Video cards 1600x1200 max on DVI?

[bgc99]

I noticed the specs of a couple of the video cards I was looking at (6600gt 6800gt) seemed to indicate that the max resolution on the DVI output was 1600x1200. Will cards like this produce the 1680x1050 output to drive the Dell 2005fpw at it's native resolution?

thanks,
BGC

 

[SynthDude2001]

1680x1050 is actually "lower" than 1600x1200 in that it's fewer total pixels. And yes, any decent card should be able to do 1680x1050 over DVI (I'm running my 2005FPW on a 6800GT over DVI at that resolution right now. )

 

[john333]

While the official spec for DVI may max out ar 1600x1200x60Hz, many cards and displays have implemennted what they call the 'reduced blanking spec' - LCD's need less blanking time at the end of each horizontal line, and so you can reduce this blanking time, and so use the extra time to push down more data to the display.

This allows for displays up to 1920x1200 (common on 23" widescreen LCD's) such as I'm using here on a single DVI link. Over that you need to get a dual-link dvi connection - such as for the apple 30" display.

So, 1680x1050 is not going to present any problems.

 

[R3MF]

will a dual-link DVI cable fit into DVI monitor port?

 

[cirthix]

Originally posted by: R3MF
will a dual-link DVI cable fit into DVI monitor port?

dual link dvi is just a fancy way of saying that a card has a tmds (dvi transmitting) transmitter that can operate at higher frequencies

 

[Cheesetogo]

would a 6600gt run 1920x1200?

 

[Gamingphreek]

Yes it will run it. Can you game with it at that resolution? Probably not with any significant amount of hgih quality settings, for that you would need a 6800 series or an X800 series.

-Kevin

 

[Spike]

Originally posted by: Cheesetogo
would a 6600gt run 1920x1200?

Windows = Yes
Games = No

Well, like gamingphreak said, it will probably start the games (if they support that res to begin with) but I seriously doubt you will get playable framrates in any game at anything over the lowest of low eye-candy settings.

On the flip side, you could always run the games at a lower widescreen res, get decent frames with only some IQ loss, and still have an awesome monitor for doing work on in windows.

-spike

 

[john333]

Originally posted by: cirthix

Originally posted by: R3MF
will a dual-link DVI cable fit into DVI monitor port?

dual link dvi is just a fancy way of saying that a card has a tmds (dvi transmitting) transmitter that can operate at higher frequencies

Are you sure? I thought dual-link is effectivly taking the output of two tmds down a single cable. Only a few cards support it - if you're going to get a monitor that needs it, do your homework very carefully on the card!

Most of the cards that will work are high end workstation cards. An exception is a specially modified 6800 Ultra that apple do for the 30" monitor, and the card doesn't work in PC's.

 

[Spike]

Originally posted by: john333

Originally posted by: cirthix

Originally posted by: R3MF
will a dual-link DVI cable fit into DVI monitor port?

dual link dvi is just a fancy way of saying that a card has a tmds (dvi transmitting) transmitter that can operate at higher frequencies

Are you sure? I thought dual-link is effectivly taking the output of two tmds down a single cable. Only a few cards support it - if you're going to get a monitor that needs it, do your homework very carefully on the card!

Most of the cards that will work are high end workstation cards. An exception is a specially modified 6800 Ultra that apple do for the 30" monitor, and the card doesn't work in PC's.

This is correct, there are no consumer PC graphics cards that can use the 30" apple screen, only the professional cards (like quadro and firegl) can.

-spike

 

[john333]

Originally posted by: Spike

Originally posted by: Cheesetogo
would a 6600gt run 1920x1200?

Windows = Yes
Games = No

Well, like gamingphreak said, it will probably start the games (if they support that res to begin with) but I seriously doubt you will get playable framrates in any game at anything over the lowest of low eye-candy settings.

On the flip side, you could always run the games at a lower widescreen res, get decent frames with only some IQ loss, and still have an awesome monitor for doing work on in windows.

-spike

The integrated TMDS in nvidia cards tend to be struggling a bit at that resolution, so it might be a bit touch and go. If you can get a dual-dvi output one, then the second non integrated tmds tends to be better quality, and so should be fine.

ATI's integrated tmds tend to be a bit better quality, and so cope better. I even managed to get it working fromthe integrated ATI 7500 in my laptop, but it was obviously struggling, with occasional lines appearing in the output - almost useable for just windows.

For gaming, anything but the top end cards will be seriously struggling at 1920x1200. An ATI 850XT PE does seems to cope pretty well - can max out the resolution and most quality features in UT2004, and do max resolution in Farcry2 with AA and some other stuff turned down a little.

 

[Zero Plasma]

Nice tread.

 

[Peter]

The single-link DVI standard ends at 165 MHz pixel clock. Resolutions beyond 1600x1200 are achieved by lowering the screen refresh rate down below 60 Hz. On DVI links that can't even do 165 MHz (like many NVidia chips), those low refresh rates might even be used on lower resolution displays.

 

[john333]

Originally posted by: Peter
The single-link DVI standard ends at 165 MHz pixel clock. Resolutions beyond 1600x1200 are achieved by lowering the screen refresh rate down below 60 Hz. On DVI links that can't even do 165 MHz (like many NVidia chips), those low refresh rates might even be used on lower resolution displays.

That is one way of doing it, and is allowed for in the original spec, but what gets mostly done these days is to reduce the blanking period at the end of each line - since LCD's don't need the full period allowed for in the original spec (I guess they were thinking of CRT's connected through DVI where you need the time for the electron beam to 'flyback' to the other side), reducing this allows you enough extra bandwidth to fit 1920x1200x60Hz down a single link.

 

[john333]

Originally posted by: john333
For gaming, anything but the top end cards will be seriously struggling at 1920x1200. An ATI 850XT PE does seems to cope pretty well - can max out the resolution and most quality features in UT2004, and do max resolution in Farcry2 with AA and some other stuff turned down a little.

Sorry, I meant half-life2 - haven't got around to trying out farcry yet.