New 19 inch monitor

[baffled2]

I just got a steal of a deal locally on a brand new 19 inch monitor. I'm currently running at 1600x1200 using a creative labs TNT2, C300a@464 mhz, 128 mgs ram and am finding that the limitations of the TNT2 when it comes to text at higher resolutions is sadly true.fonts are a bit muddied and my 2 D performance is quite disappointing considering we're talking a 32 mg video card
here!

I also have a second AMD cpu based system for the kids that's running a V3 3000, friends have advised that I simply switch video cards as the V3's 2d performance at higher resolutions beats that of the TNT2'
next card. The problem with this is that I don't want to wrestle with a TNT2 in a SS7 system and I prefer the image quality of the TNT2 over the V3 in Q2 and Q3.I also can't just keep buying new video cards !

At this point I'm considering the G400 max,
I saw a 3d card showdown in maxium pc they had screen shots of Q3 with the various cards
I had my daughter cover the names of the cards,simply chose based on image quality
and the G400 won hands down !!!

What would you all advise ? get a g400 max or wait it out till nvidia's next offering
is available ?


Thanks in advance

[IceStorm]

G400's are NICE. I have my MAX tweaked up to 100hz refresh at 1280x1024, and it's quite nice on my Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 900u. I'm still working on getting the second head up to snuff - need new VGA cables to connect to my Belkin Omnicube. I'm using thin cables right now, which really degrades image quality (the Cube normally doesn't degrade the image much at 1280x1024).

Make sure you don't skimp on cabling. I'm using thick DB15 to BNC cables to go from my vid card to the monitor. These are older cables, but they've HUGE chokes and are quite solid. Expect to pay between $25 and $50 for a good BNC cable. DO NOT get cables which are thin or really easy to bend. Go for the thicker, stiffer cables.

Prior to the Max, I was using a G200 and Millennium II. Prior to that, a Stealth 3D 2000. The Matrox cards I've had have the best image quality I've seen, hands down. The Voodoo3's come close in 2D. Never seen a TNT up close because I've heard too many bad stories about them.


Just my $0.02



------------------
Primary System: PIII-540 (450@4.5x120), Soyo 6BA+ III, 256MB PC100 ECC SDRAM, G400 MAX in multi-monitor mode. Two Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 900u monitors, 3Com 3C905, SoundBlaster 32, Altec Lansing AC5 spkrs, 2nd Parallel Port, WD AC41800 18GB HD, WD AC310100 10GB HD, Toshiba XM-6102b CD-ROM, HP 8100i CD-RW, Epson Stylus Pro, Sharp JX-9400 LJ-II compatible, OptiUPS PowerES 650, MS SideWinder Precision Pro USB joystick, Logitech 3-button mouse, Mitsumi keyboard, Win98 SE, Belkin OmniCube 4-port KVM

Secondary System: PII-266, Asus P2B BIOS 1008, 128MB PC100 ECC SDRAM, Millennium II, 3Com 3C590, ADSL Modem 640kbit down/90kbit up, 3Com 3C509, Mylex BT-930 SCSI card, Seagate 2GB Hawk, NEC 6x CD-ROM, Linux distro S.u.S.E. 6.1 (IP Masquerade works!)

Tertiary System: DFI G568IPC Intel 430HX chipset, P200MMX, 96MB of non-parity RAM, Millennium II, 3Com 3C900, SoundBlaster 16 MCD, Fujitsu 3.5GB HD, WD 1.2GB HD, Hollywood Plus DVD decoder card, Toshiba 6x DVD-ROM, OS of the week

All specs subject to change.

[tish beta2]

How'd you get 1028@100Hz, Icestorm? I too have a mitsubishi diamond pro 900u and 85Hz is it's max at that res...

[KvHagedorn]

Ice Storm..

Who makes the best VGA to 5 pin BNC cables? I have a Sony 19" monitor i want to hook to my MAX when i get it.

------------------
Kind Regards,

KvH

[Randy Simons]

You could consider buying a G200 with SDRAM.. Even a G200 has better and faster 2D than a TNT2 Ultra and much cheaper
Although, in true color it won't go higher than 75Hz in 1600x1200. But I rarely use that resolution, except for programming and then 16 bit color is enough, giving me 85Hz.

