Of course it is true that an old game may not allow you to set it ot a widescreen resolution, but I would certainly not say that it stops me playing. It just makes it look slightly stretched. However, most newer games (all Steam games, to my knowledge) support widescreeen: I'm running a Hanns.G HW191DP 1440x900, and I'm happy with what I'm getting.

great, thanks!

I will mainly be playing FFXI

FFXI has the option to change the aspect ratio to support widescreen monitors, my wife has a 20" wide screen and we play it without issues.

- toioiz of lakshmi

Ok, well I've changed my option to an nVidia card; the geforce 7850 GT/ko

but I am having a hard time with monitors... i'm noticing a brightness of 280cd and 300cd... is there a big difference?

Also, I am probably going to buy a refurbished monitor, which comes with factory waranty... bad idea?

When it comes to widescreen and gaming any newer products generally support either format.

Whichever card you choose, (personally I run an X1950 Pro and plan on putting in a second in the next month or so and running them in crossfire mode) there is a settign either in that catalyst suite (ATI) or in the NVidia suite that allows you so select "fixed aspect ratio". What this means that instead of trying to output and stretch everythign to fit the screen it letterboxes it so as not to stretch it.

Really, the stretching is usually able to be dealt with but in some cases it can get extremely annoying. It's all a matter of personal preference.

When it comes ot the monitor, I would personally recommend a Samsung, if you have a little extra money it's worth it. If only for the 2 ms GTG response, any any newer games the texturing virtually depends on it.

When it comes to the brightness, it really depends ont he conditions of the room you use the monitor in. If it is a low light area then either is fine, but if it is extremely well lit, especially during the day,t he extra brightness can help make the image ont he monitor that much easier to see.

My current machin is a P4D Xtreme 3.0GHz processor, 2 Gig DDR2, Radeon X1950XT, and for a display, the beautiful Samsung 206BW.

ah that's awesome... i just bought the 226 model. I can't wait to see it... are they nice?

Probably the nicest looking monitors I've seen when it comes to gaming. Only has two downsides to it and both are fairly negligible.
1) No height adjustment only tilt.
2) The bright blue led on the power button can be annoying/distracting if you are using it in low light conditions.

On the bright side, the Samsung Magicbright features are great, it allows oyu to very quickly change your settings based on the cuurent use, be it gaming, web browsing, word processing or whatever.

Samsung makes the best quality monitor when it comes down to it. Especially for the price point.

I just got my 226 in today and it's sweet looking. Can't wait to get my computer in so I can test it out. I'll post pictures when everything comes in... woo

Looks like I beat you to it. :cheesy:
http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/thread72889.html