24" Widescreen CRT (FW900) From Ebay arrived,Comments.

[Sinizar]

Wow, are you serious? Does this happen with all ATI cards?

From what I can tell all 5,000 series cards work this way. It is on ATI's forums that you need the edit the registry to get a CRT working above 60Hz.

I have friends that have the 4,000 series cards from ATI and the FW900 but they work great.

My card will go up for sale if I test the new nVidia DX11 card and it works with DVI to BNC the way my 8800GTS did.

 

[Sinizar]

Any chance you can post this batch file somewhere? Maybe just copy and paste the code here. I'd like to make hacking my EDID as easy as possible. I will be going ATI soon....

Sure, it might take me a little while. I want to clean it up and put all the resolutions and refresh rates that the FW900 is capable of displaying. Once I get it setup I will post the text here so you can create a .bat file. Actually I might make it a .reg file so you just need to double click it.

Hmm, now that I think about it, each card will probably be specific to your registry. Here is what I recommend doing. Edit the registry according to these website links. (make a backup of your registry first in case something gets messed up) After you make the changes you can export that section out and anytime you need to add it to the registry just double click the .reg export file.

http://forums.hexus.net/graphics-cards-monitors/179412-cat-9-12-crt-refresh-rate-issues.html
http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=279&threadid=120778&enterthread=y&STARTPAGE=2

For additional tweaking you might want to try Ray Adam's ATI Tray Tools. (ATI should hire this guy)

http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=733

I am going to try these tools with DVI to BNC cable. I will post my findings.

 

[WhatTheSchmidt]

You can expect to give up on ATI and look forward to testing nVidia's next DX11 card.

Here is my experience with ATI 5850. I came from an 8800GTS 512MB where everything worked great from DVI to BNC cable. I could get a bunch of resolutions and refresh rates.

I built a new computer with an ATI 5850. ATI 5850 cannot identify a CRT and sets any resolution it gives me to 59Hz or 60Hz for the refresh rate. Absolutely no way to get the DVI to BNC to work under Windows 7 64 bit. So I had to switch to a DVI to VGA which side by side tests the colors look deeper on the BNC cable. With the DVI to VGA cable I have the same issue except I can go into the registry and add in the resolutions and refresh rates to set the registry and allow me to use the resolutions and refresh rates that my monitor supports. I created a batch file to do this because every time you install the ATI drivers you have to add the information to the registry. How to do this is on the ATI forums. If you can't find it let me know and I will send you the information.

Recap, ATI with CRT is terrible. ATI with DVI to BNC will not work. ATI with DVI to VGA works but you have to add the information to the registry.

sounds like quite a mess

I had somewhat similar issues but it wasn't with a crt refresh rate but rather my LCD monitor not being identified at all by windows 7 64 bit and upon first normal startup the screen would go blank when going into windows. The first install I got in once, rebooted then it didn't work, but I could do safemode but was unable to fix it by getting drivers or anything. I reinstalled and nothing, I was screwed, couldn't see anything at all, tried safemode and that screwed up the install since it can't finish the settings except in normal mode. After a couple more installs a PnP monitor driver installed and it went into windows successfully, I finally had a monitor show up on device manager and updated the driver to my acer 2051w after a few more things.

Sorry for the off topic but it was a similar thing...might help someone?

 

[Rock&Roll]

Sure, it might take me a little while. I want to clean it up and put all the resolutions and refresh rates that the FW900 is capable of displaying. Once I get it setup I will post the text here so you can create a .bat file. Actually I might make it a .reg file so you just need to double click it.

Hmm, now that I think about it, each card will probably be specific to your registry. Here is what I recommend doing. Edit the registry according to these website links. (make a backup of your registry first in case something gets messed up) After you make the changes you can export that section out and anytime you need to add it to the registry just double click the .reg export file.

http://forums.hexus.net/graphics-cards-monitors/179412-cat-9-12-crt-refresh-rate-issues.html
http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=279&threadid=120778&enterthread=y&STARTPAGE=2

For additional tweaking you might want to try Ray Adam's ATI Tray Tools. (ATI should hire this guy)

http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=733

I am going to try these tools with DVI to BNC cable. I will post my findings.

Thanks Sinizar

 

[GreenMonkey]

Thanks for the update on the ATI 5xxx issue. Lucky I just got a 4670 rather than a 5xxx card.

Hope they fix it up soon.

