Dell Dimension 3000 not allowing 1920x1080 resolution with new Dell 24" monitor

Hey guys,

I just got a new Dell 24" monitor ST2410 that has higher resolution than my 19" that just burned out.  However, I can't get it to work.  I've downloaded the proper drivers and everything seemed to have worked but I still can't use the higher resolution.  I contacted Dell support for help and they finally came to the same conclusion as I had that my video card or something on my computer, now years old, will not allow for any higher resolution than 1280x1024.  My graphics are Intel Extreme Graphics 2 and it says that it's monitor supported modes are from 640x480 all the way up to 1920x1080 under the system information.  But it won't work.  So if it doesn't work what do I have to do as far as installing new hardware to be able to do such?  What do you recommend and who do you recommend do the work or is it something I can do myself?  About how much will it cost, etc?  Thanks for your help.

Edit:  My buddy has an older dimension desktop and he never had an issue with his when he bought a couple much higher resolution monitors.  Also, if I'm not giving enough info on this don't hesitate to ask for more if you think you can give the answer.  I can give service tag and stuff like that if needed.  Thanks a ton to whoever can help out a noobie.

It's most likely due to the refresh rate, if your like me fast-pase gaming is better with a high refresh rate 75+.
(How many times if refreshs the screen with an image)

Default is however set to 60 on most monitors, which looks fine to the average eye,
it is normal that flat screens can't support high resolution as well as a high refresh rate. You're limited to 1280x1024 max resolution if refresh > 60.

Set your refresh rate to 60, apply, then raise your resolution. It will be under your advance settings options for the monitor.

Control Panel > Display > Resolution > Advance Settings > Monitor > Refresh Rate

If not, the other limits are either the monitor or graphic card.
Is your monitor wide screen or not? 1920 x 1200 might be a better resolution.

Your Intel Extreme Graphics 2 is a built-in graphics card, to make the most out of higher resolution in games I recommend going for an actual graphic card from Nvidia or ATi, etc. You might lag out otherwise at those resolutions mainly because your sharing system memory and it's slower to store large textures. Major performance increase buying a decent graphic card.

Thanks Azzaboi,

Here's what happened with your advice and now I need more, lol.  I got the resolution to take and it now goes all the way to 1920x1200.  However, my desktop background and taskbar now go off the screen when I max out resolution.  I did what you said and changed the refresh rate to 60 but now have this issue.  I'm hoping it's something easy to fix so if you got the solution let me know.  Basically everything goes right and down off the viewable screen.  I tried to reconfigure the desktop and recenter it but it didn't seem to work.  Thanks man.

My more pc literate buddy and I talked on the phone about it and he talked me through making sure we were using the recommended driver by going through the system properties/hardware/device manager/etc and the wizard thing said the best driver was being used and wouldn't let us make any changes that he thought may be necessary. 

That probably leads into my question 'Is your monitor wide screen or not?', I was assuming you had wide screen.

Most of those higher resolutions are designed for wide screen monitors.

640x480 / 800x600 / 1024x768 / 1280x1024 etc are normal screen sizes.
1920x1200 is wider than it is high compared to those. 1200 would have to be larger or 1920 reduced.

1600x1200 would be suitable for a standard screen.

If still issues, make sure you do not have duel monitor setup?


For your new resolution: Open up notepad with some text or any text document and you can tell easily if it stretchs the image, looks weird or blurry, etc.

You can right-click the desktop and View > Align Icons by Grid and Auto-arrange, or move them to where you want. Resize them and text if needed.

Last step is replacing the wallpaper, never stretch a wallpaper background, this slows your computers loading. Get or resize a picture the same size as your screen resolution or simply center the image.

Yes, it's a widescreen.  I'm pretty sure it's on a single monitor set up and not dual as I saw that before as I was looking around and it was checked on single monitor set up.  The monitor I have is the Dell ST2410 which was advertised as having a max resolution of 1920x1080 but after having changed the refresh rate as you suggested my new resolution options are 800x600, 1024x768, 1152x864, 1280x768, 1280x1024, 1200x1600 and 1920x1200.  I usually do resize images for the background and then just center them like you said so that they don't look all screwy.  The 1200x1600 still goes off the screen too.  I thought maybe I'd have to play with the monitor itself and all of it's settings and maybe shrink it back or something?   

[Moderator]

Are you connected via DVI or analog?

Pretty sure Analog.

[Moderator]

Well, then that's the issue. If you have the option to use DVI then you should. The screen images will adjust to your display size automatically. But with analog you may have to use the manual adjustments on your display for each resolution setting to fit the image properly. Once set, the display should "remember" them as you switch among the various resolutions.

