First post, by bZbZbZ
So for awhile now I've been using my 19" CRT as my preferred retro gaming monitor, and I've primarily been using it at 1280 x 1024 @ 85 Hz. The monitor also supports 1600 x 1200 @ 75 Hz but to my eye 85 Hz looks noticeably smoother than 75 Hz.
Lately I've experimented with 640 x 480 and 800 x 600 both at 120 Hz. These are spectacular in some situations such as:
- Games that are locked to 60 fps, which is many of them, seem to play flawlessly at 120 Hz which is of course an integer multiple of 60. But I get to avoid the eyestrain (I don't know how I survived 60 Hz on CRTs back in the day).
- Games with unlocked framerates that can actually run at up to 120 fps (eg UT99)
Yesterday, I tried an experiment: 1024 x 768 @ 120 Hz. And... it worked?
I'm running Windows 10 on a Ivy Bridge + GeForce 980, with the CRT connected through native VGA (DVI-I port). I've used Custom Resolution Utility in the past, but at this time I'm just using the nVidia Control Panel to set up custom resolutions. In fact, the nVidia tool gives me the following if I leave the timing settings on "automatic"
My monitor's manual seems to suggest that 1024 x 768 is only supported at up to 116 Hz with a maximum horizontal rating of 96 kHz. I do see that as a result of a 1-line front porch and some other settings that I don't fully understand, the nVidia tool is keeping my horizontal refresh rate very close to 96 kHz...
So my questions to you folks:
- Do you think that this setting is "safe" for the monitor? Should I reduce some settings (horizontal front porch??) to bring the horizontal refresh below 96.00 kHz?
- If I use CRU to delete all refresh rate permutations of 640 x 480, 800 x 600, and 1024 x 768 EXCEPT FOR 120 Hz, which will force 120 Hz whenever those three resolutions are selected by any application... is that crazy? I run modern flat panels at 120 Hz even if they support 144 Hz and I consider it "the answer" for most everything (eg 30fps YouTube videos, 24fps movies, 60fps console emulation) due to 120 being an integer multiple of 30, 24, and 60...