Video card on d-dock

[hecklerxkoch]

Hello all, I'm not 100% sure if this topic goes here, so if it doesn't I apologize in advance. I'm having a little trouble with my XPS1710 running a GeoForce Go 7900GTX card and getting it to drive the Dell 3007wfp 30" monitor. According to what I've read, the card should drive it, but does not. Anyway I got to thinking...I have my xps docked to a dell d-dock (pd01x) and amwondering why I couldn't put a video card into the docking station that would drive the 30" monitor. I've looked all over the web and can't get my issue solved, so I thought I'd try here. Thanks for any help!

[Madpistol]

To answer your question bluntly, no. First, I believe the Dell 30" monitors require a Dual-link DVI connection. I can't find anything on the net about that, so I would assume that this card doesn't come with one. If that's the case, that would explain why your video card can't drive a 30" monitor. I could be wrong as I haven't researched it thoroughly, but that would be my first reaction.

Secondly, you can't put a video card into a docking station. The docking station is nothing more than an interface that transmits data from the computer to another source. In essence, it's driven by the computer that's attached to it. It has no CPU, Ram, or motherboard, which means that you don't have the components required to drive a video card.

My recommendation to you is to get a smaller monitor - a 24-28" that supports 1920x1200 would be the absolute maximum you could get to work, but on a 7900 GTX, your max res should probably be 1680x1050, but that's your preference.

If you don't want to get a smaller monitor, you can always get a new computer with an 8 or 9 series GPU that does support dual-link DVI. However, that's going to be far more expensive that simply getting a smaller monitor, as the video cards in laptops usually aren't upgradeable. You'd have to buy yourself a brand new system if you wanted to do that.

[hecklerxkoch]

Thanks for the help...but that really sucks! The card states that it is a dual link and supports 2560x1600 max resolution. There is a topic on this issue from a year or so ago on this forum,
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=67791
but a solution was really never found. Maybe if you can look at that it may tell you more about my issue and perhaps how to solve it. I really appreciate your help btw, thanks!

[Madpistol]

The normal 7900 GTX says it supports Dual-link DVI, but does the mobile one? Sometimes a mobile GPU sacrafices certain things so that it can function properly. Like I said, I'm just going by my current knowledge, and I don't know much about mobile GPU's.

Have you tried running the monitor with another DVI cable? It's a long shot, but the cable could be bad.

[hecklerxkoch]

yeah that was my next step, just been busy at work and can't get to it. It's funny, I've talked with three level 2 tech's at Dell and they can't figure out why it wont drive the monitor at 2560x1600. Sometimes though, the level 2's should probably be level 1's...