Does GeForce2 Go 32MB have resolutions the GeForce4 Go 64MB does not?

[Bellatrix]

I have an older laptop with a GeForce2 Go 32MB card and am refurb'ing a slightly-less-old laptop and have a GeForce4 Go 64MB card for it.

I got curious, knowing the same drivers supposedly work for each card, to see if the GF4 was working fine. I put it in but then the 1680x1050 resolution which I've been using for my widescreen monitor was NOT AVAILABLE! It topped out at 1600x1200!

I put the GF2 back in and found that the 1680x1050 resolution was once again available.

Does this mean that the more advanced card DOES NOT have this widescreen resolution? Or is it a strange nuance in the driver?

It won't really matter until I put the OS on the newer laptop and shift to it BUT I'm curious if a fresh install of the driver in XP will make this mode available... or if I'll have to DOWNGRADE to the older video card with less memory in order to be able to use my preferred resolution?

Using Win2000 and the 67.66 driver with the modified INF file from this site.

[Bill]

Its the driver, might have to add the resolution as a custom one, especially with that resolution and older drivers. (newer drivers might have it "preconfigered")

Both cards should be able to run 2048x1536 @ 60 Hz over the VGA output.

Internally I really don't know what the max res they can do over the built in LVDS is, but its probably higher than 1920x1200 I would imagine, although it could be much higher without dvi link restraints like the desktop cards have...

Its probably limited by the RAMDACs, if those factor into the digital display capability.

I can't find the info about the GF4 go on nvidia's site anymore though, the PDFs are missing. However on the Quadro4 PDFs it says they have dual 350 Hz RAMDACs, so possibly dual 2048x1536.

I have heard mention of a 15 inch 2048x1536 LCD, maybe if I ever get my hands on one I could try it in my M50.

Anyway try adding it as a custom res in the driver, try different drivers, and you can even try editing the INF file and adding the driver in yourself.

[Bellatrix]

Thanks, Bill.

I will consider adding the custom res once I get the laptop put together. The big question to me would be, why would these drivers would have the 1680x1050 res as a built-in for the GF2 but NOT the GF4... as you pointed out, there seems to be little which would limit the GF4 which wouldn't limit the GF2.

It's a little early to worry too much about it, especially since your comments seem to confirm the cards are both MORE than capable of the resolutions I need.

I seem to have learned that the GF4 64 needs a different laptop screen (the one made for the C840) than the GF2, even for the initi POST display. The C800 screen just didn't work AT ALL with the C800 screen (colored lines only).

[Bill]

Its been know for ages that there are compatibility issues on the C840 and earlier C series laptops with certain card and screen combinations.

These are also true for the Inspiron and Precision counterparts.

This is the only site that I know of that has some real information.

http://bay-wolf.com/videoupgrade.htm

A lot of these incompatibilities might be fixable with an EDID override fix, but we only have a few here, mostly for the 1600x1200 and the 1400x1050 screens.

If the screen just doesn't work with windows or drivers properly (only a problem after drivers get loaded) then an EDID fix or newer driver might help.

There is at least one case where an EDID fix never worked, here are some topics about it.

http://forums.laptopvideo2go.com/index.php?showtopic=6639

http://forums.laptopvideo2go.com/index.php?showtopic=9938

Nvidia had to rework to newer drivers to fix the problem, after somebody succeeded in contacting them.