Widescreen Gaming Forum

Sorry I'm somewhat new to widescreen so I have a few questions, First of all what is native wide screen? and how does it differ to normal widescreen.

Also the games in the compatable out of the box list does that refer to (full screen) - wide screen or just (windowed) wide screen.

Last of all I have ordered an ATI X800 XT PE card and the new apple 23" cinema monitor for my pc, just was curious to what screen res I can expect to run widescreen games in, hope I made the right choice...

Many thanks for the help in advance and great forum it's just what I have been looking for :D

Wideboy

First, welcome to the WSGF! :D

Next, answers to various questions...

Native widescreen is just when a game will work in a widescreen resolution without needed to be hacked/edited. Native and Normal widescreen are the same thing... widescreen on PC's currently comes in two forms: 16:9 (anamorphic widescreen, like in films) and 16:10 ratio.

The list of game in 'Out of the Box' are games that run in widescreen. Given that few people will play games in a window willingly, all of them likely refer to fullscreen. Besides, if you can play fullscreen, who wants to play in a window? :lol:

As for you purchasing decisions... wow. Pricey! But that will be a really nice setup. An ATi X800XT PE should be able to run any modern game at max detail (or around there) at the 23" displays native 1920x1200 resolution. Some yet to be released things may struggle a bit, but there shouldn't be any problems, even with something as card hungry as Far Cry.

Hope some of this helps. Any more questions, feel free to ask. :D

...and if future games chug a bit, you should be able to use a lower res, such as 1650x1080, 1440x900 or 1280x800. The pixel pitch on that screen should all the stretched image to still look sweet.

My panel is 1440x900, and I've played GTA3 at 1280x800 and it looks just fine.

Thanks for your help guys very useful info, well my x800 xtpe card has now been delivered, pretty impressed to say the least, Farcry well... no slow down with everything set to high including the res but then again this is on a 19" (Square CRT) :oops: I'm looking forward for the new monitor to be delivered even though the thought of going from 8MS to 16MS is slightly worrying, though at the end of the day the benifits should pay off having the pleasure of widescreen viewing.. and it's the future in gaming.

One thing I'm not quite sure about though is that Farcry gives me the highest res option of 1600 x 1200, I'm presuming when I eventually get my wide screen monitor I'll see further options pop up i.e 1920x1200, or will I need to setup my screen res first in the ATI control panel before the game reconises that I have a widesceen monitor.

Thanks again, keep up the good work :)

When the drivers for you screen are installed, all it's supported resolutions should become available.

Do you turn on Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering? I'd like to know what Far Cry runs like from someone that isn't a review site...

And for the drop from 8ms to 16ms, I don't honestly think you'll notice it that much. If it was 8 to 25, then you'd notice, but 16ms is one of the faster response times available (only 12 is faster on TFT's, remember)

And don't be worried about a square CRT. :D I still use one. OK, so I much prefer my laptop's WSXGA+ screen, but I still use a 4:3 CRT. With the prices of widescreen displays, I don't have a lot of choice in the matter. :lol:

Do you turn on Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering? I'd like to know what Far Cry runs like from someone that isn't a review site...

Yep set everything to very high and A/F at all 4 levels runs without any slow down and very playable, As soon as my widescreen monitor is shipped (although heard up to 6 weeks for the UK) I'll give you my verdict on the card and screen together, but happy to report that ATi have produced one cracking card.

Nice. Thank you. :)

Well after a few months of lurking I've registered and will join in with the widescreen fun!

Hopefully you should have your 23" Apple by now. Mine arrived in London, U.K. from the Apple Store U.K. this morning. Unfortunately the power adapter is in it's own shipment which is lagging one day behind so I won't get that until next Monday. :( You have no idea how frustrating it is to have that new Apple sitting in a box on my living room floor with no power adapter.

Also my X800XT is in pre-order hell, much like everyone elses so no telling on when that will arrive. I'm sure a 9800pro will give me an idea of how things look at 1900x1200, even if it may be a bit choppy until I get my new card.

is the apple screen 16ms? all the large (23" 1920x1200) widescreens i have seen are 25ms minimum. in fact all widscreen TFT monitors period are greater than 23ms response. :(

when oh when will widescreen catch up with the box?

No, the Apple screen is 25ms, according to all the stuff I've seen. :(