 

[ZeosPantera]

You can expect to give up on ATI and look forward to testing nVidia's next DX11 card.
Here is my experience with ATI 5850. I came from an 8800GTS 512MB where everything worked great from DVI to BNC cable. I could get a bunch of resolutions and refresh rates.
I built a new computer with an ATI 5850. ATI 5850 cannot identify a CRT and sets any resolution it gives me to 59Hz or 60Hz for the refresh rate. Absolutely no way to get the DVI to BNC to work under Windows 7 64 bit. So I had to switch to a DVI to VGA which side by side tests the colors look deeper on the BNC cable. With the DVI to VGA cable I have the same issue except I can go into the registry and add in the resolutions and refresh rates to set the registry and allow me to use the resolutions and refresh rates that my monitor supports. I created a batch file to do this because every time you install the ATI drivers you have to add the information to the registry. How to do this is on the ATI forums. If you can't find it let me know and I will send you the information.
Recap, ATI with CRT is terrible. ATI with DVI to BNC will not work. ATI with DVI to VGA works but you have to add the information to the registry.

Wow, are you serious? Does this happen with all ATI cards?

ATI 4k series did not have problems.
ATI 5k series does not support crt without a registry hack and you will not be able to use BNC.

Does ATI-tray-tools work with the 5000 series yet? That's how I got my fw900 to work with my 4890.

Hi everybody
I'm a recent proud owner of an FW900. It's an amazing monitor, and I really like the CRT technology.

Until a while ago I used to hook it on to an older Apple Powerbook with VGA output, which worked fine. Now I'm using a slightly newer PowerBook with DVI output... and I've noticed there's quite a bit of image quality difference. I've tried three different solutions, and none of them seem to provide a crystal clear image.

I'm sorry if this has been asked before but the topic is quite long so I figure I'll ask again, what is the best way to hook up an FW900 when there's only DVI available? Would this work? http://www.computercablestore.com/2_Meter_DVI_A_to_5_BNC_Ca_PID1339.aspx

Thanks for any help, very happy to have found such an active topic on this monitor

EDIT: ps, I'm going to try and see if I can adjust the focus knobs from the outside. I'm quite unskilled so opening it up is out of the question for me. is the inner aluminum layer, the one directly underneath the plastic, safe to touch with a screwdriver or is that a surefire way to put your organs on a skillet? you know... just in case. (sorry for being such a noob!)

You won't die if you touch it (edit: You wont die if you touch the outside. If you stick a screwdriver through the tin at the right spot .. yes you will die. But its a 100-1 shot!).. and the Adapter that goes from DVI to D-sub may affect your quality and cause shadowing. Change adapters.

 

[Pixel Eater]

That wouldn't happen to be an eyefinity setup? If so, I'd like to know how well it's running, and if you can run higher refresh rates than 60Hz.

All three of my FW900's (one in use) also look different. One is very blue. One is very red. The other is balanced. I can adjust them so they're very close to each other, mostly through the OSD. As far as whites go, none get as white as my PVA LCD panel. But that is to be expected. I'll gladly take an less-bright white over having the input lag and poor black response of an LCD.

I am sorry for missing this question. No, I am using 2 cards. Ideally they'd be identical, but I am using an 8800 GTX for two monitors and an 8800 GTS for the leftmost one.

 

[Pixel Eater]

Wow, I just got around to reading the colorimeter discussion. I'm glad the thread went there. Good information!

 

[trasixes]

Wow didnt know that about ATI cards,guess its a good thing my i traded my old office monitor in for a LCD one when i did since i had just bought an ATI card.

 

[Blackbeard Ben]

Hmm. I have an ATI 5770, and I get 85Hz max (at 1920x1200) with the GDM-FW900 that I picked up yesterday (got it for a steal at the uni surplus store, only $75). 2304x1440 is max 80Hz. Lower 16:10 resolutions don't scale right, locking at 4:3. I'm using CCC 10.2.

Oh... I see, you are trying to use a BNC cable. Missed that the first time. I'm just using the typical analog output from a DVI port through a VGA adapter, as most people are.

TF2 is amazing on it, I have to say. Buttery smooth even at the max resolution. On the other hand, I run Crysis at max everything and 1920x1200 for about 25 fps average, and it looks choppier than my 24" BenQ does. Actually, I'm surprised at how good Crysis looks at low frame rates compared to other games. It's entirely playable in the campaign at that frame rate, whereas any Source engine game is rather choppy.

