LCD's and non-native resolutions..

[thirdlegstump]

I have 3 Sony SDM-73s which are 17" LCD's with 1280x1024 as the native resolution. I was wondering how I can display 800x600 or whatever else without scaling the screen to the full extents of the monitor, thus leaving a clear, non-scaled image? I've seen laptops and some LCD's do this. It would be great for applications where lower resolutions work better and usually looks like crap when scaled.

 

[wetcat007]

If you have an nVidia graphics card I know you can do this in their drivers, not sure about ATI.

 

[DaveSimmons]

If it isn't in the manual or on-screen menus for your display, you probably can't.

This is a function of the display, not the video card or Windows.

For some programs it might work to run them windowed instead of full-screen, but those programs probably run fine at the hgher resolution anyway.

...or maybe I'm wrong and wetcat007 is right -- a video card's drivers could fake this by sending the full 1280x1024 but sending black for the extra pixels. That is effectively the same as the LCD accepting an 800x600 signal and choosing not to scale it.