# new monitor and old video card ?



## bmuss51 (Jan 14, 2010)

i have a crt type of monitor right now and want to upgrade to a lcd monitor. and have narrowed the search down to a 23" with a price of around $199.99. but i am noticing different resolutions avail in that price range. so another thing i was compairing is dpi tyring to get the smallest pixel size .
 the one monitor is by samsung and has a resolution of 1248x1152 and the other is an acer with 1920x1080 and my ? is it a big difference that i would notice ?
 i have an older computer with an Agp video card and i was wondering if i will need a new card to make use of the new monitor?


----------



## Troutsqueezer (Jan 14, 2010)

The Acer has the standard 1080 resolution which is High Definition pixel count and 16:9 aspect ratio whereas the pixel count you give for the Samsung is closer to a box shape rather than a rectangle like the Acer and other HD monitors/TV's. Did you type the numbers in correctly? 

You don't state the amount of video memory your card has but it's likely it will not take advantage of the higher resolution capability of the newer monitors. That said, it will still produce a nice picture on either monitor. 

There are other things to consider in a monitor like viewing angle, HDMI inputs, USB connectors (handy), contrast (dynamic range).  

I'd go for the Acer over the Samsung based on the pixel counts you give. 

my two cents. 

-Trout


----------



## mu38&Bg# (Jan 14, 2010)

The difference is that with a 1920x1080 you can squeeze more info onto the screen. Great if you do photo editing or CAD work. Your old card may be up to the task, you should check it's specifications. Find the model number in your hardware manager and look up specs. Sometimes the card can pull high resolution, but not perform well. That's basically a try and see what you get with your old one. I have an not so old PC with a decent graphics card which runs my normal computing well, but has trouble with full screen video in certain formats. This card says it will run 3240x2160, but it must be painful for anything with motion. I also have another older computer that just will not update to 1920x1080 even though specs say it should. I had to manually force it to operate at that resolution. It can be a pain.

If your eyes can't handle the 1920x1080 and you have to set the monitor to lower resolution I would get a monitor that runs at that lower resolution so it operates at native resolution. If text is the only issues you can set your PC to large fonts. I used to run 2400x1600 with small fonts on a 24" tube running CAD, but can't do that anymore for reading text as LCD are not as nice on the eyes.


----------



## kf2qd (Jan 14, 2010)

How old is the video card? Does it have the choice of the resolutions that the monitor can be set to. My old computer video card doesn't have a selection that matches the aspect ratio of the monitor that I got with my new computer so the occasional time when I need to access some of my CAD files on the old machine works out less than ideal because the circles all come out as elipses. 

Check out the options on your present video card. If you have to upgrade you can probably get by with a lower price card unless you are into gaming and such.


----------



## John Rudd (Jan 14, 2010)

You may find that your mobo may not support the newer video cards....


----------



## bmuss51 (Jan 17, 2010)

ended up buying local because of the price. and if it would have had any dead pixels and had to ship it back it would cost me more than local. and the one i bought is an acer h233h monitor and i like it so far but with my video card i can only get 800x600 resolution. so the max is limited with my video card and i plan to upgrade that very soon. because when i watch a vid on u-tube or look at some of my family pic's it is all weird compaired to my crt that i was using. so to tiger direct i go to buy an agpx8 card !


----------



## mu38&Bg# (Jan 18, 2010)

If you were running greater than 800x600 on your CRT the trouble is probably not the video card, drivers or refresh settings.


----------



## checkedout (Jan 24, 2010)

Regarding resolution: To each their own. You mentioned a standard aspect ratio and a widescreen. Just do what fits for you.

On your CRT, you will likely have an analog (_VGA-style) connector. Be sure that the new monitor you buy can accept an analog signal. Most can accept either an analog or digital signal but some of the cheaper ones cannot. I've seen all kinds. 

FYI: The plug will be a standard 15 pin (likely blue) and will match the video input jack on the back of your CRT. It will likely look something like this: 






Any geek behind the counter SHOULD be able to tell you what sort of video signal the new monitor can accept. If not, find another geek. If you can put a signal out that will make your CRT happy, then it should make your new LCD happy.

By the way, the DVI jack will look something like this. 




And if the new monitor you buy only has this jack, then it won't likely work with the vid card you have. (UNLESS your older AGP card has dual outputs, unlikely but possible)

I can expound on any of those details if you'd like. Let me know.


----------



## putputman (Jan 24, 2010)

CO, I can see you are going to be a real + addition to HMEM. There are a ton of us "old farts" that have little or no knowledge on these computers.


----------



## checkedout (Jan 24, 2010)

haha... glad to help however I can.

My side business is SOHO IT consulting and I build custom PCs.

I'll trade my 'know-how' for yours. Deal? 


EDIT: 
Although, I see that bmuss already made his buying decision.
I must have missed that before.
bmuss... hope it works for you!


----------

