XFree86 Video Timings HOWTO : Interpreting the Basic Specifications : About Bandwidth:
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## 5.1. About Bandwidth:

Monitor makers like to advertise high bandwidth because it constrains the sharpness of intensity and color changes on the screen. A high bandwidth means smaller visible details.

Your monitor uses electronic signals to present an image to your eyes. Such signals always come in in wave form once they are converted into analog form from digitized form. They can be considered as combinations of many simpler wave forms each one of which has a fixed frequency, many of them are in the Mhz range, eg, 20Mhz, 40Mhz, or even 70Mhz. Your monitor video bandwidth is, effectively, the highest-frequency analog signal it can handle without distortion.

For our purposes, bandwidth is mainly important as an approximate cutoff point for the highest dot clock you can use.

XFree86 Video Timings HOWTO : Interpreting the Basic Specifications : About Bandwidth:
Previous: Interpreting the Basic Specifications
Next: Sync Frequencies and the Refresh Rate: