Author Topic: questions about resolution settings (Read 323 times)

tapakeg · « **on:** December 23, 2003, 09:57:11 PM »

OK, i just got a new radeon 9800 pro 128 meg video card and am ready to roll. It does not like anything above 1024 x 768 resolution either for windows in general or in any game i have tried it in. When i bump up the resolution i get the "pincushon" or "hourglass" effect. I know i have seen lesser cards push much more than that. What am i doing wrong? is there a setting I am missing? Is it my monitor? refresh rates? (btw what is the best refresh rate? a lower number ...60hz, or a higher 200hz? ) I have a Magview 19" monitor with .24 pix.

other stats.

512 mg. ram
2.4 processor
win xp
latest drivers
direct x 9.0b

any help is appreciated

Tapakeg

zmeg · « **Reply #1 on:** December 23, 2003, 11:17:56 PM »

Sounds like time for a new monitor. Higher refresh rate is better if your monitor supports it a good monitor should support at least 75hz @ 1600 X 1200

capt. apathy · « **Reply #2 on:** December 24, 2003, 01:45:50 AM »

your refresh rate is how many times per second your screen refreshes. so at 60hz your monitor is capping your frame rate at 60 fps (wich is fairly irelivat for as slow is my old system is becoming)

I try to keep mine over 75, and have noticed 'tired eyes' when running at 60hz. I've been told it has something to do with the monitor refresh rate matching the pulse in the florescent lights (your house is also running at 60hz) . not sure if this is true or an imagined effect but I do notice eyestrain at 60hz and it seems as plausable an explaination as any.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #3 on:** December 24, 2003, 07:47:11 AM »

It's not the video card. It's the monitor causing the pin-cushion. Typically, it is the power supply in the monitor causing this problem.

715 · « **Reply #4 on:** December 24, 2003, 11:58:25 PM »

Make sure that the new video card's drivers aren't defaulting to a too high refresh rate for your monitor. When I installed my 9600XT it defaulted the rate to "optimum" which it chose as very high, something like 120Hz. Many older monitors or cheaper monitors will act weird at those high frequencies. Generally it isn't good to run a monitor at the max rate is "says" it can do, especially at higher resolutions, as the image problems are likely to be worse than at lower rates. Try manually setting the refresh rate to something slower, like 75Hz or 85Hz.

Forgot to mention something (which you may already know): you must set the refresh rate for each different resolution.