LCD Gaming

[ChiBOY83]

Yes, i know, they answer is probly on here in 50 different spots, but there are 50 million threads on LCD's and what not. I am specifically interested in the dell 2005FP and the 2405 ...

Do the games have to be set to the native LCD resolution, or can they be bumped down. I ask because i want to get a 2005fp, but only have a 6600GT (and amd 3000+ stock), which won't run these new games all "pretty" at a 1280 resolution.....

Thanks for the help guys & gals

 

[PurdueRy]

They can be bumped down with some loss in image quality.

 

[ChiBOY83]

Originally posted by: PurdueRy
They can be bumped down with some loss in image quality.

is this loss in image quality in games the normal image quality loss when bumping down teh resolution (as on a CRT when going from 1600 to 1024), OR is it more of an image loss because its on an LCD ???

 

[PurdueRy]

it will be more, as you will lose sharpness as you bump it down. For instance if I run mine in 1024x768 instead of 1280 x 1024 I can easily notice a blur around text. This is due to the resolution change and the LCD has to interpolate to fill the entire amount of pixels on the screen. Some do this better than others.

In most games its not going to be THAT apparant, but it can be slightly annoying for those few games that dont suppot the correct resolution. Although this can often be worked around....

 

[hennethannun]

chiboy,

yes there is some quality loss when using a non-native resolution on LCD's. CRT can display a wide range of pixel dimensions on the screen, so when you drop the resolution down, you only lose quality because the same image now has to be drawn using fewer pixels.

LCDs have a set number of pixels on the screen, so it a 1600*1200 LCD want to dpslay a 1280*1024 signal, it has to use its DSP chip (digital signal processor) to interpolate the 12*10 signal into a 16*12 signal that can be displayed. This results is a slight loss in picture clarity and sharpness. For gaming, interpolation usually isn't that bad, but trying to browse the internet or read a long document on an interpolated monitor is good way to get a headache since everything becomes murky and a bit fuzzy.

Fortunately, you are in luck becaue all the nice dell LCD monitors have a good DSP (especially for gaming) so the quality loss is very minimal for gaming, and if you decide that you just can't handle it after all, you can simply set the scaling option on your monitor (in the monitors on-screen-display) to 1:1 and rather than interpolating the signal, you will just get a smaller viewable box of the proper pixel dimensions in the middle of your screen. I use this feature on my 2005fpw to play games that don't support widescreen. that way i don't get stretching at the sides of my monitor...

 

[ChiBOY83]

Great, thanks for the advicepurdue and henne. I knew that the non native resolution REALLY crapped up the viewing on the desktop etc. but wasn't sure how greatly it impacted games..... LOOKs like an upgrade to a deall LCD is on the way.. thanks again guys

 

[hennethannun]

make sure you uprage at the end of dell's fiscal quarters (i think that means the end of april, july, october or january) cos the deal are HOT ie 2005fpw=$380