"What does my flat-screen monitor need to have for best results?"

[rgarr]

"Asus Radeon HD 4870, 512MB GDDR5, PCI-E 2.0, GPU 750MHz, Memory 3.60GHz (900MHz DDR5), 256-bit, 1x D-Sub (via adaptor), 2x DVI, 1x HDMI (via adaptor), HDTV, Component, S-Video, Composite (EAH4870/HTDI/512M)"


I appreciate all your help on this as I don't want to get a monitor that won't support the above video card. I don't have a lot to spend but I want a flat-screen monitor that will work well.

I need to know the basics that the monitor should have. I don't understand the 1xD-sub(via adaptor) or 2xDVI, 1xHDMI(via adaptor),HDTV, Component, S-video, Composite.

Also, what about VGA? Do I need to have that in my monitor along with DVI? The monitor that I get will be used for my PC only. Thanks again for all your support in advance.

 

[eklipz330]

when you buy a monitor, just make sure it has at least a dvi connector, most newer monitors have it... vga is kinda being phased out, i don't see it being used as much as before, but there is no problem with it... the asus card comes with the dvi-vga adaptor, a hdmi-dvi adaptor, and two female dvi plugs...

any monitor you buy should work fine.

 

[Wolfshadw]

The video card has two DVI and one 9-Pin TV-out ports.

You can connect the graphics card to the 15 Pin D-Sub port on a monitor by connecting the included DVI->D-Sub adapter.

You can connect the graphics card to the HDMI port on a monitor by connecting the included DVI->HDMI adapter.

You can connect the graphics card to an HDTV's Component, S-Video, or Composite ports by connecting the included TV-Out dongle plugged into the 9-Pin TV-Out port on your graphics card.

D-Sub = VGA, but if the monitor has a DVI or HDMI port, use that instead.

Many flat screen monitors come with a DVI port, so you wouldn't need to use any adapters at all. Just connect the monitor to the DVI port on your graphics card.

More important is the native resolution of the monitor you purchase. The higher the resolution, the stronger your graphics card should be (depending on usage). Fortunately, the card you have is one of the top rated cards on the market today and it will be able to handle the higher resolution (and higher priced) monitors on the market.

Also, import is a monitors response time. Monitors with slower response times will often display flickering or jump about (stuttering) during fast action scenes (as found in many games). While the numbers may be skewed, depending on the monitor manufacturer, pretty much any LCD monitor with a response time of 8ms or less is fine.

Finally, is your budget. You can usually find a nice 24" wide screen monitor with a resolution of 1920x1080 for under $300. 22" monitors with a resolution of 1680x1050 can usually be found for around $180. 19" 4:3 monitors with a resolution of 1280x1024 are even less. This is as low as I would recommend, though as with this resolution, your graphic card's power is going to waste (IMO).

As for me, I've been very happy with my 22" @ 1680x1050 and would be my recommendation.

 

[rgarr]

The video card has two DVI and one 9-Pin TV-out ports.

You can connect the graphics card to the 15 Pin D-Sub port on a monitor by connecting the included DVI->D-Sub adapter.

You can connect the graphics card to the HDMI port on a monitor by connecting the included DVI->HDMI adapter.

You can connect the graphics card to an HDTV's Component, S-Video, or Composite ports by connecting the included TV-Out dongle plugged into the 9-Pin TV-Out port on your graphics card.

D-Sub = VGA, but if the monitor has a DVI or HDMI port, use that instead.

Many flat screen monitors come with a DVI port, so you wouldn't need to use any adapters at all. Just connect the monitor to the DVI port on your graphics card.

More important is the native resolution of the monitor you purchase. The higher the resolution, the stronger your graphics card should be (depending on usage). Fortunately, the card you have is one of the top rated cards on the market today and it will be able to handle the higher resolution (and higher priced) monitors on the market.

Also, import is a monitors response time. Monitors with slower response times will often display flickering or jump about (stuttering) during fast action scenes (as found in many games). While the numbers may be skewed, depending on the monitor manufacturer, pretty much any LCD monitor with a response time of 8ms or less is fine.

Finally, is your budget. You can usually find a nice 24" wide screen monitor with a resolution of 1920x1080 for under $300. 22" monitors with a resolution of 1680x1050 can usually be found for around $180. 19" 4:3 monitors with a resolution of 1280x1024 are even less. This is as low as I would recommend, though as with this resolution, your graphic card's power is going to waste (IMO).

As for me, I've been very happy with my 22" @ 1680x1050 and would be my recommendation.

Thank you very much Wolfshadow for all the useful info that you gave me.

I especially appreciate the info on the resolution and yours being 1680x1050 and working to your satisfaction. Also, the part about Just connect the monitor to the DVI port on your graphics card and the part about pretty much any LCD monitor with a response time of 8ms or less is fine. Is the best response time measured like 8ms or less...meaning less is better?



I have had a 19" Dell Ultrasharp since 2003 and now I'm looking to go to a 20" or a 22" like you have. I didn't know that you could get one for around $180!This figures into my budget and I wouldn't want any bigger screen size.

I would appreciate your opinion on what brand monitor that you have and/or what you would recommend to me!

 

[Wolfshadw]

Yes, a faster response time, 8 milliseconds (ms) or less is better, but I doubt you'd notice a difference between a monitor that has a response time of 5 ms and a monitor that has a response time of 2ms. As long as it's 8ms or less, you're fine.

I have the Viewsonic VG2230wm. It gave me some problems at the beginning, but has been working fine for the last couple of years. Other brand names I would consider would be Acer, Dell, and Hanns-G.

-Wolf sends

 

[rgarr]

Thanks Wolfshadow, I plan to do a Google search today of places like TigerDirect, NewwEgg, Directron etc. to purchase my monitor today or Monday. I really do appreciate your help my friend!

 

[rgarr]

Yes, a faster response time, 8 milliseconds (ms) or less is better, but I doubt you'd notice a difference between a monitor that has a response time of 5 ms and a monitor that has a response time of 2ms. As long as it's 8ms or less, you're fine.

I have the Viewsonic VG2230wm. It gave me some problems at the beginning, but has been working fine for the last couple of years. Other brand names I would consider would be Acer, Dell, and Hanns-G.

-Wolf sends

Hello Again Wolfshadow,

I took your advice and above and did my research...I liked your Viewsonic but for a little bit less I bought an Acer AL1622Wbd 22" monitor from Amazon for $219.26 and free shipping. It has 1680x1050 resolution and is 5ms, however, the contrast ratio is only 700. I would have preferred it to be around 1000 or more.

My question to you is: It came with 1 DVI Port and 1 VGA Port plus a power cord of course. BUT, the VGA Port is okay...blue 15 pin plug with 2 male ends, however, the kicker was the DVI plug was a white 19 pin plug that was a DVI-D and NOT a DVI- I. I had a HUGE headache with this because on the back of my PC I have an S-Video plug, and 2 DVI-I 28 pin female plugs. 1 is gray or white and the other is yellow (the yellow being in between the S-Video and the gray or white plug.

I finally found a DVI-I Dual Link Male to VGA (HD15) Female Adapter on Amazon for $6.59. They go thru Abacus Amazon Store. I got it and pluged it into the gray or white plug...unsure whether to use that one or the yellow one.

The monitor works fine but when I go to shut it down I still get a message saying " No Signal ". I even tried plugging it into the yellow plug but got the same message so I pluged it back into the gray or white plug. I can't figure out how to get rid of the " No Signal " message?

It is entirely my fault about not checking the DVI to see if it was a DVI-D or DVI-I but at that point I didn't know there was more than 1 DVI. I appreciate any help or ideas that you might have.

 

[Wolfshadw]

Hey rgarr,

Not sure why you're having so many problems. You certainly shouldn't be. Since the monitor has a DVI-D port, it should have come with a DVI-D cable, which you should have plugged directly into either the Yellow or White port on your graphics card.

Another option would have been to connect the DVI --> VGA Adapter you got with your graphics card into the White port on your graphics card and then connected it to the monitor with the blue 15 pin D-Sub cable you should have received with your monitor.

