code shapes (similar to the old 1990's screen savers).

My graphics card is shown on the computer as a GeForce 9200, but I think this was originally an 8200 that was "updated" with a new driver to "9200", according to some info I've read on some forums.

The 9200 is certainly capable of high resolutions, it's not some crappy integrated thing with limited shared RAM. Certain you got the latest Nvidia Geforce drivers?

The computer (mini-tower) only has an HDMI output, and the monitor only has a DVI port. I'm using an HDMI-to-DVI cable (dual-link), although I'm being told that the HDMI output of my card is only capable of single-link.

I have used a single-link cord as well, no change.

This is the computer:
Acer Aspire AX1200-B1792A Desktop PC Athlon X2 4850e (2.5GHz) 4GB DDR2 320GB HDD Capacity 22" Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit - Newegg.com

Can anyone help me get at least a little better resolution out of this?

Thanks!

Possibility the monitor is not communicating its capabilities to the computer correctly. DVI to HDMI are supposed to be compatible, not the cable is it? The monitor is supposed to tell the OS what it can do, that's how it should work. The other way is the monitor comes with a "driver", which is an .inf file that tells Windows how to drive the monitor.

Apparently there is a way of forcing it, but it involves editing the registry, so be careful.
How to Force a Resolution in a Registry | eHow
... this is for Vista, so not sure if it applies to other Windows versions.

 

[redfishsc]

That's quite low, most cheap laptops can do that resolution.



The 9200 is certainly capable of high resolutions, it's not some crappy integrated thing with limited shared RAM. Certain you got the latest Nvidia Geforce drivers?

Nvidia chose the driver and updated it itself, a couple days ago, when I clicked "update driver", so I can only assume this is the latest driver.

Possibility the monitor is not communicating its capabilities to the computer correctly. DVI to HDMI are supposed to be compatible, not the cable is it? The monitor is supposed to tell the OS what it can do, that's how it should work. The other way is the monitor comes with a "driver", which is an .inf file that tells Windows how to drive the monitor.

I think this is the problem. The monitor came with a dual-link DVI cable, but the graphics card is only capable of single-link. Supposedly I should be able to get 1080p with a single-link cable, but that definitely isn't happening.

I need to take this monitor to work and try one of the computers there to see if the monitor itself is perhaps shot.... although I'm skeptical of this.

Apparently there is a way of forcing it, but it involves editing the registry, so be careful.
How to Force a Resolution in a Registry | eHow
... this is for Vista, so not sure if it applies to other Windows versions.

I did try this, and all I get is the colorful barcode gibberish at any resolution over the 1280X800.

In fact I had a very hard time getting the resolution readjusted because the settings caused by the registry change sent me straight into an incurable "colorful barcode"....... incurable because I couldn't see anything to change it back.

I had to reboot, F8, and boot under "lowest resolution" mode to fix the setting, and the use the "reset all values" file they give you to undo it.... because the registry changes that it made caused even 1280X800 to do crazy stuff (I got triple screens stacked on top of each other). I managed to get it back to "normal/ugly".

 

[redfishsc]

The 9200 is certainly capable of high resolutions, it's not some crappy integrated thing with limited shared RAM.

FWIW, it's not the 9200 (for mobile/laptop) that Nvidia has on their site. It's actually the 8200, which is an integrated chip. Whether it's crappy or not, has yet to be decided.

 

[mikedt]

FWIW, it's not the 9200 (for mobile/laptop) that Nvidia has on their site. It's actually the 8200, which is an integrated chip. Whether it's crappy or not, has yet to be decided.

If it's integrated, then it's almost certain it's using shared system RAM. And may not be enough available for it to run at very high resolutions. When you try to do it does it look like picture corruption or like it's not syncing, like it's rolling or showing bars?

Edit:

Just noticed you said "barcode gibberish", maybe that's it, it doesn't have enough RAM to show a picture properly at the monitor's native resolution. Other thing is usually with monitors, you should get an on screen message telling you that it can't sync on the signal coming from the computer, something like "Sync is out of range".

 

[Joelgp83]

Yeah I fear playing "won't fit, nope won't fit, nope won't fit", or worse "whoops, way too much for the pathetic 220w power supply on this crapola mini-tower".

If i have to update both the power supply and the graphics card, I'm just setting this system aside with a cheapo monitor, and getting a replacement computer.

Fortunately, vid card makers have thought of that. If you search amazon for "Low Profile" GPUs, you'll find video cards that have been resized, brackets and all, by the manufacturer themselves for use in small mini-towers and/or various "slimline" computers that are out there. I believe they will also support the lower power supplies that come with them, but you'll have to read the details.

Mikedt is right about most cards being capable of doing 2560x1600, though. For example, my legacy desktop rig is equipped with the legendary-for-its-time 3Dfx Voodoo5 5500 AGP, which was manufactured in mid/late 2000, and it lists support for that resolution. Your card is made, what, at least 2/3 years ago? Should have more than enough tech in that to pull it off.

 

[redfishsc]

Ok.... I want to go ahead and upgrade the power supply anyhow, since I've had suspicion that mine is acting up (computer sometimes overheats despite clean heatsinks and wide open case)

I want to move everything to a new tower gaming case with new psu. Gotta be budget though lol....

How do I know which case will work?


Thanks everyone for the help!!