Question About Video Cards and Flat Panel Monitor

[Harlan]

I recently purchased a Dell 1901FP monitor and am now looking to upgrade my
video card. I know the monitor has a refresh rate of 25ms and that it runs
at 1280x1024. Is there a limit where the graphics card will actually
outperform the monitor and thus I should not necessarily consider getting
one more powerful? If so, what might that threshold be?

Thanks.

 

[Dave C.]

I recently purchased a Dell 1901FP monitor and am now looking to upgrade my
video card. I know the monitor has a refresh rate of 25ms and that it runs
at 1280x1024. Is there a limit where the graphics card will actually
outperform the monitor and thus I should not necessarily consider getting
one more powerful? If so, what might that threshold be?

Thanks.

OK, 25ms is not a refresh rate, that's a response time. With a 25ms
response time, your monitor might not be the best for gaming or other
applications that require fast video motion. The only way to know for sure
is to try it and see how it performs. But two wrongs don't make a right.
If you need a better video card, upgrade that also. If you're not much of a
gamer, your present video card should do as long as it can output 1280 X
1024 at 16 bit (or greater) color depth. It MUST output at least that
resolution, as you can't turn down the resolution on a flat panel, or it
will look like crap. -Dave

 

[Harlan]

Right - response time. But, the question still stands. I've got a GeForce
Ti200 - so I can output at 1280x1024 with an analogue connection. But, I
figure I could be due for an upgrade to the card so I can get a digital
connection and better performance. But, is there a point of performance
overkill where the monitor will be limiting factor?

 

[Dave C.]

Right - response time. But, the question still stands. I've got a GeForce
Ti200 - so I can output at 1280x1024 with an analogue connection. But, I
figure I could be due for an upgrade to the card so I can get a digital
connection and better performance. But, is there a point of performance
overkill where the monitor will be limiting factor?

Not really. You've got to understand that the video card is just one small
part of overall system performance. Just changing the video card probably
wouldn't be enough to make the monitor seem suddenly obsolete. But it MIGHT
be enough to give you a performance boost that will make you happier with
how your system performs, so it could be worth it. Now if you are a
hardcore gamer with a $10,000 motherboard and 20 Terabytes of DDR9999 (not a
typo) RAM and you are running the latest greatest shootemup at 14,000 FPS,
THEN you might wish you'd stuck with a CRT monitor or spent more on a faster
response time flat panel. But at worst, even if you tune up your current
system so that it runs the latest games pretty well . . . the worst that
will happen is you might have some ghosting at higher frame rates. Even
then, it might not bother you too much.

The question you should be asking yourself is if your video card can handle
all the applications (software/games) you are throwing at it at 1280 X 1024
with minimum 16 bit color. If not, it might be time to upgrade the video
card. Don't worry too much about the monitor, it will probably be
ine. -Dave