rec.autos.simulators

'Widescreen' versus 4:3. What do I really want if I'm running desktop app's
and plenty of GTL, GPL, rFactor etc, and can my system handle the 1440 x 900
required to run a w/screen unit? (P4 3.0 with 2gb RAM & GeForce 6800XT.)

Virtually every site I've seen says that it's pretty much essential to run
these monitors at their native resolution...are these resolutions supported
in the titles above (and others generally) or can the card/monitor reach a
compromise?

Finally, any recommendations for kit in the UK? Viewsonic seem to be
well-respected, and Dell - budget of between 200-300.

Thanks in advance for any advice, and apologies if it seems a bit simple - I
just like to get it right when I'm spending!

Regards

Rick.

http://www.viewsoniceurope.com/UK/Products/LCDX/VX2025wm.htm is pretty close
but response times look like they could be 16ms.

Or this
http://www.savastore.com/productinfo/product.aspx?catalog_name=Savast...

I've seen good reports of the Dell monitor already mentioned but it's only
16ms and 700 in the UK. Dells 20" wide screen is 500.

Andi.

NR2003 works perfectly for me at 1680X1050 (on an nVidia 7800GTX).  Only the
menu's remain in 4:3.  Once in-car, it's widescreen.

-Larry

-Larry

Interesting! The second Viewsonic, the VA1912W, is one that's already on my
list. I've heard good things about the brand, and it seems to tick all the
right boxes for me at the moment -price included.

Couple of questions, of course!

Is 8ms sufficiently fast for ***?
Has anyone had experience of this model or anything similar that could
persuade/dissuade me?

Thanks to all who have replied so far - v. helpful.

Can anyone clarify what actually happens when a piece of software doesn't
support a particular resolution...does the monitor attempt to replicate the
resolution the game can handle (and therefore lose image quality) or does it
ignore extra pixels and display the given resolution 'in the middle' of the
screen, leaving vertical black bands on either side?

Many thanks again,

Regards,

Rick.

Hi

I got a Vp191b during the summer, just before it got replaced by almost the
same monitor called Vp930. I'm totally happy with this device, although it
is not widescreen.

I did not get a widescreen monitor just because 5:4 19" is bigger than a
widescreen 20" monitor in terms of display area - and widescreen support is,
in my opinion, still in developtment in *** use.

8ms is enough for your typical racing sims and I couldn't see any
dragging/lag even in HL2.

--
Mika Takala

Should be fine, mine is 16ms and I don't notice any problems at all with
racing sims.  Beware though, that time is not always a good comparison
figure, especially between different brands.  Best to go and actually try it
with a game if you can.  Reason being is that time is only to switch from
black to white and back to black again.  In reality most switches are
between different grey levels and these can be waaaay longer depending on
the LC technology used.

Most monitors and GFX cards will have options to determine what to do in
these situations.  And as with most things, the quality of the resolution
resampling varies, some monitors do it quite well (using some sort of
interpolation I guess) and it's fine for playing games.  I often use my
monitor at lower than native because my PC isn't powerful enough to get good
frame-rates at native.

Not when you compare it to PDAs and cellphones :-)

If that sounds confusing, keep this in mind.  It results in black borders,
which I find far more acceptable than LCD interpolation.

-Larry

Yes I know what you mean :-)  Of course it varies from monitor to monitor
how good the resampling will be (my work LCD has 4 different settings for
different resampling methods, the best ones makes even the windows desktop
look ok), and how far you sit from the screen, and how big the pixels are.

-Larry