Dumb question then.  How do I change it to DVI instead?  Thanks.

[Moderator]

Assuming both your video card and display have DVI ports, just connect with a DVI cable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Visual_Interface

So is that something that I will have go purchase separately or do you recommend anything specific.  This is a first for me so please excuse my lack of knowledge, haha.  There is a spot on the back of the monitor for a DVI-0 plugin.  So do I plug a new cable in there and then into the same spot on the back of my tower or can I used the same cable I have?  Thanks.

[Moderator]

1) Your video card must support DVI
2) You need a DVI cable

OK so I guess my last question is how do I check to verify that the video card I have supports DVI so that I know to either get a new one or just the cable.  Thanks a ton Allan. 

[Moderator]

See if it has a dvi port.

I don't see a DVI port on the back of my computer so I guess I'm up a creek without a paddle heh?

I see that there is such a thing as a DVI to VGA cable with both ends.  Is that something that would work?

[Moderator]

You can either purchase a new video card or simply make the manual adjustments on the display as mentioned in my first post.

I don't think that the adjustments are great enough to achieve the highest resolution.  I've sort of played with it and it only changes it minimally as compared to what I actually need.  What good is that DVI/VGA cable then that I found that has both ends on it?  Thanks again.  I'm slowly learning that I'm going to have to purchase a new computer too at some point, lol.  I needed the monitor because my old one burned out so I guess I just have a big screen and not the bonus resolution I was looking for. 

Can anyone suggest a video card that I can update my computer with that will be compatible with a Dell Dimension 3000 Desktop that already has Intel Extreme Graphics 2 on it that will allow me to go from VGA to DVI.  My monitor is a Dell ST2410 widescreen flat panel with max resolution 1920x1080 and my OS is XP.  My buddy, a long time ago, made a similar change for a dual monitor set up and said replacing the part is pretty easy and I have the directions on how to do it and it seems really doable.  Like I said, at the highest resolution right now the images go off to the right and below the viewable portion of the monitor.  I took a screen shot and put it into MSPaint and it captured what I can see and the rest of what I should be able to see.  I have the refresh rate set at 60hz.  Thanks for any help. 

[Moderator]

Any pci video card with dvi.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=&q=pci+video+card&sourceid=navclient-ff&rlz=1B3GGGL_enUS369US309&ie=UTF-8

I am not a gamer so I don't need anything too awesome but I would be willing to go with something not too cheap but not too excessive either so if you want to recommend a couple that would be great.  I just have to be ensured that they will be compatible with my pc and the monitor and that's where I'm clueless.  thanks

[Moderator]

Just go to Tiger Direct or Newegg and pick a pci video card in the price range you want (with DVI of course). ATI and Nvidia are the two most common brand names. Your display doesn't care what card you have. If you're not happy with it for any reason both retailers will accept the return.

Ok, this is the latest from my buddy.

"You might be screwed even more because I looked at the specs of your Dimension 3000 and it doesn't even have a video card.  "Integrated Intel Extreme Graphics 2" means you have a video chip on the motherboard board instead of a video card which totally sucks.  99% of PCs have a video card separate from the motherboard that just plugs in and out.  But there are plenty of PCI slots to add more hardware, such as video cards, so I would assume if you added a video card to the motherboard then that would take over as the primary video card or you could somehow tell the PC to use the new video card instead of the integrated video chip."

Any suggestions on this besides buying a new computer, lol.
 

[Moderator]

Yes. Stop listening to your buddy. I looked up your computer specs before posting my recommendation.

Buy the card, install it, disable onboard video in bios. Now please, just go buy the card. Or don't.

LOL.  I'm totally confused now, haha.  What a quagmire I'm in yet again.  I run so good in life.  Like they say, if I didn't have bad luck I'd have no luck at all.  This sucks.  My understanding is that I will purchase the card, install it, and go from there.  I suppose I'll need help with the whole "disabling the onboard video in bios" when this is done. 

Did I mention I'll buy you a beer, or 2 or 30?  Seriously though, if this works I'll send you some cash for all your help or something.

[Moderator]

1) I don't want your money
2) I drink single malt scotch
3) Installing the card and disabling onboard video in bios are both very simple.

Ok then, thanks.  I'll try to decide what I should get and see if I can get one in town asap and I'll tell my buddy to screw off, lol.  Then if all goes well, I'll repost to try to finish this thing.  U DA MAN.

[Moderator]

I'll have a single malt then...if Allan will have one with me....   

I recommend the NVidia 275GTX or the cheaper option NVidia 260GTX Geforce. Those have duel DVI ports and great performance, for their price. At those resolutions, it has plenty of onboard memory. You also have the option of HDTV output, if you really want a big screen output. NVidia also has on going driver updates.

