LCD Resolution and Gaming

[memphist0]

I'm debating between a 1280x1024 19" LCD or a 1600x1200 20" LCD. I would perfer the 1600x1200 for normal desktop stuff but I am concerned about running games at that resoution.

So do most people play games at their LCD's native resoution?

 

[john333]

Yep, you should play at either the native resolution, or something like .5x.5 of it - say 800x600 for a 1600x1200 display for best results, or alternatively, live with only part of the display being used.

For full resolution you'll need a high end card for recent games. I can play halflife2 and UT2004 at 1920x1200 with a 850 XT PE, but I think anything less would be struggling.

 

[memphist0]

Thanks for the help.

I'll probably go with the 19". I only have a 6800GT and like to turn on AA and AF.

I've heard people talk about some LCDs being better than other to interpolate a 1280x960 game to a full screen 1600x1200 (for 20" LCD) but not many reviews talk about it.

 

[kmmatney]

I have a 19" LCD, and I have it set up to use proportional scaling (in the NVidia driver) when I switch to 1280 x 960 mode. This leaves thin bars on the top and bottom of the screen, and it doesn't stretch the screen vertically at all.

Personaly, I think that games scale a lot better than the windows desktop, so I don't think that scaling the image will be so bad. With a 1600 x 1200 monitor, you still have the same option of not using all the screen if you don't want it scaled. The pixels are smaller, though, so the overall screen size will be less than if you use a 19" LCD.

 

[shortylickens]

Like all the other harcore CRT supporters, I usually laugh when I see people having this problem.
I did break down and got an LCD for my second computer though. I use it for everything but gaming.

My opinion is: the game should look decent at any resolution. If you can only run at one setting and have it look good then you'll be in trouble when you get a really new game that stresses your system or a really old game that doesnt support a high resolution.
If you are willing to buy a video card that handles ALL your games at 1600x1200 then go for it. 800x600 will look good too, since the monitor just has to double the pixels vertically and horozontally.