🚀 go-pugleaf

Steve Rossiter wrote:
> Hi,
>   I'll be buying a 22" Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 
> http://www.necmitsubishi.com/products/home/ProductDetail.cfm?product_i
> d=232&division=MITSUBISHI and am now looking a various cards to drive 
> this monstrosity. Mitsubishi specs say it can go to 2048 x 1536 @  86 
> and my job now is to match it to a card provide the signal. Although I 
> will probably have the screen set to 2048 x 1536 I figure if the card 
> can do this it will be able to provide viewing at lower resolutions 
> flicker free.

That'd be my guess too =)

>   My needs are to provide clean displays of various large data sets in 
> 2D, sometimes rotate them in 3D and a little low-tech gaming like Age 
> of Empires, Sim City. I'm a little confused because cards advertised 
> with 64 MB, 128 MB, or now 256 MB of memory all claim to be able to 
> display at resolutions near to my 2048 x 1536 benchmark so there must 
> be more than aggregate memory that determines ability to run large 
> monitors at high resolutions.
>
>   The Matrox P750 seems to a reliable choice for the job but lacks 
> some of the fun stuff of say the ATI AIW 9000 Pro or GeForce4 Ti 4600.
> Will $150-$200 get me a reliable, flicker free card that can display 
> at high resolutions (that way I can see more of the data set) or am I 
> asking too much of a card in this price range?
> One last question. What is the end result of setting the screen to a 
> resolution and refresh rate that the card doesn't list?

Some drivers or tools let you define the refresh for the card. I know 
Matrox provides a tool for that with their cards, or at least, they used 
to, so you can set it to whatever Hz you want, provided the card can 
handle it.

> For example, 
> the monitor mentioned above lists a capability to display 1800 x 1440 
> @ 92 Hz but the closest a Radeon 9800 Pro comes in terms of its spec 
> sheet is 1920x1080 @ 120.  How would this display on the screen?

Not, a black screen, and you might damage the monitor. I wouldn't try that.

> Thanks for the help with these questions.

If you want crisp clear and stunning 2D, Matrox is definately the way to go.