Improve Monitor Performance

[DasFox]

I have a NEC 19" CRT, not to bad of a montior for the money, but with my SLI setup it certainly is lacking and will soon get swaped out for something better. But in the meantime my manual says the recommended resolution is 1280X1024@85hz, but my old eyes can't take the tiny out of focus looking fonts.

My old eyes have been so use to looking at 1024x768 that it makes me nutts to use the higher resolutuon, but I want to keep it for gaming.

I'm running XP Pro x64, with two 7800 GTs and there are no NEC drivers supported under x64, at least from NEC that I could tell.

How can I improve the look and clarity at this higer resoultion like 1024x768? I have messed with many settings on the monitor and changed the refresh rate to 75hz which is a lttler clearer but then I get some slight flicker.

Any help with some type of software mods, etc.. would be greatly appreciated in figuring this.

ALOHA

P.S. Unless the only thing really to do is just change the resolution for gaming and then change it back when I use the desktop.

 

[xtknight]

Raise DPI in Windows display resolution settings (advanced). (They use some reverse form of the term DPI I guess.)

 

[DasFox]

AH HA!, thanks, brb restarting computer.

ALOHA

 

[DasFox]

Well it's better, but the overall feel and look to everything still is not as sharp, eveerything is still a little out of focus and I'd love to make the higer resolution look as crisp and clear as 1024x768 does.

THANKS

 

[CP5670]

If your monitor has a couple of holes on the side, you can adjust the focus screws inside easily using a long screwdriver. That can sometimes help a lot.

Although you can certainly use different resolutions for games and Windows; it should be switching between them automatically.

 

[DasFox]

Nope nothing I can see for adjusting focus.

Ok on this CRT I have had the desktop before at 1024x768 and then put the game resolution on 1600X1200? Because in F.E.A.R. I noticed when I had the desktop resolution at 1024x768, I can put the game resolution on another setting, like 1600x1200, but then I did not notice the game looking any different.

Like there wasn't more space to see, like how on the desktop the differences of how things, shrink and grow, compared to the size you use. To me in the game I didn't see any size changes taking place, the resolution looked just the same as 1024x768.

Now shouldn't I see quite a difference, between these two?

THANKS

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: DasFox
Now shouldn't I see quite a difference, between these two?

THANKS

Nope, not in games. You just get more detail most of the time, and not more space. That's because if someone saw more of a room than you did, it would be unfair.

 

[DasFox]

Originally posted by: xtknight

Originally posted by: DasFox
Now shouldn't I see quite a difference, between these two?

THANKS

Nope, not in games. You just get more detail most of the time, and not more space. That's because if someone saw more of a room than you did, it would be unfair.

Ahh wow really good point I never thought of that, so now matter what size monitor or resolution you use, you really are just seeing the same mass of space, only bigger or small, but not like the desktop where you actually get more, interesting.

So changing to higher resolutions just improves, performance or detail is all?

THANKS

P.S. So leaving my CRT's desktop resolution to 1024x768 is ok and then having the game on 1600x1200, really does work?

By the way later when I get a LCD, can you do the samething with them, have the desktop on one resolution and play games at another?

 

[mwmorph]

yes crts can run desktop at a different resolution than game.
crts work the same, except the native/optimal lcd resolution is pretty critical since image quality greatly reduces when you run 1024x768 instead of 1280x1024 native on 17 and 19" lcds.

higher refresh always looks better.
higher resolution slows games down but makes games look sharper since there are more pixels(dots) displayed.

 

[DasFox]

Well what I mean for the LCDs is, say for you looking at 1280x1024 looks great on your LCD and putting it on 1600x1200 hurts the eyes, so you leave the desktop on the native rez., 1280x1024 and play games at higer resolutions, this is ok to do for a LCD?

For me this CRT is going to have to stay at 1024x768, anything else the desktop is just to fuzzy for my eyes, but in F.E.A.R. I can play it on 1600x1200, so that makes me happy.

THANKS

 

[kmmatney]

I must have similar eyes, as I couldn't stand going above 1024 x 768 on my old 19" Sony CRT.

For you CRT you can game at 1280 x 960 as well, to keep a 4:3 resolution.

With an LCD, you are usually best off gaming at the fixed resolution of the LCD. This gives you the best image quality. The second best option is to scale the resolution in a proportional manner. You can't go higher than the LCDs resolution, so if you get a 19" LCD, you will be stuck gaming at 1280 x 1024, which is too small for your SLI setup. You should at least get a 20" LCD monitor to game at 1600 x 1200 or 1680 x 1050 (widescreen).

Edit: The problem with a 20" LCD is that the font size will be very small. This is too small for my eyes. You probably want to get an LCD with a pixel pitch of at least 0.27 mm. There are not too many high resolution LCDs with this large of a pixel size. One is the Dell 24" LCD. All 19" LCDs have a larger pixel size, but the resolution would be limiting for an SLI setup.

 

[DasFox]

Thanks, well as far as LCD buying goes, I've been down that road a few times, at this point in time if I where going to buy something it would be the Samsung 244T.

For me I'll be upgrading with Evga's Setup Program, because I just bought my 7800GT cards less then two months ago and I plan on trading them up for 2 7900 GT Superclocks and I really want a 24" at 1900X1200 to game with, like this Samsung, it should be awesome.

ALOHA