Possible graphics card upgrade

[Guest]

I currently use a 19 inch Yusmart monitor with a DVI Single Link connection to my Nvidia Geforce 8400 GS graphics card. I have just bought a new 26 inch Iiyama monitor which has VGA, DVI and HDMI connections.
Is it worth upgrading my graphics card to one which has DVI Dual Link or a HDMI connection? In other words will there be a significant improvement in picture quality if I upgrade the graphics card or will the difference in quality be negligible?
Many thanks
aw56001

 

[dokk2]

offhand i should think so,i mean, the 8400 probably cannot do the iiyama's native rez,which has to be at least 1600 x xxxx,or better,that is if you want a fast display with no ghosting..

 

[johnyeah]

I would assume the 26" monitor is 1920*1200 resolution. However, if you're not gaming, the 8400GS should handle that resolution fine. You won't see a significant improvement in picture quality for everyday application uses.

If you're playing games or watching HD video, that's a different story and the 8400GS won't be able to handle HD video at 1080p.

 

[cliffro]

I think negligible

 

[huron]

Agreed. That GPU is probably underpowered for a monitor of that sieze. If you are thinking of gaming on that bad boy, you might need to consider some high-end cards, or a dual-GPU solution to really take advantage of it.

 

[cliffro]

He made no mention of gaming, only picture quality

In other words will there be a significant improvement in picture quality if I upgrade the graphics card or will the difference in quality be negligible?

If you're playing games or watching HD video, that's a different story and the 8400GS won't be able to handle HD video at 1080p.

And the 8400GS does do HD. worst test I saw showed 43.7% CPU usage on a VC-1 DejaVu Movie

There's also apparently 2 versions of the 8400GS G98 and G86, according to this image

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your replies.
Sorry, should have said that the new monitor is 1920x1200 WUXGA. The only gaming that I do is pinball and I watch TV programmes recorded to my hard disk and the odd DVD film. Should I leave the 8400GS in until (if?) it packs up and replace it with a newer one?
Many thanks
aw56001

 

[jitpublisher]

Picture quality? You won't see much difference at all quality wise by simply upgrading to a card along the same lines as a 8400 or 8600 series with Dual or HDMI connections.

Now if you are talking about performance, the 8400 is a very weak card to drive a monitor that size at native resolution, if you are a gamer.

For what you are doing, the 8400 is just fine. You'll feel you wasted money if you buy something else.

 

[johnyeah]

It'll hold for your uses. Don't worry about replacing it.

 

[Guest]

Many thanks everyone for your time and comments.
I will leave the graphics card alone for the foreseeable future.
Thanks again
aw56001