Sony GDM-FW900 - Terrible screen resolution and refresh rate choices?

[Madpacket]

Hello all,

Ever since I upgraded from a Geforce 260 to a Radeon 6950 I'm unable to select screen resolutions above 1600x1200 on my FW900 and I'm not really sure why. I've tried. So I'm stuck at 1680/1050 @ 85hz which is not very nice. If I try to set to 1920x1200 (preferred resolution) I get an "out of range sync" error as the monitor tries to run a refresh rate lower than 50hz? Also, there are no options to actually select resolutions above 1900x1200. I can't manually select the refresh rate @ 1920x1200 as the option is grayed out.

Things I've tried so far:

1. Enabled DDC in the Catalyst control panel but this just forces every resolution at an eye-scorching 60hz and still does not provide all resolution choices.

2. Device manager lists 2 monitors, one plug in play, and the Sony FW900. I've tried deleting both devices and rebooting but they just come back.

3. Updated to the latest AMD Catalyst drivers, didn't help.

4. Installed Power-strip to set custom resolutions but that has failed to work as the custom area is grayed out and no selectable?

Do you know why I'm having such issues with this monitor? Is my video card to blame? I really miss playing Quake Live and BFBC2 at 120hz

My Specs:

Windows 7 64
Unlocked HIS 6950 Radeon.
AMD Phenom X4 @ 3.3Ghz
4GB RAM
60GB OCZ Vertex
Antec 650W Earthwatts.


Any help here would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[penske2298977]

did you install the .inf for the GDM FW 900?....I used to have this monitor and had to do that often after changing drivers...otherwise, the card might not be reading the EDID correctly....could also be the BNC cables if you are using those as oppsed to a standard VGA cable.

 

[Madpacket]

Penske,

Yes It's the 24" (22" real size) GDM FW 900. I believe I tried loading the .inf but I'll double check when I get home from work. I'm also using BNC cables and can switch to VGA to see if that helps.


I picked up this monitor last year for $50.00 bucks and absolutely love it. I mainly use it for FPS competitive gaming while my ancient Dell 2405 handles slower paced gaming and general Windows stuff.

I really don't want to have to resort to a 120hz T/N panel as I believe they're still somewhat inferior with color reproduction and input latency, plus they're still expensive!

Thanks for the suggestions, appreciated.

 

[Madpacket]

Hi Penske,

So I was able to switch from BNC to VGA cables last night and now I have a vast selection of resolution choices which is great. However, I'm still unable to select refresh rates higher than 85hz no matter the screen resolution selected?

Any idea why my refresh rate choices are still limited? I recall in the past with my Geforce 216 being able to select 120hz at some of the resolutions. This is no longer an option.

I made sure that only the Sony monitor is showing as a device in device manager.

Thanks.

 

[penske2298977]

Glad to hear switching to a VGA cable helped. However, using the GDM FW 900 with a "modern" OS like vista or win 7 can be a real headache --- especially trying to get a refresh rate of 85 in games...which is why I finally gave up and got an LCD monitor.
I would suggest taking a look at the manual (you can still find it buried some where on the Sony website) ...here is the link

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-documents.pl?mdl=GDMFW900



--- there is page in there that lists all the resolutions and related refresh rates. You cannot exceed a vertical refresh rate > 85 at any resolution.