Of course I'm a hardcore gamer, the graphic card I end up spending 1/3 the total computer price as it's the biggest bang for bucks (if you have a good computer the major bottleneck these days is the graphics output).

Look around for good deals, but don't be too cheap on the graphic card. Specially if your updating the rest of the computer and have a duel core, quad core or i7 core. I use PriceSpy online here in NZ to find the best/cheapest deals, maybe you have some online price spy website there? You will find the price difference between some shops is huge!

Also make sure it will fit and has enough power! Graphic cards these days can be very large and require a minimum 550W or greater power supply. If the rest of the computer can't keep up, your'll have no end of problems installing it and keeping it stable.


(I take vodka or bourbon thx)

[Moderator]

I'll have a single malt then...if Allan will have one with me....   

You know very well it will always be my pleasure  

Keep in mind that all I want is the higher resolution basically.  I'm not a gamer nor do I need the greatest graphics available.  All I really want my pc to do is have the capability to use the 1920x1080 resolution my monitor offers.  I play poker and stuff like that and just want to be able to have more tables open without much overlap and such.  So I'd be happy with something decent and under $100 if possible.

Ok, I went and purchased the video card from Staples.  It was a Diamond Stealth Radeon 9250.  I unplugged everything, installed the card and hooked up the DVI cable.  I plugged the power cord back in and turned on my PC and BOOM!  The account screen that comes up when you turn on XP was HUGE and I had to scroll down to pick my account.  Everything booted up like normal and I went into properties and settings and I had a bunch more resolution options and it immediately went to 1920x1080 like I was hoping for.  I didn't even have to install the driver that came with the card nor did I have to disable the old graphics via bios.  *censored*, I even still had the VGA cable hooked up too so I eventually just unplugged it. 

Here's my issue now.  My desktop background is full screen and centered and I didn't have to change it.  However, I have no task bar at the bottom, thus no start menu, clock, etc.  I noticed that when I minimize something it goes off to the right and towards the bottom.  When I drag my mouse over there I can tell that it goes past the edge and doesn't reappear until after I scroll back left what would be a couple inches or so.  I have changed to multiple resolutions and the problem persists.  What's the fix here guys.  I messed with the monitor settings too and I can't shrink it horizontally or vertically as they aren't choosable now and I made sure the input source was changed from analog to digital dvi.  Thanks for any help.

No more problems, I'm up and running.  I don't think it mattered but I reinstalled the monitor drivers and installed the card drivers but nothing changed.  So thanks to google and after one search I was able to read another forum which gave the solution of right click/properties/settings/right click and disable the other monitor choices which then brought my cursor back and my task bar.  All is well right now.  It was pretty easy with some help even though that was the first time I've ever did any hardware work.  Thanks for all the help and may karma be on your side.  Cheers! 

[Moderator]

Sorry nobody was around to help you with the installation, but as you said - it's pretty simple. Anyway, glad you're up and running. As you found out, you MUST install the correct driver for the card in order to have full functionality and control.

disable the other monitor choices

I asked before if it was using Duel Screen:

If still issues, make sure you do not have duel monitor setup?

this would of been in the list. I should of probably gone into more detail about it.

Glad you have it working now!

Thanks Azzaboi.  I'm totally new to hardware stuff and you, Allan, and my buddy all got me through it quite easily.  I'm a pretty fast learner once I learn all the lingo and see the stuff once.  It's just that I had certain settings in the original display settings for the resolution, then when I put the monitor on it changed, then when I put the video card in it changed again and kept getting bigger with more options and I was totally clueless.  If I wanted to go dual monitor someday I'm assuming that would be pretty easy.  Only issue now is I have the VGA port in the PC and now another VGA and DVI with this new card so can you run analog and digital monitors both and just put the option to dual monitors or is there some splitter/adapter you can get to do it?  Or can you only do DVI or VGA?  No rush, most likely won't do anything like that for a long time but if it's something I think I can do I might just get crazy lol.  I still haven't changed the bios settings yet because everything seems totally fine.  Would I have issues if I don't?  Thanks dude. 

Only one cable per monitor - never connect VGA as well as DVI to the same monitor, it will work but heat up!

Recommend using DVI - High Definition cable for a HD Monitor to get higher quality.

So graphic cards have two or more connectors, either to allow VGA or DVI, or allowing for duel (or more) monitors for example two DVI connectors. In which case you can set monitors side-by-side, etc, and toggle between them. You might also have an s-video connection for HDTV.

Under the settings you can toggle around them and sometimes have the option to set a location on each so the desktop flows across them even if different sized monitors.