Can I connect a modern LCD to an early G4?

Question

Can I connect a modern LCD to an early G4?

I have an early G4 with an AGP Rage 128 Pro graphics card with 16 Mb VRAM. My CRT monitor is dying and I would like to replace it with an LCD monitor. When I look at the monitor settings I have available in System Prefs, the highest is 1600 x 1200.

I am thinking of 20-inch monitors, either the Dell E207WFP (max: 1680 x 1050) or the 67% more expensive Ultrasharp 2007FP (max 1600 x 1200). I'm confused by all the specs, and since Dell is mail order, I don't want to buy the wrong thing.

I use my G4 for page layout: InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator (not games or viewing DVDs). If I buy a new monitor, I want to use all the screen area. So, I have three questions:

1. Will the Dell E207WFP (max: 1680 x 1050) leave me with black bands of wasted screen at the top and bottom? I'd prefer to buy this monitor because of the price, but not if it is a waste of screen space.

2. Both monitors say they have DVI and VGA (HD-15) interfaces. I'm guessing my video card does not support DVI, so I will have to use analog. Correct? Does this result in an inferior picture (worse than a CRT, or just not as wonderful as a DVI)? I can live with CRT quality.

3. Are they likely to be plug-and-play if I use the VGA connection? Can I buy Apple's DVI to VGA display adapter and get true digital, or will my card not support this?

Sorry for being a dummy, but any help would be appreciated.

G4 450, Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Posted on Apr 23, 2007 7:22 PM

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Answer 1

Apr 23, 2007 7:47 PM in response to Murray Coppold

Hello! I can't answer all your questions but I too was concerned about monitors. I had a rage 128 like yours with just the VGA connector so I replaced it with a "flashed" ATi Radeon 9200 (128 mb). I have 2 G4's with the same card and I'm running a 24" Gateway Widescreen on one and I just bought a "new" Dell 22" off ebay. I'm running the 24" @1344x840 and the Dell @ 1280X720. The "widescreens threw me off a little because of their 16.9 ratio as opposed to the old 4.3 ratios. The widescreens tend to "stretch" the picture width wise. The Dell has both DVI and VGA connectors. I have the G4 hooked to the Dell using the DVI input and I ran the VGA cable to my other G4 running the 24" Gateway. If I want to work on a big project using the 24" Gateway on it's G4 I switch the input to VGA instead on the DVI and I can utilize the 24" and 22" widescreens together. HERE's some info I found helpful. As for picture quality I can't tell any difference between the Dell and the Gateway except that the gateway is a "brighter" monitor with a higher brightness and contrast ratio. Hope this helps. Tom

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Answer 2

Apr 24, 2007 7:18 AM in response to Murray Coppold

On closer inspection, I see the Rage 128 Pro does have a DVI connection, so I guess I have answered questions 2 & 3.

I'm still confused about the resolution settings in question 1, though.

(Thomas, thanks for your experience. In my applications, I don't want any picture stretching or other distortion. I'm also not looking to put any more money into the G4 by changing cards, as its days are numbered and I'll eventually move the new monitor to a new computer.)

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Answer 3

Apr 24, 2007 8:06 AM in response to Murray Coppold

Hello Again! The Dell 20" isn't a widescreen (16:9) ratio is a 4:3 aspect ration so I think you'll be pleases with it. The monitors that are widescreen ratios are listed as widescreen and usually have "FP" (wide flat panel in the model number while "WFP" indicates the wide flat panel. Tom

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Answer 4

May 2, 2007 11:26 AM in response to Murray Coppold

Hi, I have a G4 with rage 128 pro card, it has a VGA port and an ADC port I dont think they did one with VGA and DVI.
They look very similar try this :

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58692

(Link was given to me by Niel)

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Answer 5

Daniel W

Level 2

165 points

May 13, 2007 11:57 AM in response to Robert Gillam

Actually, the PowerMac G4 (Sawtooth) does. I'm typing on a DVI monitor now. I have a feeling you're using the Sawtooth model correct? That's one of the models with the dark gray plastic and a 400mhz processor - although I think there was a 350 and 450 or 500 mhz as well - i donno. It does have the Rage 128 card, however.

I don't know about a 1600x1200 - if that's the max resolution, then you should not go above that. I have it running on a Samsung SyncMaster LCD display that maxes out at 1280x1024, and it works just fine.

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Answer 6

May 14, 2007 12:34 AM in response to Murray Coppold

a 16MB Rage128 will drive a 1600x1200 monitor fine (the 17 inch studio display with my G4/400/R128 was 1600x1200, for example)

I'd be a little worried about the 1680x1050 resolution. It's conceivable it won't work, since it wasn't a specified resolution when the card was made 7 years ago. However, I've had good experiences with a similar new resolution on an old PC, so I would think there's at least a 60% chance it would.

