Want 1680x1050 on 22" Widescreen with GeForce FX5700 and Vista

Davol · 06-24-2007, 10:35 PM

Hi all,

I'm new to this forum but not a noob at all. This being my first post ever tho, I thought I'd give the forums a try and would like to thank you all in advance for your help and experience. OK, so what I would like to know is, if anyone knows if you can get 1680x1050 resolution in Vista Home Premium 32-bit, on a Samsung 225BW 22" widescreen running w/ a GeForce FX5700 (AGP 8X) graphics card using nVidia's Vista drivers version 96.85?

I'm running a test PC at home for learning, etc., and just installed Vista on a dual-boot w/ XP Pro on the same HDD, with two partitions. Everything works fine except for the screen res in Vista. First, when I move the resolution slider in display properties, there's no choice for my screen's native res. There is no option either, in the nVidia control panel to custom set the resolution. There's not even the choice to adjust the resolution in the nVidia panel. All I can see is the option to CHANGE DISPLAY CONFIGURATION, and that doesn't even do much. In fact, I think I had to use coolbits in XP to be able to add the custom res successfully as 1680x1050. There's no option in the Vista driver for accessing the video card's properties like there is in XP, to where I could<<maybe>>set a custom res. Currently I'm running 1360x768 which tries to auto-adjust--or scale--the res but it doesn't look like it should, for sure. Any help would be greatly appreciated! THX.

bat21 · 06-25-2007, 12:00 AM

Hi and welcome to TSF. I can try and suggest a few things here. It could be that you may need to download/install monitor specific (for Vista) drivers for that Samsung, or possibly try a newer nVIDA driver. There's a section in the NV control panel under "manage custom resolutions" that allows you to check a box that allows you to unhide non-supported modes and resolutions, and sometimes people have had to use that setting to show a resolution that should really be available to them but for some reason the driver/monitor is not allowing them to see that resolution

Davol · 06-25-2007, 09:26 PM

Hi, thanks for your suggestions. I did find an updated driver for my monitor, installed it, but didn't help. I have the latest Vista driver from nvidia, 96.85. And sorry but there's nowhere in the Vista nVidia panel to adjust custom res for this particular card. Note, w/ this card, in XP, I had to custom set the res, I think I needed coolbits to allow me to do this, but can't remember. I didn't find any updated bios support on the card manufacturer's site.
My guess is that the card wasn't fully supporting widescreen modes when it was produced, but you can "unlock" its potential and set it custom in XP and it looks perfect on my screen. The Vista support truly is not there<<yet>>... **sigh** Oh well. May have to upgrade this baby. I hope NVIDIA makes an improved control panel soon and adds the classic control panel view to VISTA.
Anyway, I was reading on the NVIDIA forum and it seems that this card is reaching its end of support as they are not adding updated (VISTA) drivers anymore for it, or so they were saying.
Thanks again.

**Kalim** · 06-27-2007, 12:36 AM

Vista support for FX lineup is very bad, it offers features way short of what the latest Vista ForceWare drivers allow for other GPUs, and every issue resolved since October in the latest releases, it still unresolved for them. I mean your driver was released in October, that is very slack and negligent.

Have a look at the release notes, they will mention most of the issues and limitations: http://download.nvidia.com/Windows/9...ease_Notes.pdf

The wide scanning, custom timings and resolutions is certainly available for the 7000 and 8000 series nV cards in Vista, but not for the FX5700.

Furthermore, your resolution is not standard and is not supported but for high resolution displays and newer cards. It should however display at 1600x1024, that IS supported.

Yup, your GPU is reaching EOL.

Davol · 06-27-2007, 12:39 PM

Thanks for the link to the release notes, should have checked them out first thing. You're right--little support, e.o.l., etc. The 22" widescreen will display 1600x1024, but the fonts become blurry because it's not the native res.; it's off a bit. The best I can do is run it at 1280x960 as this setting seems to look the best without too much font distortion. Nvidia said in the release notes that one of the features--the TurboCache memory--would be fixed in an upcoming driver release...maybe they will write a new driver that updates resolution issues as well?

**Kalim** · 06-27-2007, 02:15 PM

NV said originally and still do tout that some of the drivers released after the 95 version worked with the FX lineup, while they didn't. The fixes were implemented in those drivers, many of them.

Its pretty clear they've been working on pleasing the mass enthusiasts and ignoring the rest.

