Graphics Card + Widescreen Problems

Here is a story I'm sure you've all heard before:

Old graphics card worked ok on widescreen monitor at 1920x1200 but could be upgraded to improve graphics performance.

Old graphics card is replaced with new graphics card to help performance.

New graphics card cannot support the old resolution of the monitor (1920x1200) and is currently only able to get 1600x1000 which just looks plain sucky on the monitor.


Here are the details:

Old graphics card: GeForce 2 MX400
New graphics card: GeForceFX 5200
Widescreen Monitor: DELL 2405FPW


I have the newest drivers installed and I can't help but think what's wrong.

Do I need to replace the graphics card again in order to get the optimum resolution?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Arainach

Windows itself doesn't support 1900x1200 stock, I believe. Try reinstalling the Dell Drivers.

Also, this is the first time in history anyone's called a FX5200 (widely accepted as NVIDIA's biggest screwup ever) an upgrade. I'll agree with you that it was kind of a step up for you, but not that huge of one.

While I know that the FX5200 isn't really much of an upgrade, the purpose of purchasing this card was to improve graphics performance (not for gaming) and because it was cheap to purchase.

Granted I didn't know that the card was apparently the worst card they had made to date.

The PC is basically my workstation now and that's all I will ever want it to be since my other two machines do everything else for me.

Few bits of additional information that I think may help before I try re-installing everything again when I get back home, is that this is an AGP card and NOT a PCI card. The setup is also a freshly reformatted hard drive and nothing has been installed other than the graphics card drivers and monitor drivers (along with all the Windows Updates).

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Dayvon

What set of Nvidia Drivers did you install?

I'm using the latest Nvidia driver set: Forceware 91.31

Originally Posted by Arainach

1900x1200 is fine with Windows.

Question: Are you using the VGA or DVI cable? 1900x1200 is above the capabilities of DVI Single-Link, and chances are your card doesn't have Double-Link (it's rather expensive to implement).

I'm using the DVI cable and I will look into what type of link my graphics card is capable because the monitor does state DVI-D when switching to that mode.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Yup, I did try this yesterday and it worked fine on the VGA slot.

Thanks for the help everyone.

Most amazing jew boots