LCD Monitors.

[Jale]

My CRT one is screwed up and I'm switching to LCD, because CRT monitors are hard to find nowadays. I've been looking for a very good one, indeed, I've chosen the one I'm gonna buy, so I'm here to ask you if I've made the right choice.

There are two LCD models I have in mind and they're the following:

Brand: AOC
Size: 19''
Type: LCD TFT
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Cost: US$ 330.

Brand: AOC
Size: 19''
Type: LCD TFT
Aspect Ratio: 16:10
Cost: US$ 360.

The 16:10 one looks very attractive, specially with widescreen applications, but I'm a total ignorant when talking about resolutions on LCD monitors. I know they have a maximum resolution, let's say, 1440x900 (I think that's the maximum for 19'' monitors). What happens when I switch it to, let's say, 640x480 or 1024x768? Will it stretch to fill the screen or will it become smaller? The following are a sample of images I've made to show what I mean. Of course, the monitor displayed here is just a sample.

Native 1440x900.


1024x768, 4:3 aspect ratio and centered.

Now, let's see Doom 3. How will it look?

Like this...

Doom 3 at 640x480 and 4:3 aspect ratio.

...this...

Doom 3 at stretched 640x480, but keeping aspect ratio.

...or this?

Doom 3 at 640x480 stretched to fit screen with screwed aspect ratio.

[tomato]

On my widescreen most games are stretched to fit but there some exceptions I'm sure. Its worth it though, I love having that extra space however the one downside is the lack of really good ws wallpapers, a small price to pay. But I'd go with the widescreen.

[Jale]

But isn't there any button to keep the aspect ratio or something?

[Zach]

There will be an option either on your monitor itself, or there should be one with your graphics card drivers as well.

On my monitor it will add black bars to maintain the aspect ratio.
In my Nvidia options there is a tab called "Digital Flat Panel Settings" which lets me control the scaling too. I can set it to Display Adapter Scaling, Centered Output, Monitor Scaling, and Fixed Aspect Ration Scaling. Aspect Ratio adds black bars on the left and right. Centered adds black bars on all sides of the screen.

I don't have a widescreen but if your WS doesn't have any kind of options for it, that's some BS