06-24-2007, 10:35 PM	#1 (permalink)
Davol Registered User Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Naples, Florida Posts: 12 OS: XP Pro sp2 My System	Want 1680x1050 on 22" Widescreen with GeForce FX5700 and Vista Hi all, I'm new to this forum but not a noob at all. This being my first post ever tho, I thought I'd give the forums a try and would like to thank you all in advance for your help and experience. OK, so what I would like to know is, if anyone knows if you can get 1680x1050 resolution in Vista Home Premium 32-bit, on a Samsung 225BW 22" widescreen running w/ a GeForce FX5700 (AGP 8X) graphics card using nVidia's Vista drivers version 96.85? I'm running a test PC at home for learning, etc., and just installed Vista on a dual-boot w/ XP Pro on the same HDD, with two partitions. Everything works fine except for the screen res in Vista. First, when I move the resolution slider in display properties, there's no choice for my screen's native res. There is no option either, in the nVidia control panel to custom set the resolution. There's not even the choice to adjust the resolution in the nVidia panel. All I can see is the option to CHANGE DISPLAY CONFIGURATION, and that doesn't even do much. In fact, I think I had to use coolbits in XP to be able to add the custom res successfully as 1680x1050. There's no option in the Vista driver for accessing the video card's properties like there is in XP, to where I could<<maybe>>set a custom res. Currently I'm running 1360x768 which tries to auto-adjust--or scale--the res but it doesn't look like it should, for sure. Any help would be greatly appreciated! THX.

06-25-2007, 12:00 AM	#2 (permalink)
bat21 Registered User Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 90 OS: XP Professional	Re: Want 1680x1050 on 22" Widescreen with GeForce FX5700 and Vista Hi and welcome to TSF. I can try and suggest a few things here. It could be that you may need to download/install monitor specific (for Vista) drivers for that Samsung, or possibly try a newer nVIDA driver. There's a section in the NV control panel under "manage custom resolutions" that allows you to check a box that allows you to unhide non-supported modes and resolutions, and sometimes people have had to use that setting to show a resolution that should really be available to them but for some reason the driver/monitor is not allowing them to see that resolution

06-25-2007, 09:26 PM	#3 (permalink)
Davol Registered User Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Naples, Florida Posts: 12 OS: XP Pro sp2 My System	Re: Want 1680x1050 on 22" Widescreen with GeForce FX5700 and Vista Hi, thanks for your suggestions. I did find an updated driver for my monitor, installed it, but didn't help. I have the latest Vista driver from nvidia, 96.85. And sorry but there's nowhere in the Vista nVidia panel to adjust custom res for this particular card. Note, w/ this card, in XP, I had to custom set the res, I think I needed coolbits to allow me to do this, but can't remember. I didn't find any updated bios support on the card manufacturer's site. My guess is that the card wasn't fully supporting widescreen modes when it was produced, but you can "unlock" its potential and set it custom in XP and it looks perfect on my screen. The Vista support truly is not there<<yet>>... sigh Oh well. May have to upgrade this baby. I hope NVIDIA makes an improved control panel soon and adds the classic control panel view to VISTA. Anyway, I was reading on the NVIDIA forum and it seems that this card is reaching its end of support as they are not adding updated (VISTA) drivers anymore for it, or so they were saying. Thanks again.

06-27-2007, 12:39 PM	#5 (permalink)
Davol Registered User Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Naples, Florida Posts: 12 OS: XP Pro sp2 My System	Re: Want 1680x1050 on 22" Widescreen with GeForce FX5700 and Vista Thanks for the link to the release notes, should have checked them out first thing. You're right--little support, e.o.l., etc. The 22" widescreen will display 1600x1024, but the fonts become blurry because it's not the native res.; it's off a bit. The best I can do is run it at 1280x960 as this setting seems to look the best without too much font distortion. Nvidia said in the release notes that one of the features--the TurboCache memory--would be fixed in an upcoming driver release...maybe they will write a new driver that updates resolution issues as well?

06-27-2007, 02:15 PM	#6 (permalink)
Kalim Roaming To Help Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 5,642 OS: Many	Re: Want 1680x1050 on 22" Widescreen with GeForce FX5700 and Vista NV said originally and still do tout that some of the drivers released after the 95 version worked with the FX lineup, while they didn't. The fixes were implemented in those drivers, many of them. Its pretty clear they've been working on pleasing the mass enthusiasts and ignoring the rest.

06-27-2007, 12:36 AM	#4 (permalink)
Kalim Roaming To Help Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 5,642 OS: Many	Vista support for FX lineup is very bad, it offers features way short of what the latest Vista ForceWare drivers allow for other GPUs, and every issue resolved since October in the latest releases, it still unresolved for them. I mean your driver was released in October, that is very slack and negligent. Have a look at the release notes, they will mention most of the issues and limitations: http://download.nvidia.com/Windows/9...ease_Notes.pdf The wide scanning, custom timings and resolutions is certainly available for the 7000 and 8000 series nV cards in Vista, but not for the FX5700. Furthermore, your resolution is not standard and is not supported but for high resolution displays and newer cards. It should however display at 1600x1024, that IS supported. Yup, your GPU is reaching EOL.