Lower Resolutions on Natively High Resolution Monitors

[essential]

I posted this question at the end of another dead thread, so I doubt anyone saw it. Basically I?m wondering what affects the quality of how lower resolutions look on monitors with natively high resolutions.

Specifically, I?m going to buy a 24? WS monitor (1920x1200) for my father, but 1920x1200 will make text way to small for him, seeing as how he has some vision problems.

If he uses a lower resolution on a 24? WS monitor with a 1920x1200 native resolution, will it still look crisp and sharp, or will things seem stretched and blurry? Is it more on the monitors end to keep things looking sharp at lower than native resolutions, or is that more on the video card?

Thanks.

 

[beatle]

It won't be as sharp with an interpolated resolution, especially for text. This is a function of the LCD and not the video card. That said, a lot of people here at work run a lower resolution on their LCDs and they don't complain, but it drives me nuts.

 

[Dkcode]

Look for a 26 or 27 with the same resolution. It will be much more comfortable to look at.

 

[BernardP]

It will look very good if you have a NVidia graphics card and use the NVidia Scaling option. You can create any custom resolution you want, and the interpolation is done in the videocard, not in the monitor. The videocard sends a 1920x1200 signal to the monitor which doesn't "know" it is displaying a lower visible resolution.

I am using a custom 1360x850 resolution with NVidia Scaling on my Dell 24 inch and it looks great.

I don't know if something similar is possible with ATI graphics. I know it is not possible with older Intel integrated graphics, but I don't know if the newer Intel GMA X3000 has something similar to NVidia scaling.

 

[essential]

Yes, I ordered a "XFX PVT44AWANG GeForce 6200 256MB 64-bit GDDR2 AGP 4X/8X Video Card" to support the monitor so I assume I should have the Nvidia scaling option you are referring too. Where would I go to use this feature once the card is installed?

Thanks.

 

[BernardP]

The Nvidia Scaling option is found in the Nvidia Control Panel (System Tray), under the "Resolution and Refresh Rate" tab (at least in the Classic panel).

You will find it.

I forgot to mention that the DVI connection MUST be used. NVidia scaling doesn't work with the VGA connection.

 

[essential]

Yea, I ordered that video card just for the DVI, he had a older more than decent video card in his machine now, but it only had VGA.

I'm even going to try the resolution that you said you are using first. Thanks for the help!