Glenn9999 Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 I'm looking around and I haven't been able to find a page or any references to indicate what is necessary to run a widescreen monitor on a computer. Is there a reference or explanation anywhere regarding that? I notice a lot of them on demo computers are showing stretched full screens, so I'm wondering about this. To run one "right", is there a requirement for a videocard that supports different resolutions, or would a driver change work, or can you letter-box an image, etc?Basically just asking what I would need to know in considering one before I would make the purchase and not end up with something decent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puntoMX Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 Some older videocards don’t support widescreen resolutions so we need to know the videocard model you are using now. If it’s onboard we would like to know what expansion slots you have e.g. PCI, PCI-E (Speed 1x/4x/8x/16x), AGP (Speed 1x/2x/4x/8x) information like that or you could give us the model number of the motherboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn9999 Posted October 12, 2007 Author Share Posted October 12, 2007 I'm pretty sure the video card I have probably doesn't support widescreen resolutions (GeForce4 MX 440), so none of that really is a question.The question more is what exactly is required for the video card and drivers/OS to make it work to be able to web search or whatever and determine that. In other words, I'm looking for some knowledge more than anything specific with my system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puntoMX Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 There is no standard information about that, al depends on the hardware in combination with the drivers.Your card supports widescreen but don’t expect it to go over 1600*1050... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Erik Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 (edited) I'm pretty sure the video card I have probably doesn't support widescreen resolutions (GeForce4 MX 440), so none of that really is a question.The question more is what exactly is required for the video card and drivers/OS to make it work to be able to web search or whatever and determine that. In other words, I'm looking for some knowledge more than anything specific with my system.It will work fine I bet. I used a HP w19 widscreen (1440*900) with a GeForce4 MX 420 wich is less powerfull then your card. I switched to a GeForce 7300GT 256MB after a while though because I wanted to play Call of Duty (which also worked surprisingly well on the mx420 with medium settings) on the highest settings. Edited October 12, 2007 by _Erik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polarman Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 You could take a look here for some info:http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/wiki/...x.php/Main_Page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weEvil Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 I'm pretty sure the video card I have probably doesn't support widescreen resolutions (GeForce4 MX 440), so none of that really is a question.The question more is what exactly is required for the video card and drivers/OS to make it work to be able to web search or whatever and determine that. In other words, I'm looking for some knowledge more than anything specific with my system.It should. Check the specs.Here's the PNY version:http://www.pny.com/products/verto/disconti...e4/mx440agp.aspDrives two independent CRT displays with crisp and clear image quality at 2048x1536 resolution @ 75HzAnd that's it. If you can go to a Widescreen resolution, that's all you need. Widescreen is just a different resolution. Istead of having 1600x1200 (4:3 aspect ratio) like on most normal displays you have 1650 x1050 (16:10 aspect ratio) which is widescreen. because its WIDE.That's it. Nothing to it. The most difficult you would have to do is to download the newest nVidia drivers and make your own cutom resolution to match the screen in the worst case scenario. Most drivers have a selection for widescreen resolutions anyway.BTW. Check to make sure that your MX 440 supports it. This is a PNY version, Verto Model I showed you. Not all manufacturers make them the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonDamm Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 If the newest driver for your card doesn't have the resolution you want (or need), you can add it yourself with a brilliant application called Power Strip (http://www.entechtaiwan.com/util/ps.shtm). Remember though that while it may work, you may also find that it stresses your card to the max. Since 256MB and even 512MB cards are available for around $80 that are fanless, you might consider the wisdom of fiddling with it. If you are going to spepnd the money on a decent display (and you should as you only have one pair of eyes and it is your primary interface), I'd get a decent card to match it. If you ever want to run aero in Vista either native or in VM, or run several windows at the same time and