Laptop + External Monitor Output Resolution Issues

[CodeNameSly]

Okay, so my laptop's LCD is a 1920x1200 native screen. I recently bought a Samsung 2443BWX, also 1920x1200 native. After struggling to make it display 1920x1200 properly, I've now encountered a new issue. Note the video card is a Geforce Go 7950 GTX.

Now, bear with me if this is a general issue with external monitors. It's been awhile since I used one (been on a laptop for a long time).

Anyway, if I'm playing e.g. CoD4 on my laptop's display, in-game I'm able to select a whole ton of resolutions. However if I switch over to my external monitor, it seriously limits my resolution options (i.e. I get maybe 1/4 as many options). Furthermore, if I go to NVIDIA control panel and change flat panel scaling to, say "Do not scale." or "Use NVIDIA scaling with fixed aspect-ratio." then as soon as I enter the game it jumps back to "Use my display's built-in scaling." If I'm on my laptop I can use any of these options.

Is there something I'm missing here? Maybe my monitor and graphics drivers just aren't playing well together. I'm thinking about just returning the monitor. As nice as it is to have a big external display, if lose a ton of flexibility it's not worth it.

I was thinking of maybe trying the BenQ 2400wd anyway, as it comes highly recommended here. Or would I probably have the same issue with that screen?

Thanks.

 

[postmortemIA]

are you connected via DVI or VGA to external monitor? Often scaling doesn't work over VGA.

is 1:1 scaling for your BenQ working on desktop?

 

[CodeNameSly]

Originally posted by: postmortemIA
are you connected via DVI or VGA to external monitor? Often scaling doesn't work over VGA.

Connected via DVI.

Originally posted by: postmortemIA
is 1:1 scaling for your BenQ working on desktop?

Sorry, I don't have the BenQ. I was considering getting it since the Samsung 2443BWX I have doesn't seem to be working.

The issue isn't so much scaling as the lack of resolutions supported. E.g. 1440 x 900 isn't available.

I think it might just be poor compatibility. I had to go through a bizarre process to even get it to just display my windows desktop at 1920x1200 properly (see http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=55679). Maybe because I have the custom resolution enabled, it's limiting my options?

But I guess I have a secondary question. In general, can external LCDs support a whole ton of resolutions? Like is there any reason why I couldn't use 1440x900 on my (or another) external monitor, either letterboxed or stretched to the full screen?

EDIT:
Ignoring the game issue, it seems that even just through NVIDIA control panel, I'm limited to:

800x600, 1024x768, 1280x960, 1280x1024, 1600x900, 1600x1200, or 1920x1200.

Is this a common limitation of monitors, or should I be able to access more resolutions?

FURTHER EDIT:
I guess the basic question I'm asking is: shouldn't I be able to display more resolutions than these? And shouldn't I be able to use "No scaling." to get a centered display at said other resolutions (e.g. 1440x900)?

FURTHER EDIT II (sorry!):
So by changing the monitor setting for "Image Size" from "Wide" to "Auto", it will now center the display without scaling it. However, the monitor's scaling seems to take precedence (still forces the NVIDIA setting to "Use my monitor's built-in scaling." It would be nice to have the option to get fixed-ratio scaling, though. And there's still the issue of limited resolutions.

 

[postmortemIA]

Yes, if you can set monitor's scaling to whatever you want, it might work. For that it is best to change resolution from native to something else and play with options.

Also with nvidia control panel you can add your own resolutions, but that thing was buggy everytime I tried.

Additionally, monitor driver controls the resolutions. If it is not there, that is why you are not seeing it. My 27" Dell has it, and it works..

 

[SolMiester]

Originally posted by: CodeNameSly

Originally posted by: postmortemIA
are you connected via DVI or VGA to external monitor? Often scaling doesn't work over VGA.

Connected via DVI.

Originally posted by: postmortemIA
is 1:1 scaling for your BenQ working on desktop?

Sorry, I don't have the BenQ. I was considering getting it since the Samsung 2443BWX I have doesn't seem to be working.

The issue isn't so much scaling as the lack of resolutions supported. E.g. 1440 x 900 isn't available.

I think it might just be poor compatibility. I had to go through a bizarre process to even get it to just display my windows desktop at 1920x1200 properly (see http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=55679). Maybe because I have the custom resolution enabled, it's limiting my options?

But I guess I have a secondary question. In general, can external LCDs support a whole ton of resolutions? Like is there any reason why I couldn't use 1440x900 on my (or another) external monitor, either letterboxed or stretched to the full screen?

EDIT:
Ignoring the game issue, it seems that even just through NVIDIA control panel, I'm limited to:

800x600, 1024x768, 1280x960, 1280x1024, 1600x900, 1600x1200, or 1920x1200.

Is this a common limitation of monitors, or should I be able to access more resolutions?

FURTHER EDIT:
I guess the basic question I'm asking is: shouldn't I be able to display more resolutions than these? And shouldn't I be able to use "No scaling." to get a centered display at said other resolutions (e.g. 1440x900)?

FURTHER EDIT II (sorry!):
So by changing the monitor setting for "Image Size" from "Wide" to "Auto", it will now center the display without scaling it. However, the monitor's scaling seems to take precedence (still forces the NVIDIA setting to "Use my monitor's built-in scaling." It would be nice to have the option to get fixed-ratio scaling, though. And there's still the issue of limited resolutions.

Excuse me for being a newbie, but those are not 16:9 WS resolutions, they are std resolutions (5:4, 16:10) and 1440:900 is WS 16:9. Seems to me you are trying to mix 16:10 and 16:9 resolutions.....I'm not sure any GPU will let you do that?

 

[CodeNameSly]

Err, isn't 1440x900 16:10? Wouldn't 1600x900 would be 16:9 (or 1440x810, but I don't think that exists). Anyway, I'm not trying to mix the resolutions, just use the external monitor exclusively.

Basically when using my monitor by itself I have only a few resolution options, and it would be nice to have more.