I need some help before I make a purchase. I am planning on buying a widescreen monitor for my computer that has a native resolution of 1680x1050. My problem is that I don't know if I can properly display a picture on it with my video card. I looked at all of the resolutions it can handle and I don't see 1680x1050. Here is a link to my video card with all the specifications http://www.ati.com/products/radeon9800/radeon9800pro/specs.html I am stumped with this problem and not sure if I should purchase this widescreen. Please help! Thanks. Incarn

Closest on in the list is 1600 x 1200 but it does also say: "16:9 aspect ratio monitors are supported on 1920x1080 and 848x480 on Windows® XP, Windows® 2000 and Windows® ME. The complete list of resolutions depends on the driver version and operating system." 16:9 is a type of widescreen (1.7777 to 1) 1920 x 1080 (1.7777 to 1) 848 x 480 (1.7666 to 1) 1680 x 1050 (1.6 to 1) 1600 x 1200 (1.3333 to 1) I don't think you will have a problem, as it is very unlikely you will actually use 1680 x 1050 - unless you buy a huge monitor, the text on the screen will be too tiny for you to read easily in Windows at that resolution. Obviously the drivers will support widescreen - maybe not exactly the one your monitor supports, but you should be able to use some resolution that gives you a reasonable display. You may have a small amount of black banding across the screen top and bottom in some situations, but otherwise it should display fine - the Windows Desktop will probably be normal. The only way to tell for sure is to take your computer in its case, and possibly your keyboard and mouse, with you to a place that has the monitor on display, and hook it up to the monitor - they should be glad to accomodate you.

Yeah it will. I've got an old Radeon 7000 that will do 1440x900,1680x1050, and 1920x1200 when it's hooked up to my widescreen display. It's automatic. If you hook up a fullscreen (standard) monitor, most of the 16x10 resolutions won't be listed, but as soon as you hook up a widescreen monitor, they'll appear.

A few other thoughts. If you do take your computer to try it with the monitor in store, remember to load the drivers for the monitor on your computer to get the true picture of the situation - if your computer is set to Plug and Play monitor when you try it, all the possible settings the ATI card will do will be in Display properties, but that doesn't mean the monitor is actually capable of displaying all of them, especially if it is an LCD. Remember to use the OSD controls on the monitor to adjust the 9800 display at different resolutions to suit the monitor - e.g. you may need to make the display larger or reposition it - and if there is black banding top and bottom you may be able to get rid of it. That list of the resolutions for the 9800 on the ATI web site is primarly the standard ones - ATI cards are actually capable of and can be set to many other resolution settings between and other than those settings and under the maximum setting. I installed an AIW 9800 recently for a friend, and that's the case for it - it's the same chipset. When you load the drivers for your monitor, Windows by default only shows you the settings your monitor can actually be set to, of the ATI settings available, in Display - Settings and Display - Settings - Advanced, or in ATI's own software. If the monitor you were thinking of getting is an LCD, and it's drivers are loaded, it will have fewer ATI settings you can choose in Windows (than a new crt monitor) . This may also apply similarily to a Plasma monitor. You will have the most choice of ATI settings with a new CRT monitor. For an LCD monitor, your display will look best at the native resolution, but if you buy a decent brand, it will also look very close to as good in many other resolutions - e.g. I know Samsung are that way. Get one with the lowest response time you can afford, especially if you like playing recent games. If you do a lot of gaming, your best choice by far is a new CRT monitor - they are the most versatile, the response time (the minimum time it takes for a pixel to change color) is much faster than LCD's on any crt, and it will look good at any resolution.

And don't rely on Windows to install the drivers it already has for the 9800. You will have more settings and features available if you load the software that came with the card, or upgrade the drivers and applications using ones from the ATI web site. If you do upgrade the drivers, read the INSTALL DIRECTIONS on the ATI site that are pointed to on the Drivers pages - the html (online) version has more info in it than the pdf version.

Thanks for the input. Yes indeed the screen is a widescreen LCD. With the information you have told me I am pretty confident things will work out when I get this monitor then. Also one more thing. I have updated the driver for my video card off the ATI site, but you also say I should install the drivers for the monitor? I have never had a monitor I had to install. This is my first LCD screen so maybe this is why. Just the thought of installing a driver for a computer monitor sounds weird. Incarn

Adding to what I previously said "..- if your computer is set to Plug and Play monitor when you try it, all the possible settings the ATI card will do ..." in Plug and Play monitor mode ".... will be in Display properties, but that doesn't mean the monitor is actually capable of displaying all of them, especially if it is an LCD." "When you load the drivers for your monitor, Windows by default only shows you the settings your monitor can actually be set to, of the ATI settings available, in Display - Settings and Display - Settings - Advanced, or in ATI's own software." I addition to that, your monitor may work fine in Plug and Play Monitor mode when set to most settings, but you may be missing out on other settings it is capable of that are in the drivers for the monitor. All new monitors I've seen for a long time now come with drivers on a CD, or on a floppy disk. Most of the time all they are, are *.inf files that tell Windows what the monitor is capable of and can be set to. Most if not all monitor manufacturers instruct you to install the drivers in docs that come with the monitor. Obviously if you get a used monitor, the CD or floppy and docs that came with it will probably be missing, and it is wise to get the drivers from the manufactuer's web site and install them. All the above applies to fairly recent monitors. Older monitors were not Plug and Play, or weren't 100% Plug and Play compatible, and Windows on it's own will only install a lesser Default Monitor mode for them, and in order to get the monitor working to it's full specs you have to install drivers. The Windows Plug and Play Monitor spec was designed with more recent CRT monitors in mind - many LCD monitors and older crt monitors cannot use some of the settings. Most more recent CRT monitors are capable of all or nearly all the settings Plug and Play Monitor mode provides. You often get more and higher settings when you install the drivers, and the ones it can't do are not shown by default in Windows.