Monitor Sharpness

Question

I actually have a couple of questions. First, about 6 months ago I bought a new Deminsion 4600i that came with a 15' fp monitor. I decided to upgrade to the 2001fp Ultra Sharp. Well, I guess with my current graphics/video card, I can't get anywhere near 'Ultra Sharp'. The pictures are all blotchy looking. I was told by the geeks at work that if I purchase a new graphics/video card, that would allow me to use the 'white' DVI connector instead of the analog connector I'm now using, I would be able to get 'sharp' pictures at the reccomended setting of 1600X1200. Currently I have to use 800X600 unless I want everything on the screen to be miniscule.   Second, if this is true, and keeping in mind we don't do any gaming or DVD viewing with our system, which card would be the best and least expensive so we could use the DVI connector, which again, I'm told will sharpen the graphics up to the touted 'Ultra Sharp' level. I'll list what I know about my system below. Thanks to everyone in advance for your guidance on this.   Dell Deminsions 4600i X86 based PC Version 5.1.2600 SP 2 Build 2600 Processor x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 9 GenuineIntel -2793 Mhz Pentium 4 2.80 Ghz 40 Gb Hard Drive 2.79 Ghz, 512 MB of Ram   P.S., Is it difficult to install a new card?

BigBrother · Answer

TheBurg,

Your 2001 FP display will show it's best image at 1600x1200 resolution regardless of whether you use DVI or analog input. Can you set your current video card to this resolution? The proper refresh rate at this resolution is 60hz. You can find specs for the 2001FP display at this link:

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/monitors/2001fp/EN/specs.htm#resolution

Steve

TimothyBH · Answer

Sorry, no time to proof read my message.   What's you current video card. I think my dad has a 4600 dimension, which came with a 15inch LCD and it has a plain Geforce 4mx, which is a sign that it has an AGP slot where the card is in instead of a built in video card that removes the AGP slot to where you can't upgrade.   So if you don't have an AGP slot, it might be hard to upgrade, but it's still possible with the use of a PCI video card, if you don't plan on gaming and may slow down the desktop a bit.   Here's a card if you don't do any gaming: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-140-022&depa=0   It's $50, has DVI and VGA, so you can then connect both your new LCD to the DVI and your old 15inch LCD to the vga and have dual screens, so you can drag things over from screen to another. Very usefull when browsing many pages or want your e-mail on screen as you browse on another, etc.   Newegg is a good site, on of the best to deal with, I bought every part of my machine there. You can't go wrong with their customer service and fast shipping.   To double check if you have an AGP card, right click on your desktop, go to properties, then the settings tab (last one) and where it says Display, then what ever screen then the last part says will name the display adapter.   Also, if you monitor connects to a vga port that's located where those openign slots are near the bottom of the case, it's most likely a video card in the agp slot.   Here's a PCI version just for looks, but you want AGP if you can as that's the slot designed for videocards: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-449&depa=0   Installing a card is pretty simple. Uninstall the current video drivers and anything else to do with the video card, especially if your going from nvidia to ati, but no real serious.   Shutdown, disconnect your monitor and the power cord from the PC to the outlet, and maybe any other powered devices connected to a usb port, or basically unplug everthing from the machine.   Locate the video card, take the single screw out holding it. Then unlock a plastic white latch holdign the card in the slot, pull the card out. Insert the new card, lock the latch, put int he screw, close the case, reconnect everything, start up the machine, which will be in low res low color, put in the cd that came with the card and install the drivers, restart and voila, your done.

Monitors

Monitor Sharpness

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