Hey, I'm looking to get a new monitor for my old, old computer (1024x768 CRT screen, Pentium IV 2.4GHz, 1GB RAM, VGA capable only) and I was wondering: how does a bad gfx card interact with a decent monitor? The computer currently runs with a Nvidia ProSavageDDR, and I'm looking to get a nice, modern 1900x1080 monitor like the Asus G245H (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009208).

I suspect I won't be able to make full use of the monitor's capabilities, but I'm not sure and would like more details about this. If a monitor with lower expectations, like the Asus VH222H, would be more appropriate (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236053), then I'd like to know that. I'd upgrade the entire rig, but I'm already purchasing a new desktop for the family and we'd like to keep what we already have as a backup secondary computer, sh*t though it may be.

As to what I expect of this computer's usage: little to no gaming; mainly Internet browsing/email/workspace, and plenty of multimedia viewing. Much as it has always been.

Edit: I read somewhere that res. can be limited by the gfx card, which appears to be the case for the ProSavageDDR, as I remember one time I tried to display a resolution higher than 1024x768 but was unable to.

Edit2: I'll have to look for an inexpensive AGP gfx card capable of at least 1680x1050 res, and perhaps dumb the monitor res down to that. Any suggestions?

 

Yea you are not going to be able to display 1080p with that.

TBH with you, with your computer specs you may be able to output 1080p to a monitor with a really great AGP card but you will definitely experience a noticeable lag in performance (Limited by your CPU and ram).

My advice to you would be to upgrade and get a PCI-E card, as a cheap PCI-E card can easily outperform an expensive AGP card. This would be much better in the long term.

Last advice: Never buy a monitor that you cannot display on its native resolution, looks like crap otherwise.

 

ProSavageDDR is an S3 product not nvidia and the max res it can display is 1600by1200. Any of the AGP cards newegg sells can display 1080P+.

 

No. I doubt that a computer as old as his has PCI-Express at all, or any capability of upgrading to it. On a machine of that era, AGP isn't going to be the limiting factor anyway.

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Yes, the resolution can be limited by the gfx card. I would have expected though that it would be capable of more than 1024. The resolutions shown are probably the intersection of those supported by the gfx card and monitor; either of those could have been the limiting factor.

It's possible that card might be able to drive a monitor at 1920x1080, but it equally might not. Even if it did it might have performance issues since it's fairly dated. Sorry I can't offer more detail, but I've never used one of those cards.

 

Yeah, PCI-Express isn't viable unless I switch out the motherboard.

Appreciate all the input, guys. I'll figure out a workable setup.