Buying a 20" widescreen LCD and not playing at native res ... worth it ?

[ManOnFire]

Hi,

I want a TFT for my system, and i got many opinions that a 20" widescreen would be great however I was also told that you must use it at native resolution 1680x1050, but my 7800gtx does not handle those resolutions with hungry games like GRAW , or games that handle that resolution I would problem be disappointed with a decrease in FPS, so is it worth getting a 20" widescreen ?

If i get a 20" widescreen I intend to buy to the LG L204WT http://www.lge.com/products/model/detail/l204wt.jhtml

and if a get a normal 19" I'm considering the Viewsonic VX922 (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=326948)

I really need some professional opinions here guys, I mean I can't change this and its going to be a one time buy before another 3 yrs


thanks in advance

 

[Yanagi]

Displays are one of the components in the computer you change/upgrade most seldom. Therefore I would adivce you to purchase a display that will make you happy for years and not buy some half assed display. If you know you will upgrade your machine later down the road that will be able to handle the resolution nI dont see why you should go with the 20 inch. You can just asell play most of the games in window mode in the meantime or decrease the graphics options a tad to make up for the high resolution.

I'd say purchase the 20 inch and be happy with it.

 

[RajunCajun]

You can run at any resolution up to maximum. At less than max, the LCD or graphics card will "scale" to fit by one of 3 ways using NVidia control panel:

1) Will stretch the resolution to fit the entire screen.

2) Stretch screen but keep the same aspect ratio so the images are not overly distorted. You may have some small black bars on the sides and/or top & bottom.

3) Fixed ratio will show the screen surrounded by black bars. This keeps the resolution sharp, but picture screen is smaller.

Honestly, when playing games you don't really notice the stretch (I have a Dell 2005FPW). But with text there is some fuzziness.

Also, depending on your hardware, you can have the LCD itself do the scaling or have the graphics control panel take over. Play with both and see which looks best.

 

[VooDooAddict]

For games that are too stressful at Full rez.

Either:

A) Get the 20" Widescreen (Or one of the new 22" Widescreens), hook it up with DVI, and set the NVIDIA control pannel to center output so you can smoothly game at 1280x1024. (Black bars ... but no stretching and crystal clear text.)

B) Get a 20" 1600x1200 4:3 display, hook it up with DVI, and set in game rez to 800x600 for pixel perfect 2:1 scaling.

 

[CU]

What kind of filter do different video cards and LCD panels use to scale the image?