Dell 2405

[Mephibosheth]

After much deliberation and browsing reviews, I've decided that if I'm going to shell out the money, I might as well dig a little deeper for the 2405FPW. That said, I now need to consider a few other issues.

I have 2 systems with which I have used a KVM for years and am unwilling (for the sake of desk space if nothing else) to give that up.

So, the first issue would be:

1)video cards. My existing cards are: ATI AIW 9000 Pro & ATI AIW 9600XT. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm thinking that the 9600XT may just squeak by, especially if I put it in the machine 2, which is my workhorse machine. It performs the dirty work, but no photo editing, very little DVD watching. Mostly encoding, video & audio recording, etc. (is it possible that the 9000 might be adequate for this?)

Machine 1 does a lot of photo editing, movie and TV watching and business apps. Lots and lots of business apps. Oh yeah, and internet stuff.

If I do need to replace a card, what card could be recommended that will drive the monitor nicley (for my uses...very little or no gaming) but not cost an arm and a leg?


2) KVM. I'm pretty sure that I;ll have to replace my current VGA KVM, but with what?

I assume that the quarter's end will bring lower pricing...?

Also, any other details that I might need to know would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Meph

 

[secretanchitman]

hmm, well at the very least, i would get a 6800 of some sort, more or less a 6800GS when it comes out soon enough. the 2405 sports a 1920x1200 native resolution and you'll need some horsepower to drive the display as well as apps. lcds always should be run at its native resolution. the video card prolly will be in the $200 range somewhere.

or you can get some x800xl or higher card from ati. that would do the job. again, will be in a $200 range.

im assuming you have agp, since you have an ati aiw 9000 and a 9600xt...

to be honest, i dont know what a vga kvm is...*too stupid to know*

edit: added resolution.

 

[booboomissy]

I have that monitor and a 9600xt card and all is ok, full resolution. You might consider ati hd card as well. This makes a good hd monitor.

 

[dnuggett]

There is no reason to update the 9600XT if you won't be gaming. You do not need a 6800 ard as was suggested before. You can ignore that whole post, the only point that was right is running at native, and I'm pretty sure that 9600XT can do that. Hell you could even downgrade cards if you wanted to.

 

[Mephibosheth]

>*too stupid to know*


That's obviously not the case...

> to be honest, i dont know what a vga kvm is...
-------------------------------------------------------

a KVM switch, as you may have surmised from this thread by now, is a device that allows you to use 1 monitor, keyboard and mouse for any number of systems. The one I have right now allows me to use up to 4 computers with only one set of the afore mentioned items.

Thanks for responding,
Meph

 

[Mephibosheth]

Originally posted by: booboomissy
I have that monitor and a 9600xt card and all is ok, full resolution. You might consider ati hd card as well. This makes a good hd monitor.

Thanks. At least I know that the 9600XT will work.

Meph

 

[Mephibosheth]

Originally posted by: dnuggett
There is no reason to update the 9600XT if you won't be gaming. You do not need a 6800 ard as was suggested before. You can ignore that whole post, the only point that was right is running at native, and I'm pretty sure that 9600XT can do that. Hell you could even downgrade cards if you wanted to.

Your comment made me try Dell's site to check for a compatibility list and, oddly enough , they had one:

http://tinyurl.com/5pp5b

and although it doesn't list the AIW 9600XT, it does list the AIW 9000 pro as supporting the 2405. I have to assume that the absence of the AIW 9600XT is an oversight, since the 9000 is there, which brings up another question:

Does the 2405 have a VGA connector:

"Analog RGB Digital DVI-D, S-video, composite and component"

Presumably, the "Analog RGB" is a normal VGA connector? That could go a long way toward a KVM workaround until I get the time to deal with it.

Thanks,
Meph





Thanks,
Meph

 

[abs0lut3]

OP-analog RGB is the regular 15-pin VGA connector.

Check your KVM max resolution. Most KVM (Keyboard, Video and Mouse to you) switch is rated at 1600x1280 depending on the brand. I think my airlink is rated higher than that but I'm not sure. Belkin ones can handle 2048x1580 I think but I don't know what you have. They do sell the DVI version but the two computer set is still too freakin expensive (200-300 bucks compared to 20-100 bucks for analog version). The decision is up to you.

 

[Mephibosheth]

Originally posted by: abs0lut3
OP-analog RGB is the regular 15-pin VGA connector.

Check your KVM max resolution. Most KVM (Keyboard, Video and Mouse to you) switch is rated at 1600x1280 depending on the brand. I think my airlink is rated higher than that but I'm not sure. Belkin ones can handle 2048x1580 I think but I don't know what you have. They do sell the DVI version but the two computer set is still too freakin expensive (200-300 bucks compared to 20-100 bucks for analog version). The decision is up to you.

My current KVM is a belkin Omni Cube 4 port, but it's 5 years old, so I doubt that it suuports 1920x1200. I'm not sure that I'd have a problem using the VGA connector for both systems through a KVM, but I would really like to run at the native resolution of the monitor.


Thanks,
Meph

 

[Steve]

My plain 9600 drives my 2405 just fine. So does my 9200, as well as my PCI 9100 and PCI 7500

 

[secretanchitman]

oh, most recent cards will support the 2405. hell im sure my geforce3 would too!

btw, my recommendations were for gaming too, my bad...9600XT will do fine for regular stuff.

