What Video Card Supports Dells 1366X768 Wide Screen LCD

[electrodug]

I just purchased a new LCD monitor made by Dell from Best Buy. All Best Buy sells niow are wide screen monitors. I got the 18.5 inch with a resolution of 1366 X 768. My video card was bought before wide screen monitors were ever made. Its a Trident Video Accelerator Blade 3D with 8MB memory. Has the most up to date driver available. Its set at 1024 X 768 @ 70Hz (only available resolution other than 60 or 75 Hz) and the screen looks good for what I need. The only thing I do other than surf the web is edit my digital photos, nothing fancy yet. I want to get a newer video card, so I can set the resolution where it is suppose to be. I have looked on eBay and thought it would be pretty easy until I looked at an auction where the seller had an ATI Rage XL/Pro PCI 3D VGA card that could be set at a max resolution of 1600 X 1200 and a min of 640 X 480. In bold type he states Card Will NOT Work For Wide Screen (i.e. 16:9 ratio). Now I am stumped. I thought any card that could be set higher than 1366 X 768 would work with my new monitor. This resolution/ratio stuff is confusing me. Can any body help me choose the right video card without spending over $35.00? After all I am not a gamer, I just look at stuff. Only replaced my old CRT to get more desk room and screw the power company.
Regards
Doug

 

[Arkaign]

Honestly, you're probably better off seeing if you can score a $50 used PC from a friend (or someone here on AT). You could probably find someone to get you hooked up with :

P4 / Athlon XP type CPU
512MB Ram
64mb AGP Video
etc

for around that range. Your old box probably has one of the 5v original AGP slots, and the 4x/8x cards won't fit it, and you'll need at least a card from the past 5 years or so to do widescreen resolutions like that.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

We could be more helpful if you would list your system specs. If you have a major brand pre-built pc, the specific model number may be all we need, otherwise we need to know if you have any available AGP, PCI-express, or PCI slots, and whether or not it is a micro, mini, or midsize case.

 

[Arkaign]

We could be more helpful if you would list your system specs. If you have a major brand pre-built pc, the specific model number may be all we need, otherwise we need to know if you have any available AGP, PCI-express, or PCI slots, and whether or not it is a micro, mini, or midsize case.

Well, I'm familiar with the video card he's speaking of, and it was back in the AGP 1x/2x days, they never made a 4x variant that I've ever seen. That tells us the thing is oooooooooold, like P2 old.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Well, I'm familiar with the video card he's speaking of, and it was back in the AGP 1x/2x days, they never made a 4x variant that I've ever seen. That tells us the thing is oooooooooold, like P2 old.

Yeah, I figured it was old, but it would still be helpful to know more about the system in order to offer better advice (even if the advice is to "replace the PC").

 

[betasub]

The issue is with drivers. They typically contain an .inf file that determines the resolutions available to the user. Old graphics cards (with old drivers) have a very limited range of official options.

You may be able to find a monitor res app that allows you to force unofficial resolutions. I remember finding one for my old Voodoo3 system in the absence of official driver support.

 

[electrodug]

I built this computer from a bare bones setup from tigerdirect. CPU is AMD Athlon 64X2 3800+ Socket 939. Mother board is Asus A8S-X. 450 Watt power supply I have 3 PCI sockets (1 not being used), 1 PCIe X16 socket, Windows XP SP3 Professional. System BIOS updated 9/4/06, 2GB RAM, Soundblaster Audigy, 80GB Hard drive.

 

[electrodug]

Honestly, you're probably better off seeing if you can score a $50 used PC from a friend (or someone here on AT). You could probably find someone to get you hooked up with :

P4 / Athlon XP type CPU
512MB Ram
64mb AGP Video
etc

for around that range. Your old box probably has one of the 5v original AGP slots, and the 4x/8x cards won't fit it, and you'll need at least a card from the past 5 years or so to do widescreen resolutions like that.

I built this computer from a bare bones setup from tigerdirect. CPU is AMD Athlon 64X2 3800+ Socket 939. Mother board is Asus A8S-X. 450 Watt power supply I have 3 PCI sockets (1 not being used), 1 PCIe X16 socket, Windows XP SP3 Professional. System BIOS updated 9/4/06, 2GB RAM, Soundblaster Audigy, 80GB Hard drive.

 

[HalfCrazy]

If you looking for a graphics card for around $35 dollars. Below is a few I found on newegg for sale.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125289

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121310

 

[tcsenter]

The issue is with drivers. They typically contain an .inf file that determines the resolutions available to the user. Old graphics cards (with old drivers) have a very limited range of official options.

Actually, in the case of something as old as Trident Blade 3D, its probably the VGA BIOS that is limited. The VGA BIOS defines display mode support for the driver, per the VESA specs.

 

[blanketyblank]

I think any card that will support the latest ATI or nvidia drivers will do the trick.
So just go to their driver download page and see if whatever cheap card you found is listed in their supported section. I'm thinking something along the lines of an nvidia 6200 or FX 5200 probably support that res and are probably dirt cheap if you can buy them now. Not to sure about old ATI cards, but I did see a new 4350 or so for about $30 and that will definitely work.

 

[Meaker10]

If you looking for a graphics card for around $35 dollars. Below is a few I found on newegg for sale.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121310

The link I left is what you want. The radeon 4350.

Whats with the data collection in the link however? I have removed it from my quote so you can get there normally.

 

[CurseTheSky]

The link I left is what you want. The radeon 4350.

Whats with the data collection in the link however? I have removed it from my quote so you can get there normally.

That's an Anandtech thing. Links to certain places (Newegg, Amazon, TigerDirect, etc.) automatically have the data tracking added.

 

[Arkaign]

I built this computer from a bare bones setup from tigerdirect. CPU is AMD Athlon 64X2 3800+ Socket 939. Mother board is Asus A8S-X. 450 Watt power supply I have 3 PCI sockets (1 not being used), 1 PCIe X16 socket, Windows XP SP3 Professional. System BIOS updated 9/4/06, 2GB RAM, Soundblaster Audigy, 80GB Hard drive.

Ah, well never mind then, I'm actually shocked that the old Trident AGP card works!

http://www.playtool.com/pages/agpcompat/agp.html

All of the old Trident AGPs that I saw were the electrical 3.3v type, and a lot/most of the later model mobos had 1.5v only AGP 4x/8x slots.

Given what you have, the 4350 mentioned above would do wonders for you!

Cheers!

EDIT : Bleh, just noticed that somehow I hallucinated that the old Trident was AGP, when it must be PCI looking at that mobo. That explains why it still works! PCI-E 4350 FTW!

 

[betasub]

EDIT : Bleh, just noticed that somehow I hallucinated that the old Trident was AGP, when it must be PCI looking at that mobo. That explains why it still works! PCI-E 4350 FTW!

Yeah, OP and early follow-ups were talking about a very old rig, possibly with AGP slot.

It's only late in the thread that it's revealed as a Skt939 Asus A8S-X with PCIe 16x slot, with the old graphics card in a PCI slot.

Agree with cheap PCIe 4350.