New (old) topic re: 1680x1050 res in VGA

[jeffk55]

OK, I've searched here (and posted at Techspot to no avail except a short comment to buy a new monitor ) regarding video cards and Acer widescreen LCD monitor w/ 1680X1050 res and NO DVI port....
Read some things re: "custom resolutions" as well as 3rd party software that would do the custom work for me. Both of these are only last chance solutions and shouldn't be necessary.
As to what performence I need, well basically little. No gaming, little video, some photo editing but that's it.
I have yet to find 1 concrete answer as to cards (AGP 4-8x) that ACTUALLY work. To me this is
just bizarre. ACER and Samsung made tons of these monitors (some with and some without DVI) and a simple "here this card works" is very hard to find.....
gforce 6800 based cards were on my short list till I saw that in the nVidia tech specs 1680x1050 is ONLY available in DVI...
Oh ,did I mention a cheap card???
Anyways anyone have an idea?

 

[tcsenter]

The ForceWare release notes list 1680x1050 among the standard modes supported on all GeForce GPUs from FX5200 to current, including GF 6800 models. I could find no indication this is limited to DVI.

An all-too-common issue are monitors that don't report EDID capabilities correctly or use weird modeline formats that some graphics cards don't interpret properly. As long as the aspect ratio of the desired resolution is functionally defined in the VGA BIOS and supported by the driver, you should be able to use PowerStrip or even NVIDIA's Control Panel to custom set the correct resolution in the event the graphics card and/or driver is not understanding or receiving correct EDID from the monitor.

 

[jeffk55]

Thanks for the in depth answer. From one of my searches on this topic I found an Nvidia spec sheet on the 6800 and it correlates w/ this statement from someone who solved the problem:
I Got it !
I called Samsung Awesome 2nd tier support and the guy who answered my call explained to me that it must had something to do with the video card, not the display itself.
I told him that nvidia support does not take calls and he tried to help me out, since they also had nvidia cards overthere.
Finally he suggested me that I switched the cable, since I was still using my old VGA cable. I switched to the provided DVI cable and it worked instantly.
Points to Samsung's Excellent Support hotline.

thumbsdown.gif to Nvidia ( and its OEMs XFX, PINE and MSI - I searched in all of their websites ) poor documentation, Sub-Standard FAQs, Sub-Standart support, lack of hotline and interest.
Thanks to all who tried to help.

rmoura
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=23437
http://www.nvidia.com/page/tec...gy_extreme_hd_gpu.html
http://photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00KRtP
..............
To make matters more complicated, I did try Powerstrip on a box w/ a 5200 chip. It also would not allow a custom resolution at that aspect/pixel count...w/ VGA cable (of course
since this monitor is DVI deficient).
It seems more complicated then your response implies...and leads to either an omission of this rez on the VGA Bios or non-driver support, except if on the DVI line...
Of couse I'm trying to avoid doing something like this:
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=51994

 

[myocardia]

Jeff, you have to use newer drivers.

 

[jeffk55]

Sorry still find this topic a mystery... Bought a new card to replace the nvidia 440 on this monitor) I actually have 2 of these and the other one is powered by a 5500. Funny even Matrox dosn't list this mode (though the chart is for refresh rates and may be a minor omission).
Does pose some questions to me: Why produce monitors w/ this native res and VGA only if support is so hard to find? Why not add support to the vga line in drivers?
Is it just me??
Anyways bought a new card just because......


http://www.matrox.com/graphics...ducts/gseries/g550.php

 

[jeffk55]

Originally posted by: myocardia
Jeff, you have to use newer drivers.

SOLVED: New (?) ATI 9550 card set up monitor automatically at 1680x1050 on the VGA line.
Even the newest drivers for the nVidia 440 probably wouldn't have worked.. but I'll never know know.
Anyways monitor looks as it should... much better than interpolated...

 

[riddlen]

grats

 

[jeffk55]

Please note the correct chip was 9550.. not 6550 as originally posted.

 

[SolMiester]

My ATI 9250 VGA & DVI outputs, both run 1680*1050 on my 20"LCD