 

[brewty]

Any AGP or newer PCI video card will be able to drive a 2405FPW at native resolution for 2D applications. However, if you intend to playback HD media (720p or higher), then you'll probably want a semi recent card for the hardware acceleration. I was using a GeForce4 Ti4200 with my 2005FPW and it couldn't play 1080p media (it was using 100% CPU and I don't think it was using any hardware acceleration at all) and could barely play 720p media. I upgraded it to a GeForce 6200 and it plays 1080p smoothly using only 40-50% CPU (as good as my 7800GT does in my other system). That said, your 9600XT will probably handle 2D stuff just fine.

 

[Steve]

Originally posted by: brewty
Any AGP or newer PCI video card will be able to drive a 2405FPW at native resolution for 2D applications.

Originally posted by: sm8000
My plain 9600 drives my 2405 just fine. So does my 9200, as well as my PCI 9100 and PCI 7500

How 'newer' are we talking here, brewty?

 

[Peter]

Originally posted by: brewty
Any AGP or newer PCI video card will be able to drive a 2405FPW at native resolution for 2D applications.

When we're talking DVI, this is not true. There STILL are NEW cards on the market that don't go past 1280x1024 - e.g. Matrox G series, XGI Volari V3, and Radeon 7000 (not sure about the last one).

 

[brewty]

Hrm, interesting. I'm amazed that the Matrox G series cards DVI output is so limited. I guess I'll have to change that statement to any recent (anything that's on their product pages right now) nVIDIA or ATI card that has DVI (the 7000 doesn't have DVI, but the 7500 does and seems to support high resolutions).

 

[brewty]

This is a pretty interesting read: http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1367918,00.asp

Kind of makes you wonder if current cards are any good with their DVI output and how much DVI compliance really affects picture quality.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Just look up the card I believe they all have info on supported resolutions for the card. Like my GeForce 4 MX 420 is capable of 1600x1200.

Found it. When you turn down to 60Hz. The card is capable of 2048x1526

9600XT

 

[sxr7171]

6600GT at a minimum.
7800GT to be comfortable.

 

[Mephibosheth]

Thanks to all for their responses. The update is: I just bought the 2405FPW for $779 brand new & $35.00 to have it certified "dead pixel free" & $49.00 shipping for a total of $864.00!!

Also, having read the various posts in this & other threads, plus checking Dell's 2405 specs & other sites for my cards & KVM, I found out that I really don't have to replace anything at the moment, although I won't be able to run the monitor in DVI mode until I replace my KVM.

At any rate, I'm happily awaiting delivery (could take some time, given my location...10-15 days)!

Thanks again for all input.

Meph

 

[justlnluck]

Where did you get it certified to be dead pixel free???

 

[Mephibosheth]

Originally posted by: justlnluck
Where did you get it certified to be dead pixel free???

Nielson Distributing: 800 526 1744, but I believe that pricing ended today. You could try calling them, but I think they're closed until tuesday.

Meph

 

[brewty]

For your KVM, note that most KVM's only support up to 1600x1200 (your omnicube included), it might work fine at 1920x1200. Also the video quality at high resolutions is usually pretty crappy (artifacts), so you might consider ditching the KVM for video (but keep it for mouse and keyboard) and using the 2405FPW's VGA and DVI inputs. It means you'll need to switch two things, but you'll get better quality video - try it out and see if there's a noticeable difference.

From what I've seen (although I haven't looked too hard), there aren't any decent DVI KVM's that don't cost an arm and a leg and have good video quality (anandtech had an article on one). For me, I just have my desktop (ie. non-gaming) system hooked up to the DVI port and my gaming system hooked up to the VGA port, so I get the the clarity for text on DVI and decent quality for games (can't notice while gaming anyways). One thing to remember with the VGA signal is to auto-adjust or it might look like crap (you might need to auto-adjust with different content on the screen to get it looking good).

 

[jessieqwert]

To tack on to what brewty just said, it really isn't worth the money a KVM with these capabilities would cost. Hook one up to DVI, the other to VGA and then use the source button on the 2405 to switch in between. Note that this requires two mice and keyboards but IMO that's better than sacrificing video quality.

 

[Mephibosheth]

Originally posted by: brewty
For your KVM, note that most KVM's only support up to 1600x1200 (your omnicube included), it might work fine at 1920x1200.

I read that the Omni Cube supports up to 2048x? (can't find the article now...), but you may be right about the video quality. I'll bypass the KVM if necessary.

Also the video quality at high resolutions is usually pretty crappy (artifacts), so you might consider ditching the KVM for video (but keep it for mouse and keyboard) and using the 2405FPW's VGA and DVI inputs. It means you'll need to switch two things, but you'll get better quality video - try it out and see if there's a noticeable difference.

I'll give it a shot. What "two things" require changing?

From what I've seen (although I haven't looked too hard), there aren't any decent DVI KVM's that don't cost an arm and a leg and have good video quality (anandtech had an article on one). For me, I just have my desktop (ie. non-gaming) system hooked up to the DVI port and my gaming system hooked up to the VGA port, so I get the the clarity for text on DVI and decent quality for games (can't notice while gaming anyways). One thing to remember with the VGA signal is to auto-adjust or it might look like crap (you might need to auto-adjust with different content on the screen to get it looking good).

Thanks for the pointers, and any others you might supply.

Meph

 

[RobertR1]

If you do a lot of movies and other video stuff, get one of the x1k series Ati cards so you can make full use of Avivo technologies.