Do I need a new video card for a widescreen monitor?

[Triumph]

Going to get a new monitor for work and I'd love to get the 2005FPW, but I'm not sure if my card can handle it. It's an older card in an older computer, an ATI Rage Fury Pro/Xpert 2000 Pro with 32 mb. No DVI, just VGA and s-video. All I do is Windows aps, web, email, Office, etc. I need to know before I order a monitor because it is muuuch easier to buy multiple items on the same purchase order. Or I might just opt for the 2001FP. But I need to make my coworkers jealous. Thanks!

 

[JBT]

If you want one of those LCD's I would also by a cheap ($30) PCI video card with DVI outputs. No sense in having such a nice LCD and on VGA.

 

[Triumph]

Sure DVI makes sense, but I'm talking about the resolution. These widescreen monitors have a native resolution of something like 1680, not a common width. I have no idea if my video card will support that, or if most new video cards can even support that.

 

[Cheesetogo]

Your card will support that, you'll just need to install the drivers cd that comes with the monitor to use that resoulution.

 

[Triumph]

From what I read in a recent AT LCD review, sounds like DVI is the way to go for image quality. I might just need to upgrade the card anyway. So any new card should be able to support a widescreen native resolution?

 

[imported_humey]

You can just add custom res and hz to Nvidia driver using the menus it takes you through it easily.

 

[JBT]

Originally posted by: humey
You can just add custom res and hz to Nvidia driver using the menus it takes you through it easily.

Right. it is VERY easy to add cutom resolutions to NV cards. I am not sure about ATI drivers though. I havn't had an ATI card in like 8 months so I don't know if its easy or not now. If you can't with ATI drivers there are still programs which will be able to force that resolution anyways.

 

[Triumph]

Well I've got an option for an ATI 9200 Sapphire over my current video card. It has DVI, but I still have no idea if it can support 1680x1080. ATI's website says nothing. All my searches have come up with nothing. It's going to be a major pain in the ass if I order this monitor and have to order another video card just to use it correctly. The purchasing process sucks and its best to order everything at the same time.

 

[BobDaMenkey]

For the sake of ease, I would recommend an FX5200, or a GeForce 4 Ti 4x00 card with DVI. Those for sure would support it. The Radeon 9200 should be able to do it, as most video cards will go up to 2048xwhatever the heck, the frame rates wouldn't be the best, but it should do it at something comfortable for office type applications.

 

[NeoV]

1600x1050

get a card with DVI, it's worth it..