Will my current card support my new monitor?

[david_gordon7]

My apologies for what I may be a very basic pair of questions; I've looked

everywhere and can't get straight answers.

 

I have a Dell plug-and-play 17" monitor that allows me a maximum display of

1280 x 1024. I want to upgrade to a widescreen monitor (around 21" or so) with

a much higher display mode (around 1680 x 1050, perhaps a little higher).

According to my current graphics card (an Intel 82865G), the card is capable of

supporting that resolution; however, because the Dell monitor is a plug-and-

play, those resolutions are "grayed out" and not available on my current

monitor.

 

When I buy a new monitor (1) will the new monitor be able to run with the

current card (presumably using the new monitor's drivers) or will I have to

upgrade? and (2) will the Intel card support a widescreen monitor or will I

have to upgrade? Believe it or not, I've e-mailed Intel three times and can't

get a straight answer out of them. And talking to the Dell people is like

talking to myself. Any advice or suggestion is most welcome! Thanks.

[d_gillespie]

Since you didn't mention what software platform you are using some of the advice will be more generic than might be helpful. You also didn't mention what the make/ model of the new monitor you are considering. Also you didn't mention if the new monitor was digital or analog. So with that said, you should (no guarantees) be able to upgrade your current PC if the graphics card will support the higher resolution using the monitor manufacturer's provided drivers. That being said...Many people moving to wide screen monitors also take the opportunity to upgrade with a matching graphics card that has on board memory. Since we don't know your PC configuration or how much ram you currently have it might make sense to take the unit to a local shop and work with them to create the best possible combination based on what you have in the box, not su much based on what I/ we might say on a forum.

[alec_myers]

Hi David,

 

My ancient (well, 5-year-old) IBM Netvista has an integrated Intel 845G chipset. On upgrading to a 1440x900 widescreen monitor recently I had to download a new driver from the Intel website to use the native resolution of the monitor. I suspect you would find the new resolution you want is available, although the monitor will not come with any drivers; if the current drivers for your video card don't support the resolution you want will probably have to download updated ones from the Intel website, or from Dell.

 

I also by accident found that the my system speeded up about 10 times (and stopped mysteriously crashing in photoshop) when I adjusted the bios settings to assign maximum onboard RAM to the video subsystem (8 MBytes - woo hoo) so see if there are some settings there you can adjust.

[david_gordon7]

David and Alec,

Thanks to you both for responding.

 

David, I am running XP Home. I didn't mention the make/ model of the new monitors I am considering simply because there are several with different resolutions--although I am looking seriously at the Viewsonic VX2025. (I'd love a LaCie or Eizo, but don't have the money.) I didn't want people to have to run around for different info. Finally, the monitor will be analog. Your advice about taking the opportunity to upgrade with a matching graphics card that has on board memory is good, though right now I have 2056 RAM, which I imagine outght to be enough for most anything.

 

Alec,

My computer is about 3 years old and I believe that it's "current" on its drivers. Although a monitor may not come with any drivers, can't they just be downloaded from its site? (That's what I found, at least, with Viewsonic). I found your comments on adjusting the BIOS to be very interesting, though I have no clue how to do it.Do you know of a site that can offer directions to a beginner? If not, thanks; I'll do my homework!

[alec_myers]

David,

 

I've never seen a monitor supplied with drivers; since they're software they have to function with and run on the particular video card and chipset in your PC. If you're up to date, and the chipset generally supports the native resolution of your new monitor then you should be ok. But it's straightforward to download the very latest drivers if you have a problem. If you can't get it to work then you have the option of buying a new, cheap, video card afterwards (that was my backup plan, but wasn't needed in the end.)

 

To adjust the BIOS settings, there's usually a button you hold down at boot time to run a special program that allows you to access the settings for the various bits of hardware. Not sure what it would be for a Dell, but Google is probably your best friend!