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Do I need a new monitor before graphics card?

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ap673

Member
Joined
May 23, 2004
Right now I have a 19'' KDS Extreme Flat XF-9e and a 9800np. I want to upgrade to a 6800GT soon but i'm not sure if a monitor upgrade would be better. I'm kinda confused about resolutions and refresh rates, but this monitor can only do 85hz at 1280x960 on the desktop, is that good? So does that mean that ingame at 1280x960 I will max at 85fps? I dont wanna spend a lot on a kickass video card and max at 70hz at 1600x1200. Does the monitor really matter that much?Everyone says to keep vsync on to prevent tearing, but im pretty much stuck at 1024x768 in games. Does a new monitor really help tearing and fps?
 
Your monitor is much better than mine, I dont see why you would need an upgrade. Realy, it depends on if its good enough for you.
 
Can someone exlain wat the deal is in games if you see tearing and it gets jerky? I have vsync on, but usually only happens with vsync off, but then i get a lot more FPS. I know vsync pretty much syncs the frames with the refresh rate, so if you can get 100hz at 1024x768, you get 100fps? But with vsync off the fps just go flyin as high as they can and goes higher than refresh rate so you get tearing? So with a better monitor can you set it to higher refresh rates and play smoother?
 
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You are correct there. But if your monitor is only refreshing 60 times in a second, you don't need the extra frame rate because it is not being displayed. Your monitor is fine and I personally wouldn't worry about it.
 
you will never see the fps beyond the refresh rate of your monitor. with vsync off, it displays more than one frame during a refresh, which is called tearing. with it on though, it caps your frame rate at your refresh rate so you get one frame per refresh. really, the refresh rate of a monitor is more than enough. i dont know why vsync is an option, i suppose it's only good for taking screenshots.
 
So always keep vsync on. Like in games like BF1942 and RVS you can tweak to change the refresh rate. So at 1024x768 my max is 100hz. So in the settings of the game do I set it to the reso and refresh rate that my monitor can do only, or is it different in the game.

Hm so I guess people that brag about 150FPS in watever game are kiddin themselves. I guess upgrading graphics card is only to unsure a constant FPS at that given refresh rate.
 
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I would not worry about your monitor. That is a very good monitor. For an example of a crappy monitor, I have a Gateway EV700 from 1997. The screen is not flat and if I decided to run at 1280X1024:
  • Things are not very clear and slightly blurred
  • It only supports a 60Hz refresh rate

If your monitor can support 1280X960 at 85Hz, that is a pretty good monitor.

Hm so I guess people that brag about 150FPS in watever game are kiddin themselves. I guess upgrading graphics card is only to unsure a constant FPS at that given refresh rate.
That would be correct. If your monitor can only display 60 frames per second it does not really matter if the video card can display 70 or even 1000 frames per second.

I personally usually leave vsync on. I am no expert in this feild, but I personally figured that if my monitor can only display X fps, there is no point in having my video card send out XX fps.

So bassically, in my opinion, no you do not need a new monitor before a graphics card.

Have a good one!
-0cer
:cool:
 
@md0Cer said:
I would not worry about your monitor. That is a very good monitor. For an example of a crappy monitor, I have a Gateway EV700 from 1997. The screen is not flat and if I decided to run at 1280X1024:
  • Things are not very clear and slightly blurred
  • It only supports a 60Hz refresh rate

If your monitor can support 1280X960 at 85Hz, that is a pretty good monitor.


That would be correct. If your monitor can only display 60 frames per second it does not really matter if the video card can display 70 or even 1000 frames per second.

I personally usually leave vsync on. I am no expert in this feild, but I personally figured that if my monitor can only display X fps, there is no point in having my video card send out XX fps.

So bassically, in my opinion, no you do not need a new monitor before a graphics card.

Have a good one!
-0cer
:cool:
[off topic]
Hey cool. I had an EV900, but I just sold it along with my back-up system. It did 1280x1024 @110hz. [/off topic]
 
ap673 said:
...

Hm so I guess people that brag about 150FPS in watever game are kiddin themselves. I guess upgrading graphics card is only to unsure a constant FPS at that given refresh rate.

Not necessarily. Some monitors have very high refresh rates. An example of this are "Professional" and "Graphic" monitors. Most of the big companies will have a series of one or both types. I wouldn't worry about your monitor for now, though. The one you have now is a bit better than the regular economy flat CRT's. Even if your monitor can't keep up with a new vid card, the worst case senario, is that you'll be stuck with the having to run in the same resolution you do now, but you'll be able to turn on more eye candy, and not have the the performance hit (still a gain). If you choose to upgrade the monitor, you'll be in exactly the same situation you are in now just with a better monitor.
 
well, i upgraded from an NEC 1700a, and will never go back to LCD, until it can meet or get close to my current crt specs.
i think you should upgrade if you plan on playing at 1600x1200, and im sure you will with the 6800gt. 70hz, isn't going to cut it imho, too much flickering. i don't know much too much about other monitors but heres my specs so you can compare, 21" trinitron- 120hz @ 1280x960, 100hz @ 1280x1024, and 100hz @ 1600x1200. i love it!!
 
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