Would a graphics card work?

subbytna · 10 Sep 2012 at 08:26

My mum has a pc with a VERY out of date monitor. SO out of date I cannot find ANY drivers for it and the screen has defaulted to a really crap res...you have to scroll side to side to read a web page.

If I bought her a discrete graphics card, 5450 or something...would having that card (and the drivers for it) let me choose a screen resolution or is it the actual monitor itself that gives you the option of changing the resolution?

She wants to be able to read screens without having to slide the bar side to side as the res is something like 600x800.

Would getting a card to plug in for her work or am I barking up the wrong tree?

subbytna · 10 Sep 2012 at 08:27

Forgot to add she has Windows 7 starter edition and 1 gig of RAM

Idleman · 10 Sep 2012 at 08:31

The monitor will determine your max resolution. What monitor is it and what is the resolution it is displaying?

Andrew Howell · 10 Sep 2012 at 09:26

Choose best monitor,s resolution that suits the monitor and good picture quality.

subbytna · 10 Sep 2012 at 13:05

I'm in work so can't be on here all the time lol...It defaults to a native resolution as there are no graphics/monitor drivers at all. I can't even get generic drivers for it as it is such an old monitor....over 7 years easy.

Can I get her a 5450 card and download the AMD drivers to get a better screen size for her? I think it is a 17" monitor off the top of my head.

anjs · 10 Sep 2012 at 13:10

Is it not using the default windows graphic drivers and can you not adjust the res by right clicking on the desktop and going to screen resoultion?

subbytna · 10 Sep 2012 at 13:12

It only gives me 1 single size of res to choose from : 800x600 and it won't let me choose any other option as they are all grayed out.

Surveyor · 10 Sep 2012 at 13:21

Depending on the Operating System your mum is using there should/may be a way to force Windows to let you select other resolutions.

Crowort · 10 Sep 2012 at 13:25

Have you tried reinstalling the driver for the integrated graphics?

Orcvader · 10 Sep 2012 at 13:26

What's the PC specs of her system? If it's an inbuilt GPU updating it should help...

anjs · 10 Sep 2012 at 13:49

and what is the max res the monitor will support?

dunn2010 · 10 Sep 2012 at 14:34

Couple things to try.

Depending on specs of your mums pc, any chance you could hook your PSU and your 570 to her system to test this? would rule out if its the gfx card thats needed.

Or could you not hook your mams PC up to a monitor your using? (if you live seperate just driver round with your monitor) again will cancel out if it is monitor / on board graphics

Also i read the below works on win7 starter.

1) Run regedit
2) Find "Display1_DownScalingSupported"
3) Modify the value from "0" to "1"
4) Restart the system
5) Any more resolutions available?

If your struggling to find drivers for the mboard on board graphics, below might help

go to start > right click computer > click manage > go to device manager

open up display adapters > in here should show on board GPU. right click this go to properties.

go to details tab > from drown down menu select hardware ID > copy the hardware id shown or type it into google search with drivers after it. should show a list of sites on where to get drivers for that hardware ID.

subbytna · 11 Sep 2012 at 13:24

Ok I'll be up at my mums again at the end of the month, I've revisit this thread and try things out, then report back, thanks for the input