Just my <FONT FACE="ARIAL">€</FONT>0.02 (sjees, had to change font 'coz stupid Verdana doesn't support the euro!)

------------------
Randy Simons
Digital Dreams Software http://www.dgdr.com/


[This message has been edited by Randy Simons (edited 09-14-1999).]

[paul]

ice Storm - it's the gauge of the copper wire and not so much the outside thickness or rigidity of the cable. I've seen nice fat extension cords and saw on the jacket that it had 18ga wire.

the other guy - all posts are same font, here

all - wouldn't it be nice if "reply" window didn't obscure previous posts?

[[Pige]]

Hi there

You don't say what your monitor is but I expect the problems you are seeing are due to the monitor and not the TNT card.

I have the same problems on an Hitachi 812, 21". I upgraded form an Iyamma VisionMaster Pro 17" (it r0x0red). When I goto1600x1200 I find that text is fuzzy, wether I use the Diamond 770 TNT2 or the G400Max. The G400Max is stlightly better but if you've gone to a medioca 21" from a very good 17" you will be dissapointed. The Hitachi 812 is fine for games but to do any serious work, it is a let down.

Cheers


Pige

[[Pige]]

I lub's my Iiyam 17"..... if it wasn't for the fact it was so small I'd use it over the Mitsi. I'm not sure if the Iiyama scales well, from the reviews I've read of the 21" it does well but not the best. From reviews I've seen the Iiyama is on par with the Mitsi (perhapes I just got an iffy Mitsi), If I had to choose now, I would either go for the Iiyama or save up for a Sony.

Cheers

Pige

[Guyver]

Paul,

File, New Window, Previous - That's how I get the names of the users for a post while replying to it.

(I know you already knew this, but thought, what the hey?)

Guyv

[benjo007]

Pige,
How did you like the Iyama? I have seen good reviews on the 21"

[DarkSyd]

There's also a link two lines below the submit button that reopens the thread in a new window.

------------------
Cel 266@448 on Asus P2b (1009), 128MB, OEM G400/16, Quantum Obsidian S12, Fujitsu 5.25gb, MX300, Dlink 530, Grey Cat, Orange Cat (still MIA)
--
Reports of Sig5.2x being 40% more interesting than Sig5.13 were greatly exaggerated...

[Scout255]

Your low quality is probably due to a low quality monitor, or a defective one... not nesisarily the monitor

[IceStorm]

You have to manually adjust the monitor refresh rate to pump the refresh up to 100hz on the main head. It's one of the PowerDesk tabs in the Display control panel - Settings, Advanced, then the tab is somewhere in that dialog (not at my machine right now). 100Hz is not a drop-down menu option. The 900u automatically detects signals that are out of range - red box in the center of the screen comes up warning you and the display goes into standby, so you can't screw up the display settings. :-)

The cables I use are thick gauge. I understand what you're talking about - the thickness in the cabling ISN'T the insulation in my cables. :-)

I just received my Tru Spec VGA cables from Cables To Go. THEY WORK!!!

They're 6' male to female cables. Chokes on either end, and they're nice and thick. The image quality on the second head (that runs through the OmniCube) went up considerably. It's quite usable now. Only thing I can't seem to fix is the wobbling effect - but I think I need to play around with refresh rates on both heads to get the two to stop interfering with each other.

Cables to Go is at www.cablestogo.com. They've a whole range of cables to choose from. Get the Tru Spec cables (made in China, no less!).

As for iffy Mitsubishi quality and the Iiyama monitors - it is entirely possible you have a bad Mitsubishi. Mitsubishi has a new warranty program on the monitors - Advanced Exchange - they'll send you a "refurb free of defects" in exchange for your new one. HOWEVER - I went through the return process for one of my 900u's (wouldn't power up after being in standby for 14 hours unless I unplugged it for 10 minutes first). They sent me a BRAND NEW MONITOR - due to the fact that the monitor is so new (did this about three months ago - bought the monitor in late January, though). You may want to see what they can do for you.

