Monitor Lag from video card...DVI cable?

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danzaman

Weaksauce
Joined
Nov 24, 2006
Messages
126
Hey, what's up guys...

I'm having this weird problem. I could just be a rookie at this kind of stuff, but I just purchased an Alienware laptop. Specs are decent (3.6GHz processor, 2GB ram, 256MB nVidia video, etc.). Anyway... I have been playing the game Oblivion on my laptop screen and it runs AMAZING at 1680x1050 with a lot of the settings turned up all the way.

However, for some reason when I attach my 22" monitor which also has the same native resolution as my laptop (1680x1050), it lags like CRAZY. The game is unplayable. I'm baffled why it runs perfect on my laptop, then when my monitor displays it - it's awful. I called Westinghouse, they said it's def. not the monitor. Now, I bought my DVI cable online real cheap. I wonder if that's what is causing it?? I have no ideas on this one, I was wondering if someone had some suggestions.

Thanks,

Dan
 
Does it "lag" when you're just running regular desktop apps? If not then its probably not the cable or the monitor. Have you contacted Alienware support about this?
 
Xeth - No, it runs fine when using regular desktop apps. It only lags when I'm playing graphically intense games. Maybe because my card can't handle it? I just assumed if it can run perfect at 1680x1050 on my laptop, then it can on the monitor since it's just showing the same resolution bigger.

Arcygenical - It does not. I choose to do a single display to the monitor through my nVidia control panel figuring that would dedicate all my resources to the monitor instead of splitting it.
 
*** sorry for posting twice, i'm trying to delete this post right now...haha ***
 
danzaman said:
No, it runs fine when using regular desktop apps. It only lags when I'm playing graphically intense games. Maybe because my card can't handle it? I just assumed if it can run perfect at 1680x1050 on my laptop, then it can on the monitor since it's just showing the same resolution bigger.

*** sorry for posting twice, i'm trying to delete this post right now...haha ***
Click to expand...

I'd DEFINITELY call dell.
 
Arcygenical said:
I'd DEFINITELY call dell.
Click to expand...

you think it may be an issue with the output on the laptop (DVI)?

I wonder if it's worth it for me to buy new cables or mess with some video card settings.

Also, I had to buy an adapter to get the DVI to work. My laptop output is DVI-I and my monitor input is DVI-D I believe. I have so many different problem spots, I'm not sure how to troubleshoot.
 
danzaman said:
you think it may be an issue with the output on the laptop (DVI)?

I wonder if it's worth it for me to buy new cables or mess with some video card settings.

Also, I had to buy an adapter to get the DVI to work. My laptop output is DVI-I and my monitor input is DVI-D I believe. I have so many different problem spots, I'm not sure how to troubleshoot.
Click to expand...

I'm honestly not sure what it is, but you bought a premium laptop with premium support. Use it :)

The DVI-I to DVI-D cable thing probably isn't the problem, as the I version of the port carries both VGA and DVI-D signals. The converter just has a few less pins, it's not manipulating the image in any way.

Have another monitor you can try?
 
DVI-I is compatible with DVI-D so you should not have to use an adapter. I'm curious about what kind of adapter you're using...?
 
Xeth said:
DVI-I is compatible with DVI-D so you should not have to use an adapter. I'm curious about what kind of adapter you're using...?
Click to expand...

It's probably a little dongle... I needed one to hook my older Apple CD up to my 8800... It's just one of those stubby things that change a DVI into a VGA port (except it goes DVI-I to DVI-D rather than to VGA... of course).
 
I believe I'm using a DVI-I female to DVI-D male adapter because the port on my monitor has the pins and 1 horizontal line where the cable connecting into it has the pins, 1 horizontal line as well as 4 additional pins around that line (if that makes any sense!)

here's a diagram...
dvi.jpg
 
Because Dell owns Alienware... He probably meant call Alienware AKA Dell.
 
seems like I may be able to rule out the cable/adapter... so it's prob. a computer issue. My monitor has a 5ms response time which I was told was pretty good and shouldn't be causing the problem.
 
danzaman said:
seems like I may be able to rule out the cable/adapter... so it's prob. a computer issue. My monitor has a 5ms response time which I was told was pretty good and shouldn't be causing the problem.
Click to expand...

even if the panel has a 5ms response time, it could have some serious issues with input lag....
 
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