Vid card + monitor questions

[Max]

My current home build runs a EVGA Geforce 9800 GTX 512 powered by a PC Power & Cooling 610 continuous PS. Monitor is an older Gateway 24" 1920x1200

I'm getting a solid 59/60 frame rate with most vid settings max'd. Being an old fart, the eyes aren't as good as they used to be and I'm thinking about a 28"-32" monitor.

Questions:
If I went with a 32" 1080p monitor will my EVGA provide enough horsepower? The card has 2 DVI inputs...would I need a new card with HDMI inputs? Is there a loss of pic quality connecting DVI to DVI (vs HDMI?)
I looked at one vid card on Newegg (forget which) that showed a mini HDMI input...am I correct in assuming I'd need a standard HDMI plug for the TV with a mini HDMI input for the card?

I've been out of the vid card loop for years. What would be a recommended choice for an under $300 card?

Thanks.

[Bizman]

Since your current monitor is 1920*1200 and you're looking for a 1920*1080 one, your current rig should not lose any performance. Actually vice versa, since 1080p has 230400 pixels less than your current monitor! Only the size of the pixels grow, making the picture look pixelated when viewed too close. DVI is the same as HDMI without sound, there's adapters available for that.

There are monitors giving far more pixels like the WQXGA 2560*1600 which could need two DVI inputs, but their pixel size would be a small as in your current one, giving only a wider view around your cartoon cockpit. Certainly nice looking, but no improvement for aging eyes.

Since you're getting solid 59/60 frames with your current rig, I wouldn't recommend updating only the vidcard for now. It would be more cost effective to get a totally new computer when the current one doesn't fulfill your needs any more. That way you can also avoid future bottlenecks.

[gyrene81]

you would need a dvi to hdmi adapter cable. easy to find on amazon. just make sure the tv you purchase has some mode that will turn off advanced image processing when connected to a computer otherwise you will have excessive input lag. look for a panasonic, lg or toshiba and if you happen to get one that is 120hz, make sure it is not 3d and don't count on being able to get 120fps out of it.

[Skuzzy]

DVI and HDMI, on a television are not the same as the DVI coming out of a computer video card.  The pinouts are the same, but the timing of the signals are different.

Most modern televisions equipped to deal with computers being connected to them automatically adjust to the signal change, or they have a setting to enable a computer connection on a specific port.  Always check before buying.


Also note, the 2560x1600 monitors usually almost always have a "Displayport" which only needs one connection to a video card which has a "Displayport".  DVI/HDMI connections to not have the bandwidth to deal with that resolution, unless two physical cables and connections are used, which usually requires two video cards as the DVI/HDMI ports, on any single card, connect in parallel internally on the video card.

My Wife has an NEC 2560x1440 monitor which has a "Displayport".  While not great for gaming, it is a very good CAD application monitor with brilliant and accurate color reproduction.

I am still using my old 19" CRT NEC professional series monitor until the current monitor technology evolves some more.

[gyrene81]

Skuzzy, dual link dvi has the capacity to run 2560x1600 at 60hz on a single cable under 5 meters.

[Bizman]

My current home build runs a EVGA Geforce 9800 GTX 512 powered by a PC Power & Cooling 610 continuous PS. Monitor is an older Gateway 24" 1920x1200

I'm getting a solid 59/60 frame rate with most vid settings max'd. Being an old fart, the eyes aren't as good as they used to be and I'm thinking about a 28"-32" monitor.

Questions:
If I went with a 32" 1080p monitor will my EVGA provide enough horsepower? The card has 2 DVI inputs...would I need a new card with HDMI inputs? Is there a loss of pic quality connecting DVI to DVI (vs HDMI?)
I looked at one vid card on Newegg (forget which) that showed a mini HDMI input...am I correct in assuming I'd need a standard HDMI plug for the TV with a mini HDMI input for the card?

I've been out of the vid card loop for years. What would be a recommended choice for an under $300 card?

Thanks.

Sorry, didn't understand he meant a television. My 24" monitor has VGA, DVI and HDMI. My bad

[Skuzzy]

Sorry, didn't understand he meant a television. My 24" monitor has VGA, DVI and HDMI. My bad

I was only making a statement about the differences between television and monitor specs for DVI/HDMI.  They look the same, they are named the same, but they are in fact different.  It was a "cover you tush" type of post.

Skuzzy, dual link dvi has the capacity to run 2560x1600 at 60hz on a single cable under 5 meters.

It is about as kludgy as you can get, for a spec, as well.  It was and is a bandaid.  The real solution is to use a "Displayport" connection when you want to go beyond 1920x1200 resolution.

[Noir]

I used to think that CRT were still above LCD screens in term of colors, brightness contrast etc...I've read articles and benchmarks comparing the two, and the CRT got nothing left nowadays. Also CRT's are not "forever", the reactive coating inside of the screen wears out with time.

[Skuzzy]

There are only a handful of LCD panels that can approach the accurate color representation of a professional CRT.

My Wife has one as it is required in her business.  However, I cannot look at it when something is scrolling on the screen.  The blurring is insane. That is the tradeoff, at the moment, high speed or better color?  You cannot have both in LCD.

LED backlit LCD panels also degrade in time.  The LED's light output shifts to warmer, from cooler output.  It is a slow process.  About the same as the life of rare phosphors on professional grade CRT's.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

There are only a handful of LCD panels that can approach the accurate color representation of a professional CRT.

My Wife has one as it is required in her business.  However, I cannot look at it when something is scrolling on the screen.  The blurring is insane. That is the tradeoff, at the moment, high speed or better color?  You cannot have both in LCD.

