Getting the Right LCD for my graphics card/specs?

hi everyone.

i've been stuck with my LG F700B for the past 4 years. wonderful monitor. however, its time to move on! i've been considering getting a Samsung 226BW, the reviews are superb all over (with the right panel) and the price is not outta this world. however i'm bit worried because i've been reading on the other threads and forums that playing games at a non-native resolution (this one is 1680x1050 i think?) would result in some really bad quality results. my question is, how bad would it be? here are my specs in short:
AMD X2 3800+
xpertvision ati x1950pro 512mb
2gb mushkin ddr2 667

the 20inch version of this monitor (206BW) boasts the exact same specs...but the same native resolution. i heard that because the specs are the same and the size is smaller the texts and stuff would actually look better on the 20inch (not sure if i'd notice). however the price difference is very little where i am.

i play games like NWN2, FEAR, BF2142, RB6:Vegas. do you think my pc can handle playing games at the native resolution, and if not, do u think it makes much of a difference? i mean, if it looks better than my 17inch flat CRT i'm sure i can still live with it. watching HD shows and movies will still make a helluva difference right i was also suggested to consider getting the 19inch widescreen from samsung which has a lower native resolution. again, i'm split since i can actually sorta afford the 22inch...dont wanna kick myself for not getting a bigger screen later on.

i'd appreciate any input...my apologies for the long post!

wow thanks localpcguy for the quick reply when it runs at a lower res does it still take up all the viewable area or does ti actually 'shrink' and cause black bars?

I dont know about ATi cards, but nvidia cards can let u make it so there are black bars if thats what you want. Its actually cool sometimes

There is a drop in quality if not running at native resolution, but it leaves you with room to keep the monitor for the future if you overhaul your PC, and the drop in quality is minascule; you will love the monitor, trust me.

deff

I'm running a 20" 1680X1050 on a 7900GS and it does fine, so a X1950pro should handle it no problems.

Just a couple of quick points, i know with nVidia drivers theres a feature called flat panel scaling, and this is important when it comes to running at non native resolutions. Firstly you can stretch the image to max out the monitor space, but it distorts the image, and i really, REALLY don't like the way it looks, way to fuzzy for my liking. Then there's 'do not scale' so if you're games set to 1280X1020 it only displays on 1280X1024 pixels on you're monitor, so no stretch, or distortion, but you have the sides and a bit at the top and bottom of you're monitor that stay black, and performance wise you'll see the same frame rates as on you're 17" at 1280X1024. I'm not sure if ATI's catalyst drivers do the same, but i'm sure a quick visit to the ATI site or Google search will get you the answer.

moral the story is you're graphics card should be fine at the 1600X1050 of that 22" and if it isn't just set the flat panel scaling to, do not scale and play at 1280X1024, you'll get the same performance as before and you wont have a problem not running on native, but you get to play at the full glorious 22" size if the game supports that resolution and you're graphics card handles it, so get the 22", you'll love it, i know the step up from 17" to 20" was well worth it for me.

P.S. Movies on a wide screen are awesome

i think its a little over usd300 if u order from newegg.
well there seems to be quite a consensus with the replies...guess i'll go for this card if i have the time to try one out this weekend just to be sure i'm ok. oh something i didnt ask before for those who have this monitor....how is the viewing angle? if its on a normal height PC table, and i'm lying on the floor...i know the quality tends to drop for LCDs but is it too annoying to watch movies/shows with? thanks

The reason is because your monitor was just intended to be used as a basic monitor for viewing applications, etc on your Dell computer (I'm not flaming you, so don't be offended by this please).

I work on an HP desktop at work with an HP 19" LCD and have tried running it below native resolution; it looks like S***! Very Fuzzy Picture!

I've toyed with my 40" Samsung LCD TV and my fathers Samsung gaming LCD monitor... They look fine below native resolution...As a matter of fact, I run my 40" "Monitor" @ 1280x800 all day, when its native resolution is 1920x1080. Just my 2C... You won't be dissapointed with the setup.

I have a 19" Wide by Hanns-g and love it, I am very picky about the quality of my display so I keep it at the recommended with my 7600GT, I'm actually going to be getting another for a dual setup in a few weeks here.

lol @ localpcguy and ethel!!

anyways, any comments on the viewing angle? is it really 160/160 as advertised? dont intend on watching everything smack in front of my lcd sitting on a chair the whole time.

At non native res it will look worse, unless you are running at half the native res.

Color calibration isn't really necesairy on the S models, for the A models you can use this color profile:
http://www.lesnumeriques.com/image [...] SyncMaster %20226BW%20A%20Internet.icm

And if you have the C version you can use this color profile:
http://www.lesnumeriques.com/image [...] 26BW-C.icc

I have the 931bw (the 19" little brother) and i use the color profile A one (since i have the A model) and bring down the gamma in the nvidia control panel from 9% back to 5%... wich makes the colors perfect to me. (i have the screensettings @stock, brightness 100% and contrast 75%)