Stupid question, but still wanna know

[EvilKupo]

Ok so I've been into computers (building) for over 10 years...I could tell a person how to build a computer with a blindfold on and my hands tied behind my back...but yet I am here asking a simple video card question =P

OK so...I have a Hanns-G HW191D monitor and a Radeon HD 4850 512 video card...my highest resolution possible on my monitor is 1440x900 (which is fine for normal desktop viewing, but I wish it would go higher for gaming) and was wondering if that's a limitation of the monitor or the card? On my old CRT, on a much older card, I used to be able to set the desktop resolution to 1920x1440 or even higher...I know that LCD monitors have a native resolution and all that, so I'm guessing it has to do with that, but this is my first LCD monitor.

Thanks guys

 

[DaveSimmons]

The monitor. LCDs have a fixed set of pixels and only a single native resolution.

Any lower resolutions are done by using multiple pixels for each virtual pixel, or adding black bars, or both. For 1024 x 768 you might see bars on the side _and_ it might double every 6th line to fill the screen vertically.

If it accepts a higher resolution, it lies and downscales to the native resolution. So 19x12 it would vertically squish every 4 rows down to 3 real rows. You'll never see more than 14x9 pixels.

 

[EvilKupo]

I had a feeling about that. My monitor is only a 19 inch so the 1440x900 resolution is good enough for me.

I guess my other question that goes with that one is when I have my video card hooked up to my TV via HTMI and have my TV set as main monitor, it automatically sets it to 1080p...I've heard that the card might not run too well at that high resolution...if that's true, what can I expect to experience trying to game at that resolution? (assuming I have the processing power and RAM to do so)

 

[DaveSimmons]

Your card is a bit slow for 19x10, so if the ATI control panel will let you set it manually to 12x7 (720p) it will work much better. At that resolution you should be able to crank up other settings (shadows, draw distance, other eye candy) a notch or two above what you can do on your monitor.

 

[EvilKupo]

Thanks!