getin a tft-should i upgrade g550

[thomasthom]

i'm gettin a 19" tft and will probably use a dual setup with my 19" crt.i'm not interested in gaming and will be using it for dvd-playback,viewing pictures and web browsing.should i upgrade my matrox g550 and if so to what?the tft has the following connection "Interfaces 1 x VGA - 15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15)" will i need any adaptors or leads for it?

 

[kogase]

Well, the G550 has one analog out and one DVI out. So unless you get an LCD with a DVI connector (very recommended) you will need a DVI to analog adaptor for your LCD.

 

[MDE]

Your current card is perfectly adequate for driving one CRT and one LCD.

 

[thomasthom]

it doesn't have dvi ,i was using two crts with it.is dvi for the tft's very much recommended .maybe i should
go for dvi-tft and a better card then

 

[CrystalBay]

Originally posted by: thomasthom
it doesn't have dvi ,i was using two crts with it.is dvi for the tft's very much recommended .maybe i should
go for dvi-tft and a better card then

Thats what I would do...

 

[thomasthom]

am i right in saying it doesnt have a dvi connector. i was running two crts on dual-head setup ,i think i have an older model,the new spec shows a dvi connectror would that sound right

 

[thomasthom]

my mistake i just checked it's got a dvi-i connector and then an adaptor for the ordinary crt

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: thomasthom
my mistake i just checked it's got a dvi-i connector and then an adaptor for the ordinary crt

In that case, buy a DVI TFT and keep your current card. G550 still has some of the best 2D quality around.

- M4H

 

[thomasthom]

ya thats what im now thinking.got another prob though.my new board ga-7n400pro2 only supports 8x cards ,i don't think there's a way around this one

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: thomasthom
ya thats what im now thinking.got another prob though.my new board ga-7n400pro2 only supports 8x cards ,i don't think there's a way around this one

AGP8X slots are backwards compatible all the way back to 2X.

- M4H

 

[thomasthom]

there was a warning on the ad(brochure)that the board was only compatible with 8x cards ,i didn't notice til later.assuming you're right that's great news .i can use the new board the g550 and a dvi tft wow!

 

[kogase]

You want to get an LCD with DVI because DVI is digital, meaning it's the native format of your video card. In order to send a signal to a CRT (an analog device), your video card converts its digital signal to analog and sends it out your 15 D-Sub. This can lead to quality loss for one. Now, at first LCD monitors took a normal 15 D-Sub, because video cards didn't have DVI connectors. But LCD monitors are digital devices, so the monitors have their own analog to digital convertor. This means that your video card makes it's signal (digital), converts it to analog, sends it to your LCD, which converts that analog signal to digital. Two conversions, two opportunities for quality degradation. A DVI connector on your video card sends out the pure digital signal to an LCD's DVI connector, meaning there is no signal conversion. Meaning no chance for quality loss (unless you've got a bad cable). Bottom line is you want an LCD and a video card with DVI.

 

[thomasthom]

what cable is normally needed my g550's got dvi-i