G400 not allowing full refresh rate.

[Reverend Maynard]

Howdy all. While my main rig is down I get to use my secondary machine, which houses my G400. I am currently running a 21" monitor as the main display and a 15" as the secondary. On the 21" at 1600x1200 it won't let me go above 75 Hz refresh even though the monitor is fully capable of running at 85 Hz at that resolution. Is there any way to make the G400 let me run the faster refresh rate? I am using the newest certified drivers in Windows XP, I tried the beta drivers but they won't let me run dual monitors.

[Greebe]

I've never run any certified drivers for the G400. But have no problems with the exact same setup as you are describing (21" monitor with a 15" as secondary powered by a G400Max).

[mmp121]

Does Windows have drivers installed for your 21 inch moniter? If not it is probably detected as a generic Plug and Play Monitor and might be why it will not let you go over 75Hz.

[Slougi]

Display Properties -> Settings -> Advanced -> Monitor
Untick "Hide modes that this monitor cannot display"

Press Apply

Then go to "Adapter" and click on the "List all modes button", select the resolution and refresh rate u want, click ok, then apply

There ya go

[Reverend Maynard]

There are no drivers for the exact model monitor I have, but windows chose the model closest. I tried plug and play monitor also, as well as just random drivers throughout the list hoping something would open up. I tried the list all modes button, but it doesn't have any option for 1600x1200 85Hz, even after I tell it to show all modes.

[BuddMan]

Make sure the drivers support the resolution you are trying for. You can check this in the inf file the drivers are using (or at least for ATI, not sure for Matrox's drivers....). If the mode isn't in the inf file, just simply add it and it should show up in your display properties.

[az]

In the old PowerDesk of my Millennium, there was the option to not use the windows monitor profile, but a special Matrox one, where you can fine-tune every single resolution/color depth mode in 1 Hz steps, plus zoom modes, picture size and vertical and horizontal alignment... I doubt this option isn't still there, maybe you could use that?

AZ

[Reverend Maynard]

Hmm. Intersting solution presented itself. I changed the desktop color depth to 16 bit and it then allows a refresh rate up to 90 Hz at 1600x1200. My Win2k + Geforce 3 always let me do 32 bit, which I just don't understand. Owell, this is plenty good for now, thanks all for your help.

[Rags]

DON'T USE the windows display properties MONITOR tab to set your refresh!!!!!!!!


Use MONITOR SETTINGS and click on adjust current display mode.

Rags

[Reverend Maynard]

Ou tof curiosity, what is the difference? I know you can set a much more precise refresh rate that way, but what advantage does it have when you use a standard refresh rate?

[zandor]

There's apparently some sort of limitation in the G400 that won't let it run over 75Hz 1600x1200x32 if you have dualhead enabled.
I've got a similar setup (21" and 19") and found that I could go up to at least 85Hz in 24 or 16 bit color.
I ended up buying a cheap GF2MX 32MB PCI card to run my second screen at least until I upgrade my main display. (Probably to a Parhelia)
One nifty thing about having 2 cards is that you don't have to shut down the 2nd head to play some games. UT works, GTA3 starts up but has strange problems (this game seems to have a fair number of those...). It's not a huge advantage but I like having an instant messaging app up while I'm playing in case someone logs in. CPU monitors are kinda fun on the 2nd head too.

Mike

[az]

Is it really possible to have a normal windows desktop being displayed while playing a game when using two cards? Does the game minimize when accessing something on the second display?

AZ

[Rags]

Originally posted by Reverend Maynard
Ou tof curiosity, what is the difference? I know you can set a much more precise refresh rate that way, but what advantage does it have when you use a standard refresh rate?

What advantage is that it allows you to set your refresh rate for the mode it's in rather than a one time setting.

Thus when you go into games, you will retain the refresh rate for each mode you set as well.


Rags

[zandor]

Regarding the 2nd display, you can have stuff running on it, but you have to use a keyboard command (alt-esc or whatever) to minimize the game first. Unless you're playing GTA3. It lets the mouse wander over to the other display, and if you click while the mouse is there the game minimizes. Of course this is really annoying if you play w/ the mouse & keyboard, since if you're using the mouse to turn it'll end up over there a lot. It might be ok if you used a gamepad, but I don't have one so I just shut down the 2nd head to play it.
Unreal Tournament works fine w/ the 2nd head up w/ 2 cards,
but other than that you'll just have to try it. Some games will be fine, others may choke.
Another thing that happens is your windows desktop moves around. My 2nd head is on the right, and when I fire up a game w/ both heads running everything shifts to the right, so i end up with the right side of my primary & the left side of my secondary on the 2nd head. It might not do this if I ran the game in the same resolution as my desktop, but I generally keep my main screen in 1600x1200 and my G400 can't really hack it in that mode except in "2D" games.
Basically all it's good for is leaving a monitoring app up & running while you're playing a game. I usually use it w/ yahoo messenger. A CPU monitor can also be mildly entertaining, or perhaps a temperature monitor if you're experimenting with an overclocked system. Perhaps it might also be useful for keeping an eye on a game server while playing, but I don't have any experience with those.
You could also use this sort of setup for displaying information of use in the game- keyboard bindings, maps, cheat codes, etc.

Mike

[az]

Thanks a lot Zandor

I hoped there was a way to play a game and at the same time be able to have winamp open and skip tracks without having to leave the game...

AZ