Computers & Website Design Advice

I’m upgrading my PC with some extra RAM and buying a new monitor.

My PC is around 5 years old and has a GeForce graphics card fitted with the following spec:
Nvidia GeForce PCX 5750 (PCI Express x16) 128 on-board RAM ... loads of other spec details which I can supply if necesary.

The monitor I’m considering is a 22” Samsung 2232 BW with a max resolution of 1680 x 1050

Neither my PC nor the graphics card are exactly spring chickens. Before I rush out a buy a new graphics card, and bearing in mind there is a limit to the amount of money i want to spend on this PC set up, my question is ….. will this graphics card drive this monitor at 1680 x 1050?

I’ve Googled it to death but can find no confirmation. Even the Nvidia web site does not give this info in the PCX 5750 specs. I have found references on 3rd party review sites of this card along the following lines:
“I would like to say one thing concerning the 2D quality, though our display had crispy graphics and text in all resolutions up to 1600x1200@85Hz. The picture became a bit fuzzy in 1800x1440, but this was not a standard resolution for our display”

But nowhere can I find a confirmation that I can get 1680 x 1050 out of it. Is it the graphics card or the monitor drivers that determine the resolution that can be achieved? My current monitor can be set to 1280 x 1024 max in the system settings but I don’t think that this is the graphics card limitation

All a bit confusing really …. any help greatly appreciated before I part with the readies

Cheers Medears, Dave B.

Hey Dave

I currently have an nVidia GeForce 7600 GS and run my Lacie @ 1280x1024. I dont think you would want to run any higher than this. if you need space on your desktop then i would say use a multiple monitor setup. I run CS2 on one monitor and the palettes are up on the other screen leaving me with a full screen to work with.
Was there any reason behind wanting to run at max res?
I personally dont see any problems as the monitor drivers work via the pc and not the adapter. Only thing to watch for is if the new monitor is DVI and the old one is VGA, but adapters are generally supplied with the cards/monitors anyway..
If you really want to run max res then i would say upgrade your card to a new one which runs Direct X 10 with the lastest drivers etc

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TVM for your help mate
I've thought about the two monitor option a few times but this would mean a new graphics card in any case + a second monitor and I'm trying to release my current monitor to my daughter's PC. It's part of the justification in the business case submitted to the financial controller

I don't know if I would want to run the monitor at full res necessarily. It's one of those things .... until you see it in front of you then you cant really appreciate what it gives. I'm fairly comfortable with my current 17" TFT running at 1280 x 1024 in terms of the sie of objects on the screen .... I just thought it would be nice to have a bigger monitor for more space.

This is a semi-spontaneous purchase as a local outlet is getting rid of their last 6 Samsung 2232 monitors as the new Samsung 'T' series has just come in. The Samsung 2232BW is one I've had my eye on for a while as a good quality budget end monitor .... and now, it's at an even better price

Am I understanding this correctly? ………..

A monitor’s pixels are set at ‘x’ horizontally by ‘Y’ vertically and spaced out at a certain pitch. That gives the physical size of the screen. So, if you have a 22” monitor capable of 1680x1050 max but you set it to display at 1280x1024 those 1280x1024 pixels will be ‘stretched to fit’ the physical size of the 22” monitor. Anything viewed on the 22” screen will appear bigger than the same thing viewed on the 17” screen if both are set to 1280x1024 ……. to get the thing you are viewing back to roughly the same physical size as it is on the 17” monitor then the 22” monitor would need to be set to a higher resolution (perhaps not the screen’s max but certainly higher than 1280x1024)

……… have I got this right? or have my final few wine soaked brain cells given up the ghost?

As I said I’m happy with the physical size of things on my 17” monitor set at 1280x1024. What I’d like is to keep viewing item on-screen at approx that size plus get a bit more space on the desktop

Dave B.