Ok, i wasn't too sure where to put this, but i am in severe need of help, i've been trying to fix this for a week with no avail.  
 
Its a big problem occurring in games such as Team Fortress 2 and Counter-Strike Source.
 
I am running a laptop with a native 16:10 ratio (1280x800) and in-game i've been running 800x600. I became very tired of how the image looked because of the stretching, so i finally decided to add in a custom resolution of 800x500 (thru regedit)
 
Now it should work because 800x500=1280x800 by aspect ratios. Well, whenever I try 1280x800 it looks fine (too laggy for my specs tho) but when i switch to 800x500, i only get about 2/3rds of the picture. This is VERY annoying since it should fit perfectly on my display. Instead the view i get is (from left to right) the whole left of the screen, but only about 2-3 inches to the right of my crosshair.
 
This is really bugging the crap outta me because this should scale perfectly!!! It makes no sense and it's making me rip my hair out. I've been messing with it for countless hours, and i've toyed with the catalyst control center but have had no luck. (Got a 1150 Xpress fyi)
 
Am I doing something wrong?
 
If anyone could help me out or point me in a direction i would really appreciate it.

I doubt your GPU can output non standard resolutions.  Even if it can, the game engine is probably having an aneurysm trying to figure out what to do.  Stick to standard resolutions and you should have no problems.

Well it runs perfectly fine, a little smoother than 800x600.

I just don't see why it wouldn't work? I mean its the correct ratio and the only thing wrong with it is that the last part is cut off at the end of my monitor. If only the image would fit...

If i can't use that, then can you at least point me to a resolution that would work that's around 800x600 but wouldnt stretch the screen as much?

It just looks very bad.

EDIT: Currently the only resolution that fits without stretching is 1280x800. Are there no other resolutions that match that? The other standard resolutions that are listed under the 16:10 ratio dont fit just like the 800x500 (im not sure if theyre actually 16:10 anyways) Is there something wrong here? There's gotta be more options other than 1280x800.

Thanks for any input

i used to have a dell inspiron with the xpress 1150. i used the css nations autoexec config to make it run well!!!!! you should minimise CSS when you start the game, open task manager, change steam priority to one below normal, and the hl2.exe up to one above normal.  
 
heres a link to the config. it worked wonders for me!!!  
 
http://w03.gotfrag.com/css/forums/thread/254848/
 
its in the dudes 1st post!!!
 
i got a new comp tho, then i really started to pwn
 
as for TF2, try the same, i dunno if it will work or not mate!!!

any luck then mate?

run it windowed... then don't have to have stretch issues

 
+1
 
Or just get a real gaming computer...

Well in windowed mode it runs considerably more choppy than in fullscreen.
 

 
Why? I don't need another computer, or a better one. The games I play run fine except for the stretching resolution problem that I am currently having. I'm just asking a question to solve this problem, which is the only one I have, and suggesting that I "just get a real gaming computer" doesn't do anything. I don't feel like shelling out a ton of money for something as useless as getting better phong shading...
 
I guess there's just nothing I can do.
 
Thanks to the people that tried to help

no trust me. get the config file. i had the same issue myself and it worked.
 
my bro and best friend are playing css/tf2 right now with the xpress 1150's.......

Yeah im already running it with a config. The problem is that TF2 is a very CPU intensive game, and a config only changes my fps to about 4-5fps higher. Very annoying.

You need to go into the CCC and switch the following from the default Centered to Full Screen or Preserve Aspect ratio if you have a 1:1 equiv ;

You're still not running full-res which is the performance hit, but the image will fill the screen.

oh i right i didnt realise. whats the performance like with css? i dont play TF2 so i didnt know if it would work.  
 
http://www.gotfrag.com/tf2/forums/thread/322476/  
 
try that second post then