Radeon 9500 Pro DVI output really digital ?

PowerEngineer

Diamond Member
Oct 22, 2001
3,548
716
136

I just replaced my old CRT with an LG W2241 LCD. To my surprise, I noticed that my old Radeon 9500 Pro has DVI-I connector.

It's my (noob) understanding that DVI-I can accommodate either analog and DVI signals, so I'm not sure which the 9500 puts out through that connection. I can't find anything on the ATI website that gives a clear (to me) answer. If I were a betting man, I'd guess that it puts out an analog signal through the DVI-I.

If it really is digital, then will making the DVI connection give me different resolution options?

Part of my motivation is get around the "4:3 wide" setting that I seem to need in order to actually use the extra screen area. (I hate playing with fat cards in solitare!)

Thanks for the help!
 

IlllI

Diamond Member
Feb 12, 2002
4,927
10
81
lots of cards do that. its called a dvi to vga adapter. most brands you buy today come with one.

but as for your other question.. dvi has nothing to do with 4:3 wide setting. you bought a wide screen lcd yet want to shoehorn a 4:3 aspect into it? ugh.. theres your problem. you should try to change your monitor resolution setting in your display properties


 

tcsenter

Lifer
Sep 7, 2001
18,338
253
126
The DVI-I port has separate pins for analog and digital. The card will output whatever pins are connected by the monitor cable. If the monitor cable is DVI at both ends, its digital.
 

QuixoticOne

Golden Member
Nov 4, 2005
1,855
0
0
It is often true that the resolutions and refresh rates and other parameters supported will be somewhat different
depending on whether you're using analog or digital modes. Unfortunately finding documentation for exactly what those are can be challenging. Check the release notes of the catalyst control center and ATI driver software that is currently out for the card as well as the version that came with the card on CD.

Check the card's "specification sheet" if you can find a PDF file of it from one of the vendor's archived web sites or a WWW page version of the same information.

Try a search for 9550 +resolution +"aspect ratio" or whatever.

You're really trying to do a rescaling of a given resolution to fill less than the size / aspect ratio of your LCD widescreen if I'm understanding you correctly. Certainly it is often possible to display many modes from maybe 320x200 up to the native resolution of the LCD on the screen with various kinds of stretching or unfilled areas or whatever, though how some of those modes look is YMMV.

 

PowerEngineer

Diamond Member
Oct 22, 2001
3,548
716
136

Thanks for the advice.

It seems I've expressed myself poorly (the engineer's curse). Connecting the new LCD to the 9500 Pro through the analog output, I'm offered a list of resolution settings that don't match the aspect ratio of the LCD. The only way I get a workable full screen display is by picking a 4:3 setting and then selecting "4:3 wide" (rather than 4:3) on the LCD. It's not at all what I want to do.

I was thinking that if the 9500 Pro actually supports a digital output (and wasn't going to just pump out an analog signal through the DVI-I cable instead), then it might also offer me some better screen settings for the LCD (along with a better picture) if I hook it up that way.

The ATI website mentions the dvi-to-vga adapters in the FAQ. I fear that these might just be physical adapters to take an analog signal from the DVI-I cable into a VGA socket -- not an actual conversion of digital signal to analog.

Probably the quickest way to find out is to borrow a DVI-I cable and see what happens.

Also open to other ideas...

Thanks!