I have never seen that resolution be perfectly sharp with an analog cable. You are pushing the physical limit. Some will be better and some will be worse but none will be perfect.

Does the monitor have BNC inputs? If yes, you might want to use a BNC cable instead of d-sub VGA for slightly better results.

I guess it's not sharp because the closer you get to a CRT's limits, the blurrier the image becomes?

If you have a VGA cable with standard thickness (0.35" diameter I believe) and ferrite cores, not one of the thinner versions, this is probably about as good as it gets.

Nope no BNC, only DVI-I and d-sub.
I'm not 100% sure the video card is the problem with DVI, since reading other (more recent) card's manuals I don't see 1600*1200 @ 85Hz supported through DVI either.
I can see the pc detects the P260 if I connect a second screen, but I can't get it to display any image on it, no matter the resolution.
Shouldn't it simply revert to 1280*1024 instead of saying "no input"?
I would think the DVI port on the monitor is broken, but still the fact it gets detected seems weird.

I'm pretty sure the DVI on your monitor is DVI-A, not DVI-I. What probably happens is that the DVI output you are connecting it to on the graphics card doesn't have the pins for VGA... but the EDID still works and detects the monitor.

Check the wire gauge on the jacket, does it say? IIRC, 24-gauge is common on svga cables, but I've found 22-gauge, before. Also, you can use a shorter cable. Professional monitors often came with 3-foot cables. Places like bluejeancable can custom make you a cable, too.

+1 to being pretty close to the limit; IME on 19-22" monitors 1600x1200 and higher are usually only useful for video or graphics. Text and such is usually better served by 1280x960 (1280x1024 is not 4:3) or one of the "weird" tweener resolutions like 1440x1050.

As far as the DVI - it may be a digital connection, it may be an analog connection; what does the specific plug look like? See here for various examples of plugs: http://www.playtool.com/pages/dvicompat/dvi.html (there are CRTs throughout history that have both; some include the DAC to take DVI-D, some just take the analog component of DVI-I; if your computer's port is DVI-D only you cannot physically plug DVI-I/DVI-A into it (it's keyed to prevent this from happening)).

As far as hooking it up to a graphics card - a single-link connector will not do 85Hz, but dual-link DVI would be no problem, assuming it's actually a digital connection, and assuming the monitor can actually handle dual-link. What graphics card are you using? I know nVidia and ATi cards under their drivers can have "custom timings" setup which can help compatibility, if I remember right later 3DLabs, Matrox, and XGI cards can support this either through drivers, additional software from the manufacturer, or third party applications (like rivatuner); I don't know about S3, 3dfx, etc.

EDIT:

If we're suspecting the cable is bad/causing problems, does moving it or re-routing it change anything?

Here ya go:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/151054683345

"Overseas: Please email us for a quote (available on smaller items only.)"

They have a full set of 3x5 pins. Very thick suckers... (good shielding)

Normally any good cables omits the 'barrels'(ferrite beads?).

Card is a Gainward gtx560ti, both that and the screen have a DVI-I connector, I'm using a dual link DVI-I cable.
Card manual actually lists the pin-out only for the digital pins, but says the port is DVI-I.
Probably I have to find DVI-A cable, I'll mess around with the driver in the meanwhile.

The VGA cable I'm using now is actually the one that came with my lcd display ^^
It's better than the SVGA cable I specifically got for this monitor at the local store, probably just because it's shorter.
Doesn't seem to show wire gauge, I'll look better tomorrow with daylight.

Oh I use this for games 😀

Product specs:
http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/detail.page?L … cID=MIGR-4EJTHQ

Have you tried the resolutions via DVI to see if they work or not?

NJRoadfan wrote:

Have you tried the resolutions via DVI to see if they work or not?

Yes, as I said I tried many different resolutions through DVI and none work.

I also tried making a custom resolution with reduced blanking interval, no go.

On a second thought, if 85hz requires a dual link, then DVI-A is probably useless.

bestemor wrote:

Here ya go:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/151054683345

Awesome! Waiting for an answer. Btw isn't 3m a bit long? Or is it no problem for a CL3?

Cheap way to get monster quality BNC. Use RG6 coaxial cable with f-type plugs. Most people in U.S. with cable television or broadband internet have a ton of these and usually for free or just pennies (look up coaxial cable). It's shielded (sometimes double or quad shielded) and really thick gauge; weather resistant if you find something greater than rg6. You have to buy two f-type to bnc couplers for each cable (female or male coupler depending on your setup; usually f-type coaxial uses male f-type on both ends); these range anywhere from, $0.50 to $1.00 a piece on ebay. Just make sure the cable isn't bent or knackered in any way; and you probably don't want one beyond 6 feet unless you want to fill your walls with BNC jacks haha. Don't bend them with force either. You'll have something like a $400.00+ cable set no joke (use f-type to bnc or phono jacks myself with RG6 for laserdisc players and audio stuff).

Honestly, when dealing with video signals that are hard to push, proper cable construction is going to be critical. You need a professional-grade cable that is tested and for SURE keeps the impedance at 75-Ohm. Otherwise you end up with signal loss which degrades the picture.