Do I need to upgrade my graphics card?

[Thrillhouse]

I am seriously thinking about buying this 24 inch Dell LCD

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/p...9&sku=320-4335

but all of the graphics cards that Dell "recommends" for use with it are way too expensive. None of them are under $500 and seeing as how I don't do any gaming or graphics/video editing I don't feel like I should have to buy one but it's making me wonder if my current graphics card will support it. I have a Radeon 9200 with 128 MB. I had a little online chat with a Dell service representative and he could neither confirm nor deny its compatibility. I'm hoping someone here with more video cards knowledge can help me out here. I wouldn't mind purchasing a new card but I don't feel like I should spend more than $100 on one. Thanks for your help.

[oz]

I'm just guessing, but I'll bet that your present card will work with it. Maybe someone with experience with monitors that large will know for sure.

[Zelmo]

From your link, the Dell monitor's native resolution is 1920x1200. From this ATI page, the 9200 supports up to 2048x1536; note that the Dell's 1920x1200 resolution is one of the modes listed in the table at the bottom of the page. It'll work just fine.

Sweet monitor, by the way. I've had nothing but love for my Dell LCD.

[Thrillhouse]

Thanks guys. I didnt' know if resolution was the only thing that needed to check out correctly or not. But yeah, this monitor's gone down $100 in the last 2 weeks so I figured I'd grab it.

[bigtomrodney]

You'll probably find that your card can support that resolution. 9700s are good cards, but I know from first hand experience that at that resolution you need a bit of horsepower to get 3D running smoothly and more importantly fullscreen video. I would say go for it. Even if you have trouble and would like to upgrade, while the $100 you have won't get you a cutting edge card it will certainly be in the frame for doing great at that resolution.

I bought an nVidia 6200 with 256MB of ram a few weeks back for €62 (about $70). I have since sen 6600s and 6800s for not much more so you should be fine in either case.

[Thrillhouse]

bigtom - I think I will end up upgrading my card after I've tested the monitor out for a while on the one I have. I'm kind of expecting things to be shaky at the start. Thanks for the recommendations.