Widescreen Gaming Forum

Hi there,

I'm using a Dell 2405 attachted to a Radeon 9800 Pro via DVI, Win XP SP2, Omega Drivers 3.8.221. Now while running WoW in full resolution looks great, I have been trying to increase the performance by using a lower resolution (1280x768). So what I would like to do is run WoW in 1280x768 and let the display scale up the image.

WoW offers 1280x768 via DVI, but here's my problem, perhaps someone has a hint for me:

I couldn't find a way to drive the display with a "real" lower resolution via DVI (is that technically impossible?). I always get a full res image, either scaled up or 1:1 on a black background (by checking or unchecking the Omega driver's scale option). So, the display doesn't offer scaling. But when the card does the scaling, it feels like the performance gain isn't that great.

When using VGA, I can set the desktop to 1280x768 an let the display do the scaling, which is what I want. But WoW does not offer any wide resolutions using VGA while the performance using lower 4:3 resolutions is very good :( Is there a way around this?

Thanks a lot in advance!

P.S. I switched to Omega a while ago, because I had frequent perfomance losses over time with ATI's driver. But iirc I had these resolutions issues there, too.

Firstly, ATI has a lot annoying issues with this. Nvidia drivers have a check box that says "let my monitor do the scaling instead of my video card" which is good. But ATI doesn't have that.. most ATI configurations only allow 1:1 or full stretch (some notebooks with ATI allow aspect ratio preserved scaling though). I don't know what Omega drivers have, but look around and see if you find a "monitor scaling" button somewhere.

Because what is happening is that over DVI your Omega drivers and your ATI card are sending out a 1920x1200 signal no matter what, even if it's 1:1 the card itself is putting in black space before it gets to your monitor. I don't know how to solve this, other than telling you to get an nvidia card. Although, this program called PowerStrip may solve your problems, since a lot of ATI users seem to use it. I know it can create custom resolutions for you, but it may also solve the monitor scaling problem you have. I don't know though since I have an nvidia card and it can do all of that already.


Also, with the Dell 2405 you should not use 1280x768. You should use 1280x800. The Dell is a 16:10 screen so you should use 16:10 resolutions, such as 1024x640, 1280x800, 1440x900, 1680x1050, or 1920x1200.

However, the Dell 2405 can only scale resolutions that it "knows." These resolutions are (I may miss some): 640x480, 720x480 (SDTV signal), 720x576 (SDTV signal), 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x720 (HDTV signal), 1280x1024, 1600x1200, 1680x1050, 1980x1080 (HDTV signal), and 1920x1200.

So the Dell will not be able to scale 1280x768 or 1280x800 over DVI no matter what (I'm not familiar with how it handles VGA signals since I've never tried hooking mine up via VGA).

Also, you can't just make a custom resolution that's 1280x720 or 1920x1080 and expect the 2405 to be able to scale it, because it won't be able to. It can only scale those resolutions properly when it recieves them as a true HD signal, which both ATI and nvidia cards can send out over DVI connection. You have to put your card into HDTV mode using the drivers to do so though. In nvidia's case though, once you send an SDTV or HDTV signal through DVI once, the drivers will remember it and also add that resolution into your Windows list of resolutions, so that latter you can deactivate HDTV in your drivers but still use the SDTV and HDTV resolutions like 1920x1080.

Nvidia drivers have a check box that says "let my monitor do the scaling instead of my video card" which is good.

Yes, that's what I've been looking for. But it seems like ATI and Omega don't have this option.

Although, this program called PowerStrip may solve your problems, since a lot of ATI users seem to use it. I know it can create custom resolutions for you, but it may also solve the monitor scaling problem you have

I've been using PowerStrip before to drive my LCD projector with it's native resolution which works fine. Now that you mentioned it, I remember I once used a PowerStrip hot key to force another game into a video mode I prefered (>60 Hz for a CRT). I just tried that for a wide resolution with WoW, but all I get a quick visible video mode refresh, while it stays fixed in 1024x768... (using VGA)

Also, with the Dell 2405 you should not use 1280x768. You should use 1280x800. The Dell is a 16:10 screen so you should use 16:10 resolutions, such as 1024x640, 1280x800, 1440x900, 1680x1050, or 1920x1200.

Hmm, following your hint about the 1280x800 resolution I just ran into another problem: The 2405 can scale 1280x768 just fine (small black borders above an below). But when I switch to 1280x800, the 2405 "thinks" it is driven with 1024x768 (according to the OSD, tried with 60 and 75 Hz). The image is skewed to 4:3 and a part (the Windows taskbar) is missing...

Anyway, for my next upgrade I will definately consider your hint about Nvidia cards. Most new games will most probably require lower resolutions in order to display all visual effects. And most probably a new card will allow me to play WoW in full res with good performance, which simply looks stunning :)