do stuff in the background (torrents, etc), you'll want the power of the newer cards available. I still use an old trusty 32MB Matrox in a test machine and a 128MB ATI in my curent workstation and both are adequate to the tasks I ask, but the moment I stress either of them it becomes obvious, Neither of them have the wide screen resolutions either.Check out Power Strip for now if the newest driver doesn't offer the resolution, but think about shopping for a new card! :^) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn9999 Posted October 13, 2007 Author Share Posted October 13, 2007 It should. Check the specs.Here's the PNY version:http://www.pny.com/products/verto/disconti...e4/mx440agp.aspDrives two independent CRT displays with crisp and clear image quality at 2048x1536 resolution @ 75HzOkay, so how does that (or anything on the page) translate to "supports widescreen resolutions"? That's what I'm not getting - if some cards support it and others don't, there needs to be a way to find out, especially before a wide-screen monitor gets purchased, right?Istead of having 1600x1200 (4:3 aspect ratio) like on most normal displays you have 1650 x1050 (16:10 aspect ratio) which is widescreen. because its WIDE.So assumably, if there's a widescreen monitor out there that supports 1024 or 800 across, then any card that supported 1024x768 or 800x600 would work on the widescreen? So the question of whether a card would support widescreen resolutions or not would be a moot point? I've gathered it's not, so how do you tell? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puntoMX Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 If the resolution is lower in height as well in width it will resize the image so the screen will be okay for gaming at 800*600 but will spread over 1440*900 (19" widescreen) for example and thus you will have a “blurry” screen. I just wanted to add this . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weEvil Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 Okay, so how does that (or anything on the page) translate to "supports widescreen resolutions"? That's what I'm not getting - if some cards support it and others don't, there needs to be a way to find out, especially before a wide-screen monitor gets purchased, right?1. Find out your MAX rsolution form your MX 4402. If the resolution of your monitor is LESS than the maximum supported, then it works.Example: Card supports 2056x1600 max resolution. Your monitor is 1920x1200. It fits. It will work.However, you NEED to make sure that yuor card supports that resolution. If you give a monitor a lower resolution other than 1920x1200, like 720x400 (even though its widescreen) it will smudge and look really bad because LCDs stretch the image to fit.So assumably, if there's a widescreen monitor out there that supports 1024 or 800 across, then any card that supported 1024x768 or 800x600 would work on the widescreen?That is correct. And for best image quality, make sure that your videocard resolution output and the max resolution your LCD is designed for match.So the question of whether a card would support widescreen resolutions or not would be a moot point? I've gathered it's not, so how do you tell? Errr, what are you asking here?Also, for the other dudes: What about dual DVI inputs and such? Or dual VGA? On a widescreen? Don't some have that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonDamm Posted December 26, 2007 Share Posted December 26, 2007 @brucevangeorgesorry for the long delay in getting back to you. I'm not sure what question you are asking concerning dual inputs. Many many cards have dual outputs these days, but afaik that is just a software function relative to the card. The resolution is a function of the available memory (256MB, 512, etc) and the driver. That's why Power Strip is so brilliant. It allows you to do in Windows with graphic cards what you can do a bit more easily in linux - that is adjust the resolution.My trusty 19" Samsung 192T has two inputs and my Radeon 9600 has two outputs. The ATI driver doesn't include a 1680x1050 resolution, but the card is capable of it because it can handle a 1920x1200 one. By inserting the resolution into the driver with PS I can run a 22" monitor at native resolution which I have done for testing a friend's monitor.As noted it is important to run LCD monitors at their native resolution to get the best look. Otherwise all kinds of fuzzy things creep in! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn9999 Posted December 26, 2007 Author Share Posted December 26, 2007 I got all the questions worked out on this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ripken204 Posted December 26, 2007 Share Posted December 26, 2007 so are you going to get a widescreen i just got a Samsung 226BW and i am just loving it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn9999 Posted December 26, 2007 Author Share Posted December 26, 2007 so are you going to get a widescreen Already done. Just updated the video drivers, and it worked very well from then on. Heh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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