How to get the most out of my card/monitor setup

[smithy1988]

Hi i am looking for some advice or help as to whether my setup is as good as it could be. I have never really understood resolution/monitors/refresh rate. I am wondering if i am making the best use of my current setup or if i need to change a few settings connections to get a better result.

I currently have an Ati 4870 512mb ggdr5 graphics card.
Connected to this i have a DVI-Hdmi adaptor as supplied from ati in the box, and then a dvi cable runs from the adaptor to the back of my Samsung tv which has a hdmi input. The model number for this Tv is LE26R73BD.

i notice there are two outputs from the gpu, is there any difference, or are they identical and just there incase i wanted to run two monitors side by side.

What resolutions should i be using on games/general use to get the best from my equipment.

Would i see a big difference if i bought a monitor dedicated for a computer compared to my TV that doubles up as a monitor?

Thanks

 

[Alex74]

i notice there are two outputs from the gpu, is there any difference, or are they identical and just there incase i wanted to run two monitors side by side.

100% right on all counts doesnt matter which connection you use.

What resolutions should i be using on games/general use to get the best from my equipment.

The highest progressive scan resolution supported on your TV is 1366x768, so I'd stick with that. Best to go with the native resolution of your TV to get the best image quality. You're 4870 will be blisteringly fast through it, and you can add plenty of Antialiasing to clear up any jaggies

Would i see a big difference if i bought a monitor dedicated for a computer compared to my TV that doubles up as a monitor?

Possibly, you could pay for a higher resolution, better response time, contrast ratio.. All depends on how much money you want to invest in it though.
Fundamentally there's no difference between an LCD monitor and LCD TV, except for the fact that TV's usually have more connectivity, inbuilt sound and aerials/digiboxes. That's why they generally cost more than monitors for the same image quality. (oh and they're often bigger another reason they cost more)

Thanks

hope this helps.

I suppose the best questions I could ask in return would be,

How are you finding it? Does gameplay feel smooth? Do you like the image quality you get from your screen?

 

[smithy1988]

Thank you yes that does make sense and helps!

I dont have an option to adjust to 1366x768 on my computer? Do i therefore choose the closest which is 1300x768?

Are there any other settings within my ati control center that can be changed to see a difference? i think the majority are set as application chosen. e.g. aa/ a filtering etc?

To answer your questions, I have had this set up for nearly two years, gameplay does feel smooth i have just never been completely convinced that i was getting the full benefit from my card/monitor. It perhaps lacks in some sharpness, and was a big jump as i went from a 17inch tft to this samsung combined tv/monitor.

Would i see a vast difference using a monitor that coule support a 1920 resolution?

 

[Alex74]

To run your desktop at an HDTV native resolution, go to the Catalyst control centre, then desktops and displays, click on the little arrow above the monitor and in the HDTV Support tab you'll find options to use the resolutions you need.
Many modern games will offer your resolution. Others, you'll probably have to make the best of what is offered ingame.

You can force antialiasing/anisotropic filtering from the control centre by just setting them off of application controlled and putting in your own setting. Antialiasing's a fun one because you can explore the different filters offered.
One feature you can also add yourself from the drivers is Adaptive Antialiasing (not generally activated by games themselves). This will apply antialiasing to alpha textures (used for fences, smoke etc). It can hit framerates pretty badly, but can look very nice


A 1920x1080/1200 monitor would probably look better, but would be more of a strain on your system

 

[Alex74]

If you're interested in further reading on the various settings and features, including those you mentioned in your first post, I'd recommend this guide: Link

Again, hope this helps

 

[smithy1988]

Thank you, yes big help, just busy installing latest driver for card then going to have a bit of a play with the settings from there. I'll have a look through the link aswell.

Thanks Again

 

[Alex74]

No worries, enjoy!

 

[smithy1988]

hi Alex i am currently on the HDTV support tab under the catalyst control centre.
I have added one of the standard resolutions like it asks then clicked add to adjust the width and height to try and get it 1366x768, however i cant go above 1200, if i choose the next biggest and then reduce it i cant go below 1400?

 

[Alex74]

hmm..if you can't define a custom resolution for it I'm not sure what to suggest in terms of getting to your native resolution..
If your TV supports 1:1 pixel mapping then you could just sacrifice some space for clarity by using the closest resolution you can.
Either that or you might have to just choose the closest 16:9 resolution you can that's below the given maximum and live with that. Shouldnt look too bad unless you're right up close

 

[smithy1988]

Yea iv settled at 1280x768. I set this went into the custom settings and started trying to increase it but it wouldnt go past 1280. I then went into the next biggest resolution listed - 1776x1000 and tried to reduce it but it wouldnt go any lower than around 1440 i could get the 1000 down to 720 but not the top figure.

Iv found the settings so going to whack them up and go onto cod to see if i can see any difference. Should i set cod at 1280x768?

 

[Alex74]

If it's the highest you can get below 1366x768 then go for it

 

[smithy1988]

Is there a reason for that though? Why can i not set my own custom?

 

[Alex74]

I'm not sure to be perfectly honest. Some games might just support it, some games require a quick edit in a configuration file to support it. For the desktop itself, though, you should be able to define a custom res in the driver. Not seeing it anywhere though Closest I could find was in the HDTV support section of CCC, which fails as you said.

EDIT: Try rivatuner link, it's a handy tweaker program which should allow you to set a custom resolution on your display..