Please keep in mind that if you want razor sharp text, you should get a flat-square monitor. Monitors based on apeture grill technology are not the absolute best at text display, but they are a hair away from being as good, and look much better than flat-squares when displaying images (paintings, graphics, web browsers, icons, etc.) I have never seen a flat-square that could compare to an apeture grill monitor when it comes to images - and I looked at all of them at the past three PC Expo shows. I chose the Mitsubishi's knowing full well the strengths and weaknesses of apeture-grill technology.

If you're doing UNIX shell work all day long, every day, get a Hitachi SuperScan (All the new Sun monitors where I work are 19" Hitachis in disguise). If you're doing mixed work, get an apeture grill-based unit - the NT machines where I work use NEC Professional 21" displays, which are Mitsubishi apeture-grill tubes mated to NEC electronics (as per Mitsubishi).

Hope this helps. Sorry for the delay in posting a reply.



------------------
Primary System: PIII-540 (450@4.5x120), Soyo 6BA+ III, 256MB PC100 ECC SDRAM, G400 MAX in multi-monitor mode. V2 SLI rig. Two Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 900u monitors, 3Com 3C905, SoundBlaster Live!, Altec Lansing AC5 spkrs, 2nd Parallel Port, WD AC41800 18GB HD, WD AC310100 10GB HD, Toshiba SD-M1212 6x DVD-ROM, HP 8100i CD-RW, Epson Stylus Pro, Sharp JX-9400 LJ-II compatible, OptiUPS PowerES 650, MS SideWinder Precision Pro USB joystick, Logitech 3-button mouse, Mitsumi keyboard, Win98 SE, Belkin OmniCube 4-port KVM

Secondary System: PII-266, Asus P2B BIOS 1008, 128MB PC100 ECC SDRAM, Millennium II, 3Com 3C590, ADSL Modem 640kbit down/90kbit up, 3Com 3C509, Mylex BT-930 SCSI card, Seagate 2GB Hawk, NEC 6x CD-ROM, Linux distro S.u.S.E. 6.1 (IP Masquerade works!)

Tertiary System: DFI G568IPC Intel 430HX chipset, P200MMX, 96MB of non-parity RAM, Millennium II, Intel Pro/100+ client NIC, SoundBlaster 16 MCD, Fujitsu 3.5GB HD, WD 1.2GB HD, Creative Dxr3 DVD decoder card, Hitachi GD-2500 6x DVD-ROM, Win98 SE

All specs subject to change.

[Zypher]

Jesus, long post.

Anyway, one thing about the g400: it realy can deliver the output at those insane resolutions.

Viewsonic P817, a $1500 21" monitor that does 2048x1536. I *think* at least 75hz...not sure. I wasn't going to push it more...

Some tricked out rich bitch had one (yeah, you didn't think *I* would blow that much, did you? ) and I hooked up my max to it. Actually got a good desktop out of it! Better than what most people's stuff would put out at 16x12 IMnsHO. I don't know how to force games to run at that though, or if any of them even can. I wanted to try one :/ oh well, maybe next time.

[IceStorm]

I thought about twin 21" monitors. What stopped me was:

- The weight. Neither my back nor my desk (IKEA jerker) could handle the weight of twin 21" monitors. The 19"s were bad enough.

- The heat. Twin 19"s put off a lot of heat. I have to order up those DC fans to cool these puppies. I wouldn't even want to think about what twin 21" monitors would generate.

- The cost. At over $2200, it was a bit out of my range. The $1400 cost of the 19"ers was bad enough ($650 each in January, $100 to ship both)

- No Naturally Flat 21" monitors were available. Yes, they're worth it. The 21" units were not available until later - March or April, I believe.

I'd rather have twin 19" monitors than a single 21" monitor. It's extremely useful, and entertaining. I playback DVDs on the second head while gaming on the first (using two machines, of course).

Realistically speaking, anything over 1600x1200 for games is just going to be unusable, for now.

Just my $0.02

[This message has been edited by IceStorm (edited 09-21-1999).]