ATI Enthusiasts

[redoctober]

Hello to all ATI enthusiasts!
I have a question for you. I would really appresiate if someone told me why ATI v-cards do not provide 1280x960 resolution? I mean, wouldn't be logical to have it? After all most of the monitors are 4x3. What was the motivation for the ATI engineers to leave this resolution out?
Any thoughts?

 

[AdmiralHorror]

I was faced with the same problem a while ago and never found an explanation or resolution for it. The fact that they support 1280x1024 but not 1280x960 surprised me quite a bit. The physical dimentions of a CRT monitor have a 4:3 width to height ratio. The resolution such as 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768 and 1600x1200 all have a 4:3 ratio as well to match the physical ratio of the monitor. Logically there should be a 1280x960 resolution and in fact there is, but not on ATI cards.
The resolutions with 5:4 ratio (like 1280x1024) are really intended for LCD monitors of 17" or higher as their physical ratio is in fact 5:4. Using these resolutions on CRT results in an image that is squashed vertically.
The reason why ATI is not aware of it is beyond me.

Cheers

 

[gargouille]

It's not just ATI, I'm noticing it with other mfr.'s cards, too, and looks like they're trying to shoo you to using one of the new rectangular-shaped oversized monitors that are coming out.
(surely not!) LOL

 

[redoctober]

Can you name the cards that don't suport it? I checked couple of GeForces they all have it.

 

[gargouille]

You're in an area, too, of considering what monitor it's hooked up with.
A spec machine I have has an MSI Geforce4 Ti-4200 in it, but it's hooked up to a 15" Princeton workbench monitor that I use, and the resolution ranges presented are wisely what the monitor can support. I'm sure when the customer hooks up the 19" flat CRT he has it will offer a rich range of resolutions/refresh rates.
In the end the real difference may be the monitor and what it can handle.

 

[redoctober]

Well it's true that resolutions not supported by the monitor are hidden by default, but you can disable that.
If you go to Control Panel->Display->Settings->Advanced->Monitor and uncheck option "hide modes that this monitor cannot support" click Ok. And you should be able to see all the modes that the video card provides. In ATI cards 1280x960 is missing.

 

[Grenage]

I imagine it's a matter of them not being able to rather than not wanting or forgetting too. General GFX card manufacturers are ready to slap just about every resolution and feature on a card they can.

 

[redoctober]

I'm getting the same impression. I was just hoping that there are some ATI employes here who hate thier job and cannot miss the oportunity to bash thier company

 

[Tschibo]

If you really need this resolution, try installing PowerStrip, besides of solving the refresh frequency problem under 2k/XP it lets you define (mostly) any resolution you want.
Try it, it's shareware. If you don't like it or it cannot handle the job (which i doubt), then remove it.
Greetz
Christoph