LED backlit LCD panels also degrade in time.  The LED's light output shifts to warmer, from cooler output.  It is a slow process.  About the same as the life of rare phosphors on professional grade CRT's.

For me the flicker of a CRT was literally a constant headache. A 60hz refresh feels like someone is grabbing my eyes and rubbing them in their fingers. A 120hz refresh looks better but still irritates the heck out of me. When I saw my first LCD I was like YES, THANK YOU! Even gaming is really no problem nowadays, at least for me.

[Skuzzy]

Refresh never bothered me.  I set my CRT at 100Hz.  Then again, I do have a professional grade monitor, which is nothing like the consumer grade garbage most people had.

Do not get me wrong here.  I am looking forward to the day when I can let go of this monster (it weighs 85 pounds!).  My next monitor has to be 'as good' as what I have, if not better, in terms of clarity, color saturation, black levels, and lack of smearing.

I am on a 27 inch LCD panel, at work, but it does not come close to being as clear as my old 19 inch, and the black levels are horrific, the colors are abysmal and it smears (5ms rated) when the screen scrolls.  The only saving grace is the real estate.  That is nice.

[Noir]

I used to own one of those monsters, 22inch SUN CRT with a NEC tube, it could display in 2048 x 1536 in 85hz and the real displayed image was 20inch IIRC. Retina display before it was hype 

http://www.shopping.com/Sun-SUN-22IN-FLAT-CRT-COLMON/info#keyFeatures

There sure was no smearing or any kind of delay, but the contrast, brightness, colors, matte coating compared to this Prolite E26007WS looked pretty awful. Maybe mine was used too much I don't know, I paid 60euros for it. What annoyed me most is that even if the screen was flat, the borders were not exactly scare, the pixel density was not the same on the sides than the middle of the screen, making the same text in the centre much larger than in the borders, lines were not straight either. Also the screen was much less precise, the pixels were not clearly defined, and it adds blurry to any image displayed.

I knew a LCD wouldn't be perfect on the reactivity so I took the best I could on that point (300 euros was not cheap either), and I'm not missing my CRT one bit. The LCD came with so many advantages that I can forgive a tiny smearing.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

I used to own one of those monsters, 22inch SUN CRT with a NEC tube, it could display in 2048 x 1536 in 85hz and the real displayed image was 20inch IIRC. Retina display before it was hype 

http://www.shopping.com/Sun-SUN-22IN-FLAT-CRT-COLMON/info#keyFeatures

There sure was no smearing or any kind of delay, but the contrast, brightness, colors, matte coating compared to this Prolite E26007WS looked pretty awful. Maybe mine was used too much I don't know, I paid 60euros for it. What annoyed me most is that even if the screen was flat, the borders were not exactly scare, the pixel density was not the same on the sides than the middle of the screen, making the same text in the centre much larger than in the borders, lines were not straight either. Also the screen was much less precise, the pixels were not clearly defined, and it adds blurry to any image displayed.

I knew a LCD wouldn't be perfect on the reactivity so I took the best I could on that point (300 euros was not cheap either), and I'm not missing my CRT one bit. The LCD came with so many advantages that I can forgive a tiny smearing.

That was one of the problems with CRT's. Like old analog tv:s they came preset from the factory and due to the analog nature of CRT, no two displays were ever the same. You had to visually inspect every CRT before buying or risk getting a completely out of focus sample. I already forgot about that CRT nightmare actually!

My father was a real wizard fixing analog tv:s etc. stuff so he could fix them, adjust any trapezoid, focus, bias etc. problems (which you now have in your monitor) in any CRT tv but not on monitors as they lacked traditional potentiometer adjustments and he knew exactly as much about computers as I know about fixing tv:s and other electronics.

[Skuzzy]

The professional series of monitors, from NEC, all had complete controls for adjusting every aspect of the image.  Noir, it sounds like your monitor was not properly calibrated.  Quite frankly, the Sun monitors were decent monitors, but they were not professional grade monitors.

I have run into very few (only one other person I know) who used a professional grade CRT.  They were very expensive.  About 5 to 6 times the cost of a decent quality consumer CRT of comparable size (mine came in at just under two grand).

My monitor still has the best black levels and clarity of any monitor I have ever used, to date.  I get it calibrated once a year and it is still within 98% color accuracy (most LCD panels struggle to hit 75% accuracy).  When people first see I have this old CRT, they chuckle and make some comment about the dinosaurs.  Then I turn it on and jaws drop.  It sits a few feet from my Wifes panel and everyone agrees the image quality is better on mine.

Honestly, most people have it better off with an LCD panel when they are coming from the typical consumer grade CRT monitors as most of those monitors were abysmal.  None of them, including the professional series, were set with the correct color temperature from the factory.  Thus none of them could reproduce accurate color.  If you had a consumer grade monitor which had a color temp setting, it was usually a preset of some sort, which was better than the factory setting, but still a long way off from being able to be calibrated correctly.

If my monitor blew out tomorrow, I would be ok with the monitor my Wife got.  It is not perfect and the smearing is insane, but I value color reproduction above all else so I would live with that trade-off and just learn to close my eyes when scrolling anything on it.

[jigsaw]

Skuzzy, dual link dvi has the capacity to run 2560x1600 at 60hz on a single cable under 5 meters.

Running a Dell U2711 off a GTX580 at 2560x1440 on one dual link DVI cable. Amazing resolution and color space, no tearing, ghosting, streaking etc in Skyrim.