How great is the risk for increasing refresh rates beyond system's recommendationn....

[BrintonAA]

I have:
-Prophet 4500 64MB, KYRO II Video Card (Maximum Refresh @ 1600x1200 is up to 95 Hz according to Hercules)
-Compaq P900 19" Trinitron(Maximum Refresh @ 1600x1200 is up to 85 Hz (Graphic Preset Mode) according to Compaq)

Currently, Windows 2000 SP2 will only allow me to run this setup at 1600x1200 @ 75 Hz, but I should be able to run this system at 1600x1200 @ 85 Hz without trouble. The highest refresh rate that Windows 2000 will allow me to select is 75 Hz. My question is this: How great a risk to my physical hardware do I pose if I were to edit the registry directly and change the settings to 1600x1200 @ 85 Hz?

Note: I have installed all the latest drivers for both devices

 

[Goldfish]

No need for registry editing, go to your desktop properties and choose advanced settings. Find the checkbox that will allow you to view all refresh rates.

 

[BrintonAA]

I've already tried that, but it's limited me to 75 Hz, even if I uncheck the box and press "Apply." Although I do know where the key in the registry is to enhance the refresh rate. I'm just wondering if it will destroy my hardware if I do that.

 

[Amused]

That's an interesting question. I've never tried it. Does anyone know?

 

[Viper GTS]

Are you sure you have correct drivers installed for both the video card and the monitor?

If both devices are capable of 85hz, there will be no harm whatsoever in forcing it - Windows really couldn't care less, it just thinks for some reason your setup can't do over 75.

Viper GTS

 

[PG]

I've set my desktop to a higher refresh rate than my monitor will allow before. It just went black, sort of into a sleep mode. Then I needed to hit the reset button, get into safe mode, and fix the refresh rate there before I could get any sort of picture again.

 

[BrintonAA]

Thanks everyone!

 

[TwilightZone77]

Originally posted by: PG
I've set my desktop to a higher refresh rate than my monitor will allow before. It just went black, sort of into a sleep mode. Then I needed to hit the reset button, get into safe mode, and fix the refresh rate there before I could get any sort of picture again.

The same thing happened to me. I would try it.

 

[dkozloski]

Look out! You can do severe if not terminal damage to some monitors if you force them to run beyond the upper limit of the horizontal sweep range. The horizntal sweep circuit is very tricky in both TV's and monitors. If you accidently overclock it the results can be catastrophic.

 

[SSP]

Originally posted by: dkozloski
Look out! You can do severe if not terminal damage to some monitors if you force them to run beyond the upper limit of the horizontal sweep range. The horizntal sweep circuit is very tricky in both TV's and monitors. If you accidently overclock it the results can be catastrophic.

That was gona be my next question. Cause I kept increasing it by 1hz, and my monitor blanked out at 81 or so (rated to @ 75Hz).

 

[cbuchach]

You guys are missing the point. His hardware is capable of 1600x1200 at 85Hz, so he is not going to do any damage whatsoever. It is just that Windows is under the impression for whatever reason that his hardware can't run at that refresh rate.

Brinton, you basically need to go into the registry and et to allow higher refresh rates for your setup. I am not certain how to do this with a Kyro card, but I can easily do it with my Radeon. If you have the option, you may want to try disabling DCC or somthing like that. If nothing else, you can always use Powerstrip to add the refresh rates you want.

 

[BrintonAA]

Thanks for all the help, I've finally got it working 1600x1200 @ 86 Hz, 32-bit color!

I tried editing the registry, I used regshot and took shots of the registry to find out the values that changed when I changed refresh rates, but setting those didn't seem to be making any changes. So, after trying this for awhile I downloaded powerstrip as recommended by cbuchach. I experimented with the refresh rates for awhile and found my equipment can do 86 Hz nicely. Many thanks!