How do you best deal with stretched images on a widescreen monitor?

Question

I needed a bigger monitor both for desk space reasons and deteriorating eyesight, so I got a nice 22" Samsung SyncMaster 22wm monitor. After plugging in the machine and installing the default driver, the images on the screen are stretched laterally. I'm working off an older machine, a Compaq Presario 6000 apparently with a graphics element from S3, their registry name S3 Graphics PRoSavageDDR. After running a utility to view further details on its graphics capability, I take it that this device supports AGP v.2.0, 4x speeds, 66 MHz PCI. The GPU ID is 5333 8D04 (for what that's worth). Anyway, I'm wondering if buying some fancy graphics card or something will solve the problem. Do I have to junk the older computer? (I'm in the process of getting new RAM memory for this one, and have everything installed on it, and it runs XP okay, so I'm reluctant to have to start over again.) Any thoughts on what my strategies might best be at this point? Thanks in advance, you savants!

Answer 1

You need to get an AGP card. Your onboard VGA is simply not enough to handle the native resolution reccommended for your monitor. AGP cards are on the cheap, be careful when buying! Make sure that it specifies for AGP slots, not PCI-E. Try to get one with a DVI connection. DVI provides a much better picture and your graphics card will automatically compensate for the graphic interface (you will especially notice this during your bootup).

Freeing up video processing duties from your onboard VGA, will do wonders for your system. Just make sure you get into your bios after installing and using your new videocard a few times, and changing the RAM allocation for your onboard VGA down to no less than 4mb. This frees up whatever RAM you already have.

Answer 2

Most "wide" screen monitors run at a resolution of 1440 X 900. So right click the desktop and choose the Settings tag. Look to see if your video adapter is capable of this setting. If not and you have installed the driver that came with the monitor, then you may need to add a video card to your system. You will also need to discover weather your computer has an AGP slot. It is usually brown and sets back a little farther then do the white PCI slots. If you have an AGP slot then there are many video cards that you could use. There are many AGP cards to choose from. I would select someting with at least 128 megs of ram on board. These are not expensive items, usually somewhere between $40 > $60.

If you need more info on video cards and where to get them, yo can contact me at [e-mail]

Answer 3

Yes this is a bid deal for the reason that it makes the whole lot wider than it must be for the reason that you're actually pulling the photo from aspect to aspect to make it are compatible, with out retaining the ratio. People might appear fatter than they fairly are and constructions might appear wider than they fairly are. Just do not do it.