Text is better on the FW900 than how it was initially set now that I adjusted convergence, but to be honest it's been so long since I've used a CRT that I don't remember quite how it should look. Maybe it needs to be focused again, but I don't want to mess with it for now.

Well, I'm also comparing to the IBM T221 that is my other monitor... Now that is one razor sharp screen. It's just not usable for gaming at the full res since there is no Eyefinity capable card that has four DVI outputs (yet). I get 3840x2400 at 20Hz right now with two DVI inputs on the T221; with four I would get 41Hz and acceptable speed for single player gaming considering the resolution.

 

[Bummrus[H]a]

Well, I'm also comparing to the IBM T221 that is my other monitor... Now that is one razor sharp screen. It's just not usable for gaming at the full res since there is no Eyefinity capable card that has four DVI outputs (yet). I get 3840x2400 at 20Hz right now with two DVI inputs on the T221; with four I would get 41Hz and acceptable speed for single player gaming considering the resolution.

That would be pretty sick! Maybe the upcoming 5870 2GB w/6 mini DP and some active DP -> DVI converters would do the trick?

 

[ZeosPantera]

to be honest it's been so long since I've used a CRT that I don't remember quite how it should look. Maybe it needs to be focused again,

There. Use that to do your convergence adjusting. You should just see single pixels with no color bleed and check if your edge geometry is all visible. If those pixels cant focus to a single point you may need to do the screwdriver focusing.

 

[Rock&Roll]

There. Use that to do your convergence adjusting. You should just see single pixels with no color bleed and check if your edge geometry is all visible. If those pixels cant focus to a single point you may need to do the screwdriver focusing.

checkemon is a program with lots of test patterns. Comes with dot pattern, geometry, and color scales.

 

[Blackbeard Ben]

That would be pretty sick! Maybe the upcoming 5870 2GB w/6 mini DP and some active DP -> DVI converters would do the trick?

That is exactly what I'm looking forward to. Well, actually my hope is that ATI will include at least four DVI chips on the card so I can use passive adapters. Those active ones seem to be spotty at best, and having four different adapters outputting to the same screen would make any issues stand out more than a normal set up. Unfortunately, what I've heard so far seems to indicate that it'll come with just two passive DVI adapters.

I see today that there's also going to be a 5770 with five DP outputs too. That'd be better on the budget and good enough for old games, but the cost of active adapters would make it cost too much for what it is.

There's also a 4850 X2 card that has four DVI outputs. That would work perfectly in Windows XP and would have been my choice if there was native support for spanning in 7.

There. Use that to do your convergence adjusting. You should just see single pixels with no color bleed and check if your edge geometry is all visible. If those pixels cant focus to a single point you may need to do the screwdriver focusing.

All I see with that link is a 160x100 black box... But I have found some other convergence patterns online. I'm waiting for it to warm up right now, but I already calibrated the convergence on some text earlier. My point is that I don't really remember how sharp to expect the monitor to be compared to LCDs - it still looks a little out of focus, like there is a soft focus filter applied to the whole image.

Okay, warmed up now...

Check out this pattern:
http://www.rezolutionstudios.com/public/convergence_test.jpg

On the FW900 the cross-hairs look like round blobs (at 2304x1440, 80Hz) with only the slightest hint that they're not supposed to look circular. Horizontal convergence looks alright, but vertically I can't get it to be perfect. There's always some bleed; a small red or blue line on bottom and top no matter what I set it at. They look fine on my BenQ, although I haven't tried the IBM. That'll just make 'em too small to see!

I'll try that CheckeMON later to see if it can help.

 

[Sinizar]

Thanks Sinizar

Sorry everyone no luck with getting refresh rates to work with BNC. Even after editing the .inf files for the ATI 10.2 driver for Windows 7 64 bit I was unable to get higher refresh rates. By editing the files I was able to get all the resolutions but all of them are stuck at 60Hz or less. Even if I go into the Catalyst Control Center and set the monitor properties to 85Hz by unchecking use EDID or driver defaults it shows that it changed the refresh rate but the monitor is still stuck at 60Hz.

I even tried ATI Tray Tools v1.6.9.1472 and all it found was 60Hz or lower for the default of every resolution. When I typed in a higher refresh rate and told it to enforce it the refresh rate still stayed at 60Hz for desktop and games.