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Answer 7

May 26, 2007 10:41 PM in response to Alex Dawson

I'm pretty confused and cant find a solution. I have a dual G4 450 with a Rage 128 with DVI and VGA ports. I am trying to connect my 22inch Cinema Display. I figured I needed a ADC to DVI converter because when I connected my Cinema Display to the G4 it just showed up black. So I bought the converter but the DVI connecter from the converter does not fit my Rage 128 DVI port. So...what exactly do I need to to hook a 22inch Cinema Display to my Dual 450 G4?

Thanks much for any help.

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Answer 8

May 27, 2007 1:48 AM in response to Michael Horton3

If you were able to connect the display directly into the system, you don't need the DVI to ADC adaptor, since the system already has ADC. Otherwise, the plug wouldn't even fit.

Check out this Apple Support Note to confirm which ports are on your Mac - http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58692

The other alternative is that you've been sold one of the DVI monitors, but not the power supply for it..

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Answer 9

Jun 3, 2007 1:43 PM in response to Murray Coppold

i have my g4 400mhz hooked up to a high-def 32" through vga. it works like a charm.

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Answer 10

Jun 15, 2007 9:20 PM in response to Murray Coppold

Daniel W. Wrote:

a 16MB Rage128 will drive a 1600x1200 monitor fine (the 17 inch studio display with my G4/400/R128 was 1600x1200, for example)

I'd be a little worried about the 1680x1050 resolution. It's conceivable it won't work, since it wasn't a specified resolution when the card was made 7 years ago. However, I've had good experiences with a similar new resolution on an old PC, so I would think there's at least a 60% chance it would.<< </div>

Hmmm....What would happen if I tried this (hooking up a 1680 x 1050 LCD to a 128 Rage Pro by DVI or VGA)?? Would it damage the monitor? Would it damage the card? Would it damage the G4? Would it produce a distorted picture? The closest 128 AGP Pro resolutions are 1200 x 800 and 1856 x 1392 -- but those are for CRTs, of course.

I really do have a reason for wanting to try this, though I won't bore y'all with it. 🙂

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Answer 11

Jun 16, 2007 7:31 AM in response to Tom Kirshbaum

No, you won't damage either. Worst case scenario, it will only allow you to select a resolution both support, like 1280x1024

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Answer 12

Jun 21, 2007 7:08 PM in response to Alex Dawson

Alex,

I have a PowerPC G4, 1.25 Ghz running OSX 10.4.9 with a ATI Radeon 9000 Pro (Chipset Model ATY, RV250, VRAM Total 64 MB) and I just bought a Samsung SyncMaster 24" Widescreen Flat-Panel TFT-LCD Monitor, Model: 245BW at a resolution size of 1920 x 1200 @ 60 Hz.

I orginally hooked it up via VGA and It looks amazing. I recently bought a DVI cable for better quality but when I connected it, there was no difference in picture quality. Am I missing something or is my video card incompatible with DVI?

The specs on the Samsung say the monitor it is both Mac and PC compatible but the drivers on the Samsung site are for PC and so are the drivers on the disc that came with the monitor.

Sincerely,
Christopher

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Answer 13

Jun 21, 2007 10:45 PM in response to Christopher R

I orginally hooked it up via VGA and It looks
amazing. I recently bought a DVI cable for better
quality but when I connected it, there was no
difference in picture quality. Am I missing something
or is my video card incompatible with DVI?

DVI can show improvement in fine horizontal detail. It will be most obvious on a one pixel wide vertical black line on a white background. With DVI the black pixels will get the digital value of 0. With VGA, the analog signal goes from 1 volt, to 0, then immediately back to 1. If the display does not sample the voltage at exactly the right time, it won't get the 0, but will get the voltage part way up on one side. Even if the display does sample at the correct time, the voltage may not be 0 because of bandwidth limits in the cable rounding off the signal. OSX does text smoothing, so you may not see much difference there.

The specs on the Samsung say the monitor it is both
Mac and PC compatible but the drivers on the Samsung
site are for PC and so are the drivers on the disc
that came with the monitor.

You don't need any display drivers for OSX.

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Answer 14

Jun 21, 2007 10:55 PM in response to Christopher R

As Malcolm posted in great detail, the quality between DVI and VGA may not be easily apparent using a good quality VGA cable.

I've seen some monitors that work just as well with VGA as DVI, and some which are appreciably better with DVI. Generally in respect to colour reproduction, since the values in DVI are always what the computer sends, while for VGA, they may be subject to electronic noise.

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Answer 15

Jun 29, 2007 3:35 AM in response to Murray Coppold

To add to this...my new IIyama 2200, a 22" has a native res of 1680x1050, and the odd effect im getting off a 466mhz G4 is that the bottom 50 pixels or so are off the bottom of the screen...

Unsupported resolntions and refresh rates on low spec cards give odd results!

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