24 inch monitor

[obietemp]

I just purchased a great 24" monitor. I guess it was sort of an impulse because I didn't do my homework first. I didn't realize that my computer's graphics card would only go up to a 1600x1200 resolution and the new monitor's native is 1920x1200. ratio 16:10. I was sort of waiting until the new Vista (or whatever the new platform would be) came out before buying a new computer. Most sites look ok on this resolution 1600x1200 ratio set to 4:3, but my graphics are just a tad bit skewed wider.

Is there a fix to this without having to get a new graphics card? I don't game.
thanks

[wige]

Sometimes updating the drivers will allow you to get higher resolutions from the graphics card. Check with the card manufacturer, or if the card is built in to the computer, contact the computer manufacturer.

Sometimes, it may be that the Operating System is not detecting the monitor's maximum size correctly. This might be corrected by installing drivers for the monitor itself. You should be able to get these drivers from the monitor manufacturer.

[obietemp]

thanks...I already updated the drivers to the very latest. HP support says my computer's card is what is causing the limitation.

[lanlocked]

You could try using a lower resolution that has the correct aspect ratio.

For instance, 1280x800 is a 16x10 aspect ratio resolution. You will notice that many things look "blurry" because this is not the native resolution of the monitor, but images will not appear "squished" either.

[advancedmerchant]

Save some money, upgrade your card, not your PC to Vista. We got a 20% performance improvement by "downgrading" our Vista machines back to XP SP3. An XP machine with a decent graphics card will make you happier than a new Vista boc will, and be a lot cheaper.

Both ATI and nVidia have cards in the $100 to $200 range that will go to your 1920x1200 resolution and beyond.

[richard-s]

Try your PC's 1440 x 900 mode.

- at least the geometry will be correct and the lower resolution will put less strain on your PC so it may run faster.

As others have said, flat panels work best at their "natural" resolution. Other resolution settings may appear slightly fuzzy.

Eventually when you buy a new video card or PC, you may have the choice of connecting your new monitor via "analogue" or "digital."

A digital connection *should* give a better picture.

Richard

[obietemp]

Well, I finally did some research and purchased what I thought would be a good card. NVIDA 9400 but the slots don't match up where the card goes. bummer. How is a person supposed to know if the slots will fit? Guess I'll have the geek squad put in the appropriate card.

[NetMassimo]

You should have checked on your motherboard manual what kind of slot it has for graphic cards. Possibly you have an AGP slot and you bought a PCI-Express card.

[obietemp]

Ok, this scenario finally has a happy ending. After switching out the video card for the appropriate one (thanks NetMassimo) things looked like they were going to be fine....until the disk that came with the card said there were no drivers for my computer. (errr) So thankfully I had Driver Detective that found the drivers for me.

Man, guess this is a lesson I'll remember.....NO IMPULSE BUYING!

[New Method]

Impulse buying will always get you into trouble!