So for now it is back to the DVI to VGA cable. I was really loving the color of the BNC cable again, even at 60Hz.

So for now edit the C7_95693.inf and CH_95693.inf files which can be found usually in the default unpack folder C:\ATI\Support\10-2_vista64_win7_64_dd_ccc_wdm_enu\Packages\Drivers\Display\W76A_INF directory after unpacking the ATI 10.2 drivers under Windows 7.

The line you want to edit is DALNonStandardModesBCD before installing the driver or you can edit this in regedit after the driver install and then reboot.

So if you want 1600 x 1024 at 85Hz all you would add or change is 16,00,10,24,00,00,00,85 so you are looking at resolution, resolution, resolution, resolution, 00,00, refresh rate, refresh rate.

I hope this at least will help the users of DVI to VGA using ATI 5X,XXX series cards.

 

[ZeosPantera]

I even tried ATI Tray Tools v1.6.9.1472 and all it found was 60Hz or lower for the default of every resolution. When I typed in a higher refresh rate and told it to enforce it the refresh rate still stayed at 60Hz for desktop and games.

Did you get to this part of ATT?
Changing the DDC to 2304x1440 and 90Hz gets my XP to let me choose up to 1920x1440 which is odd considering I asked for full but I only run 19.12.85 anyways.

 

[Sinizar]

Did you get to this part of ATT?
Changing the DDC to 2304x1440 and 90Hz gets my XP to let me choose up to 1920x1440 which is odd considering I asked for full but I only run 19.12.85 anyways.

Different operating system. I am running Windows 7. I don't even see this option under Windows 7 for ATI Tools. I will look tonight when I get a chance.

 

[ZeosPantera]

Different operating system. I am running Windows 7. I don't even see this option under Windows 7 for ATI Tools. I will look tonight when I get a chance.

I am using v1.3.6.1042 of ATT in case for some reason the older version has that option.

 

[Whippy]

Just a heads up.. Here is one on ebay in Houston TX..

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sony-Trinitron-...ZViewItemQQptZTelevisions?hash=item2a0516db94

Starting at $50.. 6 days left..
"Local Pick up preferable. I can help arrange for shipping (email me)"..

I will let you know how good it is when I get it.

I have been lurking in this thread for a good part of 3 years due to the great information and photographs. I finally registered for this forum today.

I have always had a crt, some dell way back when. Sometime about 5 years ago, I picked up an 18 inch flat screen trinitron, which was spectacular. I always lusted for larger/bigger/better. About 3 years ago, I began searching again. Due to costs I "settled" for an Ibm C220p, which still to this day is spectacular. It runs 1600*1200 @ 100 hz, and just plain is amazing.

I made a mistake a few months back and "upgraded" to a 22" hd lcd. I ended up giving it to my mother-in-law so she can play peggle in high definition. As far as LCDs go, thats the best use. Give them away or throw them away.

Either way, The seller of that monitor has great feedback, and has already stated that he will ship it at the very latest Monday. He has told me that the monitor is near perfect in condition. I didn't ask about cables, so I picked up a DVI-A to BNC cable. Rumor has it that they provide better color quality. In the event it does not work, I will have to use the VGA.

It is possible in Windows 7 to override the "PnP" drivers, but does require a properly "Decorated" Inf file. I had to make one for my C220p to operate in windows 7 with all the proper resolutions AND allow refresh rates above and beyond to work.

I am understanding that the BNC plugs do not transfer the edid information, which could be a blessing or a curse. I hated re-writing the last inf file, so maby this will allow simple "plug and use" where I can set my preferred resolution and refresh rate.

I only have one question at the moment:

What refresh rate is the recommended resolution 1920x1600 capable of?

A great many thanks.

 

[PAo_ReVoLT]

I will let you know how good it is when I get it.

I have been lurking in this thread for a good part of 3 years due to the great information and photographs. I finally registered for this forum today.

I have always had a crt, some dell way back when. Sometime about 5 years ago, I picked up an 18 inch flat screen trinitron, which was spectacular. I always lusted for larger/bigger/better. About 3 years ago, I began searching again. Due to costs I "settled" for an Ibm C220p, which still to this day is spectacular. It runs 1600*1200 @ 100 hz, and just plain is amazing.

I made a mistake a few months back and "upgraded" to a 22" hd lcd. I ended up giving it to my mother-in-law so she can play peggle in high definition. As far as LCDs go, thats the best use. Give them away or throw them away.

