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My specific hardware setup is that I have a GeForce GTX 580M in my laptop, and I'm considering buying an Iiyama Prolite G2773HS monitor. However, I would hope that answers to this question would be general, rather than make/model-specific. (I can give other specs if they're useful, but I don't want to drown the question in irrelevant detail.)

I can't see anything in the manufacturer's specification to say whether or not my graphics card will really drive a 120Hz monitor (connected via Dual-Link DVI) at 120Hz, or whether I'd be completely wasting my money.

I'm running Windows 7 (and will probably upgrade to Windows 8 if that makes any difference). When I list the available modes for my graphics adapter in either the normal display settings or the NVidia control panel, it only shows 50Hz and 60Hz modes, even with the "list modes my current display doesn't support" box checked. Is this a Windows limitation which will suddenly go away via Windows Update when I plug the monitor in for the first time?

Of course one option is to try to find someone with a 120Hz monitor that I can try my actual laptop with first... but that's likely to be relatively tricky.

Please note: I'm not particularly looking for opinions on whether 120Hz monitors are a good idea or not, as there's a lot of information out there already on that topic - but answers which happen to also contain thoughts along those lines are welcome :)

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Completely off-topic, but... too bad the "jon skeet facts" is locked. It would be fun to link this one. JS asks something, edit the only answer given, and then comments his edited answer :) – woliveirajr May 11 '12 at 19:27
@woliveirajr To be fair, I wrote KHz instead of Hz so it was a very legitimate edit. I would have done it myself had I caught it before him. – Scott Chamberlain May 11 '12 at 20:36
@ScottChamberlain yes, and was a right answer, you even got my upvoted. It was just funny... – woliveirajr May 14 '12 at 11:37

1 Answer

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I am going to say yes but in a roundabout way.

The GeForce GTX 580M supports 3D Vision, which to perform on on LCD displays must support a 120Hz refresh rate. So therefor I know the card can drive a 120Hz display, but I can't guarantee that it can run your 120Hz display, mainly because your display is not on the list of officially supported displays for 3D vision.

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Thanks - that's a start. I guess there's a risk that Windows will support that, but not the full 120Hz for 2D... Hmm. – Jon Skeet May 11 '12 at 18:59

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