Radeon 8500 owners, I have a question

[Vadatajs]

I'm thinking of replacing my very old gf2 with a radeon 8500 128 meg card. A couple of my friends have radeons and radeon 8500 le cards, and they don't seem to support 1280x960 for a resolution. Is there a way to force this "non-standard" resolution on a radeon 8500?

If you're going to tell me to go and buy a gf4 ti4xxx, don't waste your time. I want an ati card, I'm not a big gamer and it's cheaper.

 

[Vadatajs]

Rage3d tweak looks like it might work for what I'm asking, does anybody have any experience with it?

 

[SeanH]

I had the same problem (bothered me also). Eiether use that tweak, or use Omega's drivers, he adds in all the so-called "non-standard" resolutions. I don't understand why 1280x1024 is standard, its a different proportion than 1024x768 and 800x600. This can eventually screw up all the images you make, if you ever make any.

Good luck.

 

[Joemonkey]

I love anandtech forums and all, but going to www.rage3d.com and asking around in their forums will give you a much better wealth of information.

 

[BarMan]

I'm sure all of us radeon owners goto rage3d.com (home for radeon owners )
that res you want would hae to be enabled by software though. all the radeon
family cards can do the res, it's only if your monitor can do it also.

just get one of the following:
rage3d tweak
omega/plutonium driver set
radeonator
any other refresh fix/tweak program


you'll be able to enable the res form one of the programs

 

[Vadatajs]

thanks for all the help

 

[spanky]

any specific reason why u want 1280x960? is that the max res ur monitor supports? i run at 1280x 1024. if i wasn't formatting my pc right now, i would try to see if 1280x960 were really impossible.

 

[Auric]

I use R3DTweak and enabling 1280x960 the first time is a simple click and reboot away. I would never use 1280x1024 because of the distorted picture whether I was creating images or not.

 

[Vadatajs]

Originally posted by: spankyOO7
any specific reason why u want 1280x960? is that the max res ur monitor supports? i run at 1280x 1024. if i wasn't formatting my pc right now, i would try to see if 1280x960 were really impossible.

1280x960 is the standard 4:3 aspect ratio, just like 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, and 1152x864. 1280x1024 is 5:4. I used to run at 1280x1024, but I got sick of seeing everything squashed on the screen. Considering it is a different aspect ration than all the other modes, I'm suprised that it is more broadly supported than 1280x960.

 

[Morph]

If you don't feel like installing some 3rd party program to do it, you can just use the registry tweak described here: http://www.rage3d.com/radeon/reg/index5.shtml

 

[FalseChristian]

I use 1280x960 in Quake2 as it doesn't support 1280x1024. Make sure you have the latest .inf file from your monitor manufacturer's web site. I didn't have the option for 1280x960 until I updated the .inf for my 21" ViewSonic P810.

 

[imported_zenwhen]

Better watch out with the newest version of the RAGE TWEAK, and the new catalyst drivers... some people have been noticing it to KILL your 3d performance just by inststalling the damn thing.