Either way, The seller of that monitor has great feedback, and has already stated that he will ship it at the very latest Monday. He has told me that the monitor is near perfect in condition. I didn't ask about cables, so I picked up a DVI-A to BNC cable. Rumor has it that they provide better color quality. In the event it does not work, I will have to use the VGA.

It is possible in Windows 7 to override the "PnP" drivers, but does require a properly "Decorated" Inf file. I had to make one for my C220p to operate in windows 7 with all the proper resolutions AND allow refresh rates above and beyond to work.

I am understanding that the BNC plugs do not transfer the edid information, which could be a blessing or a curse. I hated re-writing the last inf file, so maby this will allow simple "plug and use" where I can set my preferred resolution and refresh rate.

I only have one question at the moment:

What refresh rate is the recommended resolution 1920x1600 capable of?

A great many thanks.

welcome to the forum,

as a owner of FW900, i'm telling you this monitor is best of the best (for graphic). the optimum refresh rate for 1920*1200 should be 85mhz and for the max resolution (2034*1440) is 80mhz

hope you enjoy the beast

 

[ZeosPantera]

Rumor has it that they provide better color quality.

Rumor my ass. I will not run either of my FW900's without the RGBHV input. Yes it makes that much of a difference. Properly calibrated I say the sharpness rivals that of DVI-lcds.

As far as the Win7 stuff goes.. Read the last 3-4 pages of this thread. That seems to be all we talk about. Its ease of install also heavily depends on if you are running ATi or Nvidia.

Yeah 1920x1200@85 is the monitors reference resolution.

 

[Sinizar]

Rumor my ass. I will not run either of my FW900's without the RGBHV input. Yes it makes that much of a difference. Properly calibrated I say the sharpness rivals that of DVI-lcds.

As far as the Win7 stuff goes.. Read the last 3-4 pages of this thread. That seems to be all we talk about. Its ease of install also heavily depends on if you are running ATi or Nvidia.

Yeah 1920x1200@85 is the monitors reference resolution.

I agree DVI to BNC is amazing. The color, the crispness, the focus, everything looks better when I use the BNC. Because of the ATI 5850 card I have had no luck getting it working above 60Hz with BNC so I have had to go with a DVI to VGA. I can immediately tell the color difference. If anyone finds a solution with Windows 7 and the ATI 5 series please post how to get refresh rates up with DVI to BNC.

I miss it enough that if I find out the GTX 480 supports it I will immediately ebay my ATI card and order the GTX 480 video card from nVidia.

 

[Riddleofsteel]

Too bad to hear about this. Would BNC work properly with XP and the same Radeon card?

 

[ampdude]

You can expect to give up on ATI and look forward to testing nVidia's next DX11 card.

Here is my experience with ATI 5850. I came from an 8800GTS 512MB where everything worked great from DVI to BNC cable. I could get a bunch of resolutions and refresh rates.

I built a new computer with an ATI 5850. ATI 5850 cannot identify a CRT and sets any resolution it gives me to 59Hz or 60Hz for the refresh rate. Absolutely no way to get the DVI to BNC to work under Windows 7 64 bit. So I had to switch to a DVI to VGA which side by side tests the colors look deeper on the BNC cable. With the DVI to VGA cable I have the same issue except I can go into the registry and add in the resolutions and refresh rates to set the registry and allow me to use the resolutions and refresh rates that my monitor supports. I created a batch file to do this because every time you install the ATI drivers you have to add the information to the registry. How to do this is on the ATI forums. If you can't find it let me know and I will send you the information.

Recap, ATI with CRT is terrible. ATI with DVI to BNC will not work. ATI with DVI to VGA works but you have to add the information to the registry.

Geez that sucks! As I'm on a CRT, I'm glad I'm only running the 4850. I'm also glad I heard about this issue, I was thinking of upgrading.

 

[Blackbeard Ben]

I agree DVI to BNC is amazing. The color, the crispness, the focus, everything looks better when I use the BNC. Because of the ATI 5850 card I have had no luck getting it working above 60Hz with BNC so I have had to go with a DVI to VGA. I can immediately tell the color difference. If anyone finds a solution with Windows 7 and the ATI 5 series please post how to get refresh rates up with DVI to BNC.

I miss it enough that if I find out the GTX 480 supports it I will immediately ebay my ATI card and order the GTX 480 video card from nVidia.

