Running a LCD monitor in place of a CRT type.

[magpienja]

Hi guys my daughter has our old pc in her bedroom and it has an old CRT 17" monitor its huge compared to the modern LCD type,

I have a choice of 2 second hand ones a 17" and a 19", the pc is quite slow by today's stds, its running XP P3 900mhz,

My question if I bought an LCD monitor would the old pc cope with it as I don't know if they are resource hungry or not,

Not sure if there is a driver with the LCD one but I presume windows would find it??

Nick.

[frostbite]

No reason why the PC shouldn't handle it without problems. You might have to set up the picure to suit though.

Cheaper to run too.

[Albert Square]

I would expect no problems as long as the monitor has an analogue VGA input (like the old one). I am not sure if some of the newer monitors only have digital inputs.

[magpienja]

Sounds good thanks for your help, I did wonder about the power consumption so its win win,

And I will check out the input also.

Nick.

[jimtherev]

You might also have to google for the drivers. Whatever, you'll get a basic VGA setup, so the machine will work - but the resolution may be a bit off, and only 16 colours... that's the worst-case scenario.

Having said all that, I've never had to do anything with the screen - it's normally only the video card that needs TLC, & you're not changing that.

[FullOppositeRudder]

LCD monitors give of their best if they are running at their native resolution. That is to say that a monitor offering 1024 x 768 resolution (to pick the most common - if dated - option) will present the best resolution if the video output of the computer is running at that same setting.

What can happen - and often does in my recent observation - is that people buy a new wide screen monitor (16 x 9 ratio is common) and then find that their video options on the older computer only handle 4 x 3 ratio. This can produce a variety of effects depending on how they handle the conflict. Squashed and distorted pictures are the most often sighted results. Sometimes re-adjustment of the monitor and or video output options can produce a more acceptable result. However I still see people happily living with oval clocks and other giveaways. Some say that they even like it like that. :hmm:

LCD monitors have taken over. I haven't seen a new CRT monitor on sale for a very long time now, and there are lots of perfectly good ones being dumped, or put in the back shed to make way for the new technology. I have three in this category.
regards
FoR

[Hyph]

Were you thinking of daisy-chain powering the LCD monitor through the computer PSU? (power supply unit)

This used to be the way of things in combination with an IEC male/female power cable [like this (http://prolight.co.uk/images/media/CABL110/CABL110-wf0.jpg)] but has been phased out for many years. It's possible that the PSU on your aging P3 might permit this kind of configuration. This isn't current practice and places unnecessary load on the computer PSU.

As others have said:


You will need the appropriate drivers for the monitor (XP may well detect it, but it's possible that it will simply show as "generic"). You will almost certainly be able to download these.

As long as the LCD has a VGA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VGA_connector) [analogue] connector rather than, or in addition to a DVI (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Visual_Interface) [digital] connector, it should work fine.

[Biggles78]

This isn't current practice and places unnecessary load on the computer PSU.
Sorry, but that is not quite correct correct. The female IEC connection on the PSU places no load on it as it is an extension port and as such does not draw current from the PSU. In other words it is a single point power board/power strip (depends on your country and terminology for the device). The PSU can go BANG but the IEC connector may still work.

One thing I would suggest it to make sure the video resolution is set to 60Hz before connecting the LCD. While many will autodetect and change a higher resolution, some don't and it will result in no video since it may be running at a rate the LCD can't handle. Newer LCDs can also handle 72Hz but I have yet to see one run higher than that (not saying they don't exist, just that I haven't seen one yet).

[magpienja]

More to this than meets the eye but all noted guys many thanks.

Nick.