How can I get 1680 x 1050 pixels??

[PhilTilson]

Would appreciate some advice from all you techies out there. I have a fairly old P4 1.7GHz system for which I have just bought a Philips 200W widescreen monitor. The resolution of this screen is 1680 x 1050 pixels, but I can't make my old on-board graphics run anything other than 1280 x 1024 or 1600 x 1200. Both of these run happily but, of course, the display is distorted (squashed).

I do mainly software development and I'm not interested in games (sorry guys!) so high speed is not a major issue. I have no AGP port on the motherboard, just PCI slots. So, I need a PCI card with a DVI output (which the monitor has) with reasonable performance but - most important - one that will let me set resolution to 1680 x 1050 px. I've tried using the supplied Philips drivers and downloaded the latest from SiS (who do the on-board graphics) but neither makes any difference. Why is this, when the graphics will happily run at 1600 x 1200?

[RWB]

Your card probably won't support that resolution. I understand it's not that different from 1600x1200, but if it doesn't support it then it doesn't work.

[PhilTilson]

Your card probably won't support that resolution. I understand it's not that different from 1600x1200, but if it doesn't support it then it doesn't work.

Correct! So I need a new graphics card - at minimum cost, with DVI and PCI bus - any ideas or recommendations?

[tmh88]

first of all we need to know what graphics interface you have. Since you have an old p4 i'd say its either pci or agp. If you have agp I'd say get an nvidia 6600GT. Theyve dropped a ton in price. You can find them around $110 if you look around and they play most games pretty well.

[Thrax]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150061

PCI, supports WSXGA+ resolutions, easy to install, and cheap.

[profdlp]

Good call, Thrax. :)

[primesuspect]

the Diamond BizView BV200 (http://www.diamondmm.com/BV200.php) is perfect for you. We're publishing a review on this card shortly. It is basically a rebadged ATI Radeon 9250, but it is small form factor (half height PCI) and is passively cooled so it's silent.

[Sledgehammer70]

If your stuck with PCI, a 6200 is the best PCI slotted card on the market.

http://www.bfgtech.com/6200_256_PCI.html - & Specs (http://www.bfgtech.com/images/BFG%20spec%20sheet%20pdfs/6200OC_256MB_PCI_sheet.pdf)

[Thrax]

If your stuck with PCI, a 6200 is the best PCI slotted card on the market.

http://www.bfgtech.com/6200_256_PCI.html - & Specs (http://www.bfgtech.com/images/BFG%20spec%20sheet%20pdfs/6200OC_256MB_PCI_sheet.pdf)

He doesn't need "Best" though. Just cheap.

[Sledgehammer70]

You can get this card for $30.00

3D Fuzion 3DFR6200P Geforce 6200 128MB DDR PCI Video Card - Retail
Item #: N82E16814143058 $27.99
Subtotal: $27.99

The Egg has them

[Operator]

I honestly thought that there were no existing PCI display cards that supported DVI, but you guys proved me very wrong. Nice one!!

[WeAreNotAlone]

I was going to suggest Powerstrip ( a software program that allows you to tweak programable cards)

But at the price for 3D Fuzion 3DFR6200P Geforce 6200 128MB DDR PCI Video Card - Retail
Item #: N82E16814143058 $27.99
Subtotal: $27.99

Why bother with Powerstrip? (unless you can find a 'free" copy)

I'd buy a new card.

[edcentric]

The Radeon 9250 is the other one out there.

A few options, not much money. Sounds fun to me.