I'd be in quite the pickle if that were to happen. I need Eyefinity for one monitor and would appreciate full BNC support for the other!

 

[shurcooL]

Due to costs I "settled" for an Ibm C220p, which still to this day is spectacular. It runs 1600*1200 @ 100 hz, and just plain is amazing.

Wow, 100 Hz at 16x12! Holy crap! I want that monitor. =(

My 21" CRT only does 85 Hz at 16x12... x.x

 

[Cyberbeing]

The Sony GDM-F520 also does 1600x1200 @100 hz. It only requires the CRT be capable of about 127 Khz on the horizontal frequency. High-end 21" CRTs usually max out at 137-140 Khz on the horizontal frequency. Riding on those limits, a 16:9 resolution of 1920x1080 @120 hz is also possible.

 

[robble]

egads.. I hope there are a lot of CAD type people in this thread otherwise I can't see why this thread is almost 6000 posts long about a CRT!


I'd rather have a slightly smaller lcd that weighs 60lbs less than a slightly larger CRT..

 

[Whippy]

Wow, 100 Hz at 16x12! Holy crap! I want that monitor. =(

My 21" CRT only does 85 Hz at 16x12... x.x

http://www.google.com/products?hl=e...esult_group&ct=title&resnum=3&ved=0CB8QrQQwAg



It worked at 100hz in Windows XP with no issue. However....
I had to jump through all sorts of loops to get it to work in windows 7/vista like that.

I had to "decorate" the .ini file from the drivers.
Then I had to pluck 2 pins from the dvi cable.
Then I had to plug the monitor back in, only to have it recognized as a "Non PnP monitor"
Now is where you upgrade your driver to your newly created one. This of course tells you that its a non-signed driver.

THEN you need to allow override of refresh rates in the Nvidia control panel.

It is possible that your monitor will do 100 hz.

 

[ZeosPantera]

egads.. I hope there are a lot of CAD type people in this thread otherwise I can't see why this thread is almost 6000 posts long about a CRT!

CAD? Try just strait up quality-freaks and movie enthusiasts and Gaming aficionado's and us all out stubborn bastards who can't stand 60Hz and a viewable angle less then 180 degrees!

I'd rather have a slightly smaller lcd that weighs 60lbs less than a slightly larger CRT..

I don't get it.. Does everyone I speak to about the 900 pick up their lcd monitors and take them to the breakfast table and off to work every day?

What the hell does the weight have to do with anything? If you have a small desk, yes, the depth can be an issue. But most desks can hold a mere 97lbs.

I would also like to add that I, being a person of profound vision and great humanity and understanding, have noticed currently the only thing any TV or Monitor manufacturer has to say about their displays is how f*cking thin it is. Occasionally they spout out about high contrast led back lighting and vivid colors, but VIVID colors doesn't mean correct colors and high contrast has nothing to do with reproduction levels of grayscale.

I want my TV-Monitor to "Have the best picture" not.. "look the best" There is a difference and I believe in Harvey Dent.

 

[robble]

No doubt a crt will look better than an LCD, but if you mainly game and do internet, that crt is kinda overkill - especially on desk real estate.

Also - I do move my monitor on a regular basis. I'm fairly sure it's under 15lbs. My estimate of 60lbs lighter seems to have been way off.

But most desks can hold a mere 97lbs.

Anyway, I'm not meaning to thread crap. I was just wondering why this thread is so mega huge.

 

[Cyberbeing]

I was just wondering why this thread is so mega huge.

It basically ended up turning into the CRT appreciation & support thread for the entire English speaking internet.

 

[Blackbeard Ben]

It basically ended up turning into the CRT appreciation & support thread for the entire English speaking internet.

Agreed. That's why signed up here!

Rarity has to do with it. Most people threw out (recycled) their old CRTs when they broke or upgraded, and now pretty much all that's left in the technophile world (I'm excluding business machines and grannies who refuse to upgrade) seems to be the high end monitors like the 900. The owners seem to be flocking together, of course.

After years of poor LCDs, I have to admit I find it extremely refreshing to be using both ultra-high end LCDs and CRTs. Both have their strengths - that's why I wouldn't get rid of either of mine.

