From Square Screen to Wide Screen

[parabellum]

I have a four year old desk top that is working very well, replacement not justified. I would like to go from a 19" square, flat panel LCD monitor, (Analog & DVI) to a 23" wide screen, can someone please tell me which components inside the tower I would need to change? The computer is a Dell Dimension 9200 with a dual core E6600 processor and the video card is a 256mb PCle(TM) x 16 NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) 7900GS w/TV Out and Dual DVI, if any of that helps?

Many thanks.

[11Fan]

Not an expert, but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

You didn't say what Operating System you were using, but I would think that your Display Options would allow you to switch from one to the other without hardware changes. I run both at the same time actually. I have a widescreen laptop and a "square" Flat Screen and I use both simultaneously, side by side.

The only difference is the Desktop picture. Other than that, all programs, Internet, etc don't seem to care.

What do I know though?

[Spitoon]

I'm no great expert on graphics cards - especially for gaming - but I would think the only issue will be whether your graphics card is capable of driving the new display. Or more specifically whether the card can make best use of the resolution and screen area that you will have available. Take a look at the resolutions that you can set on your machine (right-click on your desktop and select Properties will take you to the settings) and see if you can select the resolution offered by your new screen.

If you need to get a new graphics card and just use the machine for 'normal' stuff - that is not gaming - I would guess you'll have a wide selection to choose from as this size of display is pretty common these days.

[green granite]

Basically you need a graphics card capable of displaying the native resolution of your new monitor. Check the spec of your current one, don't just look at what it offers you on the current monitor.

[tony draper]

your present graphic card would have to be a bit long in the tooth not to cater for wide screen,anyway a wide screen is quite capable of displaying a square picture if that is what you want.

[mixture]

parabellum,

To be honest, 23 inches is not anything that special (in terms of having to make special arrangements graphics card wise). If you were proposing to buy, say, an Apple 30 inch "Cinema Display" then you would.

Generally speaking on most relatively recent machines, you should be pretty safe all the way up to 27 inches (I've currently got a 27 inch Iiyama plugged into a six year old HP box at home, using nothing but the machine's embedded graphics processor, no external graphics card).

A quick Google suggests an Nvidia GeForce 7900 GS 256MB is capable of driving anything up to 2560x1600, and something like the 27 inch I mentioned above is 1920 x 1080 (admittedly probably running close to the limit of the embedded Intel GMA on the HP mentioned above ! ) , so you'll have an even bigger "safety margin" on 23 inches.

Famous last words, but I'd say go for the monitor and forget the card, unless you really fancy an upgrade.

[Bushfiva]

Yup, nothing else needs changing.

[parabellum]

Thanks to you all, Much appreciated! Will now get a new screen, (the square screen seems to clip some Excel displays).

[parabellum]

Plugged in a new Phillips 24" screen and it works well, not all web sites it seems are geared up to wide screen but most are. Nvidia(spl?) control panel came up and offered adjustments having immediatly recognised the new screen! Well pleased.

[M.Mouse]

...it seems are geared up to wide screen but most are.

As I understand it in simple terms a web page is designed for a certain resolution. If that page is displayed at that designed resolution it will appear full screen. If the screen is of a lower resolution it will display but with scroll bars bottom and side. If the screen is of a greater resolution it will show space either side of the page displayed.

If the web designer is clever I believe the web site can be set up to interrogate the browser being used and send a page appropriate to the resolution being displayed.

My understanding anyway!

[parabellum]

Thanks M. Mouse, If the screen is of a greater resolution it will show space either side of the page displayed seems to apply.