ddcprobe / X : how to force refresh rates / timing ?

[Vincent Trouilliez]

Right now I run my 17" CRT monitor at 1152x864 @ 75Hz.
I would like to use 1280x960, but when I select this resolution via
Gnome, it gives no choices but 60Hz refresh rate.
I have sadly lost the monitor's printed manual (Nec Multisync M700), so
I am not sure if it can manage more than 60Hz in that resolution.
However when I run "sudo ddcprobe" it says (among other things) :

---------
id: 43c6
eisa: NEC43c6
serial: 01010101
manufacture: 8 1998
timing: 1024x768 at 87 Hz Interlaced (8514A)
timing: 1024x768 at 60 Hz (VESA)
timing: 1024x768 at 70 Hz (VESA)
timing: 1024x768 at 75 Hz (VESA)
timing: 1280x1024 at 75 (VESA)
dtiming: 1280x1024 at 70
monitorrange: 31-69, 55-120
monitorname: NEC M700
monitorserial: 8202877TA
vincent at Lotus-Esprit:~ $
--------

If I understand well, ddprobe retrives this information from the monitor
itself, so I will assume it's reliable ? If it is, then it says that
1280x1024 @ 75Hz is doable, so surely (?) 1280x960 is doable at this
refresh rate too ?
At any rate, I have witnessed (using a recent Hoary live CD) that the
monitor can run at 1400x1050 @ 60Hz, so maybe it can manage more than
60Hz at a slightly lower res like 1280x960.

So, how can I tell X (if it's X that's involved), to use a higher
refresh rate ? Can I give it custom timings (assuming I can figure it
out) that would result in a higher refresh rate ?

I tried googling for the PDF manual, but no luck so far :o(

Thanks for any help....


--
Vince