BTW. Best I can tell, the ports on the graphics card are color coded (yellow and white) to match up with the two adapters you should have received with your graphics card (DVI -> HDMI is yellow, DVI -> VGA is white).

As for the "No Signal" issue, this tells me the monitor is still on, but not receiving a signal from the computer. If you're pressing the monitor's power button and it's not shutting off (regardless of whether your computer is on or off), I would say the monitor's power switch is faulty and you should contact Acer.

... or maybe I'm just not understanding you correctly.

-Wolf sends

 

[rgarr]

Hey rgarr,

Not sure why you're having so many problems. You certainly shouldn't be. Since the monitor has a DVI-D port, it should have come with a DVI-D cable, which you should have plugged directly into either the Yellow or White port on your graphics card.

Another option would have been to connect the DVI --> VGA Adapter you got with your graphics card into the White port on your graphics card and then connected it to the monitor with the blue 15 pin D-Sub cable you should have received with your monitor.

BTW. Best I can tell, the ports on the graphics card are color coded (yellow and white) to match up with the two adapters you should have received with your graphics card (DVI -> HDMI is yellow, DVI -> VGA is white).

As for the "No Signal" issue, this tells me the monitor is still on, but not receiving a signal from the computer. If you're pressing the monitor's power button and it's not shutting off (regardless of whether your computer is on or off), I would say the monitor's power switch is faulty and you should contact Acer.

... or maybe I'm just not understanding you correctly.

-Wolf sends

Wolfshadow,

You Said: Not sure why you're having so many problems. You certainly shouldn't be. Since the monitor has a DVI-D port, it should have come with a DVI-D cable, which you should have plugged directly into either the Yellow or White port on your graphics card.

I said: My Acer monitor does have a DVI-D port and it did come with a DVI-D cable with 2 male ends and it is white with 19 pins.

The problem I've been having is that my Acer Monitor did come with a DVI-D white cable with 19 pins and it is a male connection on both ends but the yellow and white female ports on the back of my PC are DVI-I ports with 29 pins so obviously they won't connect.

I finally found a DVI-I Dual Link Male to VGA (HD15) Female Adapter on Amazon for $6.59 so now...stay with me on this...I have my blue male VGA cable plugged into one side of the adaptor that is female and the other side which is a male DVI-I plugged into my female DVI-I white port on the back of my PC. All that is working now my friend!

I think I was too wordy in my last post and I'm sorry about that. What I failed to understand and to commicate to you in my last post was that I was unaware that there is a DVI-D and that there is a DVI-I. I ended up with a DVI-D on my Acer Monitor instead of a DVI-I like I think your Viewsonic has after I looked it up. The back of my PC only takes a yellow and a white DVI-I 29 pin connection.

FYI: My Acer Monitor came with a POWER CORD, 1 BLUE VGA CABLE WITH MALE CONNECTORS ON BOTH ENDS, and a WHITE DVI-D CABLE WITH MALE CONNECTORS ON BOTH ENDS. Btw, the WHITE DVI-D CABLE has 19 pins vs. DVI-I CABLE having 29 pins.

You said: As for the "No Signal" issue, this tells me the monitor is still on, but not receiving a signal from the computer. If you're pressing the monitor's power button and it's not shutting off (regardless of whether your computer is on or off), I would say the monitor's power switch is faulty and you should contact Acer.

After I shutdown the PC...and everything shuts down correctly...including the monitor...before the monitor fades from green to amber it has a little message on the screen that says " no signal " then it fades to amber and i press the button on the monitor to shut it off. No, my friend I don't believe the monitor's power switch is faulty. I think that it is some little glitch that we're missing so I will keep on searching for an answer. It doesn't cause any harm it is just perplexing so I want to fix it.


Exploring the different DVI Connectors


This is what I have on the back of my PC:

DVI-I Dual Link

[analog and digital]

Three rows of 8 pins and two contacts above and below the flat blade. Plus one in the middle=29 pins



DVI-Digital (DVI-D) supports digital displays only.

DVI-Integrated (DVI-I) supports both digital and analog displays.

http://www.practical-home-theater-guide.com/dvi-cables.html