I'm still unsure about getting rid of my cheaper 24" LCD though. It only weighs about 10 pounds and is actually pretty good for gaming and general use compared to the other monitors at the same price point. For LANing and easy transport it's hard to beat. As graduating college student I've moved far more times than I care to count, and a 90lb monitor is just another thing to add to my list of oversized appliances (2 x 50lb and 2 x 25lb speakers, 100lb more audio equipment, a 25lb monitor, a trombone, rollers for winter biking, etc. etc. etc...). The desk space is tight too - and that's before I've loaded the 900 on it.

 

[Sinizar]

Thanks Sinizar

I got my ATI 5850 working with my DVI to BNC cable running above 60Hz. It is a work around but worth it if you plan to be on the computer for a while.

Once you have completed all the other things like editing the .inf files before installing the drivers, etc., you boot up and setup the monitor using DVI to VGA cable. Set the resolution and refresh rates to your liking. You will need a second monitor of any type plugged into the other video card port because you need to unplug the dvi to vga cable and then plug the dvi to bnc cable in where the previous cable was plugged in. Before you do this switch your input on the FW900 to input 2. Switch the cables on the video card and the FW900 will go blank. Right click on the other monitor's desktop and choose Catalyst control center. From the Graphics toolbar drop down choose Desktops and Displays and then click the Detect Displays button.

After this your FW900 will come back on and from the black arrow drop down on the FW900 default vga monitor option you can now choose the resolution and refresh rate you want and click apply. Now if you check your FW900 you will see that the resolution and refresh rate are correct. So this is proof the ATI 5850 display can produce the refresh rate from DVI to BNC but it is only a work around until ATI finally gets their act together.

 

[Riddleofsteel]

Good to hear. Do you have to do that on every boot?

 

[Sinizar]

Good to hear. Do you have to do that on every boot?

Start over. Have to do the cable swap again. Worst yet, once you launch a game, the game sets it back to 60Hz so back to the drawing board. So disregard my other post it really isn't worth all the time if it just resets to 60Hz once you start gaming. If I wanted to game at 60Hz I would buy LCD.

 

[Whippy]

The troubles that I have had over the past few years with my C220p, is that all resolution and refresh rates work great in XP. However Vista and 7 have more stringent EDID acceptance, and if there is no EDID, than it will usually default to 800x600 @ 60hz. Has anyone tried to install monitor drivers via INF while using the 5XXX series?

I pulled pins out of my DVI cable to have my monitor report as a non-PnP. Than I FORCED an installation of the drivers of my choice through device manager. The quirk with it is that you cannot let windows pick a driver, even if you select the folder. YOU need to MANUALLY select the correct driver specifically and when it gives you the Unsigned driver warning, ignore it by clicking as much.

This allowed me to set my resolution and refresh rate manually.

I don't know if anything here will help or not, but is my method of getting proper resolutions with no EIDID information.

 

[Blackbeard Ben]

The troubles that I have had over the past few years with my C220p, is that all resolution and refresh rates work great in XP. However Vista and 7 have more stringent EDID acceptance, and if there is no EDID, than it will usually default to 800x600 @ 60hz. Has anyone tried to install monitor drivers via INF while using the 5XXX series?

I pulled pins out of my DVI cable to have my monitor report as a non-PnP. Than I FORCED an installation of the drivers of my choice through device manager. The quirk with it is that you cannot let windows pick a driver, even if you select the folder. YOU need to MANUALLY select the correct driver specifically and when it gives you the Unsigned driver warning, ignore it by clicking as much.

This allowed me to set my resolution and refresh rate manually.

I don't know if anything here will help or not, but is my method of getting proper resolutions with no EIDID information.

It also works for overriding any EDID that doesn't have the resolutions you want, or choosing an EDID that only supports the resolutions and refresh rates you want to use. I had to do that to get Eyefinity working with my T221. Eyefinity doesn't let you choose the resolution of each monitor in a group - it's set to the highest resolution supported. This was a problem for the T221, where the max resolution for each DVI link was not what I actually wanted to use.

 

[Blackbeard Ben]

Here's a question for everyone: Has anyone tried using a passive DisplayPort to VGA adapter with the FW900 and had it work at all resolutions/refresh rates with minimal issues? Ideally, I want to run it next to my T221, which is using the two DVI ports.

 

[enter260]

I just bought a FW900 and hooked it up. I tried both VGA and BNC cables but I see flickering on the monitor. Is my refresh rate not high enough? Currently 1920 X 1200 @ 85 hz.