Can a monitor hold back a graphics card?

[wannaoc]

Title says it all. Does it?

[BaldHeadedDork]

I wouldn't call it "hold back". But it is entirely possible, and very common, for a card to be capable of much more performance than a monitor is capable of showing.

Consider: What is the best video card? A Radeon 9800 Pro or GeForce FX5900. But are these the best video cards for, say, a 17" monitor running programs in resolutions no greater than 1280x1024? Probably not. They are overkill because a mid level card (like a 9600 Pro) can perform just as well in any program at those midrange resolutions.




BHD

[Ugmore Baggage]

Refresh rate limits the frames per second and picture quality limits the (duh) picture quality so yes you could say it does. The monitor won't actually slow the video card down but it'll sure ignore a lot of what the video card is doing.

[New2me]

Ugmore baggage when you say monitor will ignore the Vidcrd, what do you mean exactly. In my system everything bar the monitor is a couple months old, yet i have very laggy performance. Will upgrading Monitor solve this, my current monitor is a 15" noname from 1998-99.
Other two suspects are the PSU (400W but cheap) and needing 512mb ram, currently XMS3200 256mb.
Mobo is 8rda+ (vddmodd 1.82V + lapped nb) with leadtek ti4200 a280LE TDH and 1700+ TBred A @200x9.5.
Any help appreciated as i can now format my intire computer with eyes closed trying to figure out if its a driver thing(have had a lot of practice :() .

[athayer187]

I have a really old 14" monitor that can't display anything more than 80ox600 at 60hz refresh rate. i just use it with a P-133 though, so it's fine.

[Ugmore Baggage]

Originally posted by New2me
everything bar the monitor is a couple months old, yet i have very laggy performance.

Laggy?

[asj]

what are your reslolutions and refresh rates?

Oh and what driversare you using for your leadtek ti4200?

[New2me]

Currently I'm running ;

Tbred A xp1700 @ 200x9.5 1.80Vcore 38C-41C
40GB WD 400BB
Liteon 48.24.48
256Mb XMS3202C2 5-2-2-2.0 2.77Vdimm
8rda+ v1.1 lppd NB Crystal Orb vddmodd 1.82V
Leadtek Ti4200 a280LE TDH default clockz but 1.7VCore
PTI (P4 generic) 400W
WinXp Pro + Sp1 + Tweak Pack

Drivers
Nvidia 44.03
Nvidia 2.03 Nforce
8rda+ Bios 3609
Dx 9
monitor Refresh rate 75Hz @1280 x 720

I have had laggy(unstable) performance since i first put the system together a couple months ago. Nothing freezes (mainly) but i have choppy, laggy, unstable performance going in and coming out of games and apps. Its like when it switches into dos or applications in dos the whole system behaves unstable.
Also when i run Memtest both stock and overclocked it freezes once a few loops have passed (8 loops i think it was) and i tested by selecting test 5 to loop. No errors so i don't think its the RAM but as we all know Memtest is done in DOS(not DOS again).
All this happens with WinXp, Win2k and WinMe. I have NFI sometimes the system runs nice until the instability. Another thing, when i went to install SP3 with win2k the first time it accepted but now its saying
"windows was expecting another version and istallation cannot continue"
What the F**K? I installed it before but now it won't, i tried formatting Hdd with NTFS and FAT but same thing "Version wasn't expected installation cannot continue. So SP3 won't install now lol What GIVEZ????????? Thankz BILLL G D**kHead

[Ugmore Baggage]

No, your monitor isn't your problem.

[New2me]

Thanks for ruling that out, any suggestions??

[schismspeak]

Try putting your computer back to default. Is it prime95 stable? Also why do you have your video card at 1.7v? Is that a vdimm mod on the card or just in the bios? If it is either one I suggest putting them to 1.5v. The voltage change in the bios does NOTHING to make the card perform better, and neither would the vdimm mod if it is @ default speeds. And if memtest fails, your memory may be bad or incompatible with your board. Also do you have pci lock enabled in the bios? Put everything back to default, and see if you still have problems.

BTW, it could very well be your power supply, get a Sparkle 350W PSU(actually puts out 450W) it will be much better then your current generic one.

[New2me]

Originally posted by schismspeak
Try putting your computer back to default. Is it prime95 stable? Also why do you have your video card at 1.7v? Is that a vdimm mod on the card or just in the bios? If it is either one I suggest putting them to 1.5v. The voltage change in the bios does NOTHING to make the card perform better, and neither would the vdimm mod if it is @ default speeds. And if memtest fails, your memory may be bad or incompatible with your board. Also do you have pci lock enabled in the bios? Put everything back to default, and see if you still have problems.

BTW, it could very well be your power supply, get a Sparkle 350W PSU(actually puts out 450W) it will be much better then your current generic one.

I'm puttin it down to mobo (8rda+), i'm happy with it but i think its a little buggy/sluggish at times or....... i need more Ram.
Memtest ran fine last night, so nothing really wrong ill just wait until later this year and see whats on the mobo market then. Yeah i've heard the Sparkle is good, probably getting the Antec truepower 480W for a good price though soon. Waiting on arival for my second dimm also looking at Barton ;) .