1600x900 resolution on old pc

[alacritous]

So I have a new 20" 1600x900 LCD monitor, which I am using to replace the old 17" monitor that came with my mother's Dell. Unfortunately, it's an old PC and the chipset doesn't support this resolution. I'm hoping that I can either
a) force a custom resolution or
b) purchase a cheap, low power, old graphics card
so that she can use this monitor for her purposes (watching videos). The monitor works but currently is at a stretched resolution of 1280x768.

Any suggestions?

NOTES:
-I've already tried using PowerStrip and DTD Calculator, although I did it wrong. I tried it and bricked my computer; I had to boot into safe mode to revert the changes. Can someone point out the correct way to do it?
-The computer is a Dell Dimension E310, with 2 PCI (not express) slots and a PCIe X1 slot and a 230 watt(?) power supply, I believe. No AGP slots, unfortunately. I've been looking at an ATI Radeon 9250 on eBay; would that work? (That would have the added benefit of a DVI digital output, which would be an improvement over the current analog VGA out.)
-Yes, I could buy a new computer. That would defeat the point of this exercise, though. The current one is fine for its purposes.

Thanks, Toms!

 

[alacritous]

Well, no one seems to have read this, so I went ahead and got <a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/360495667712?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649">this</a>. I'm not sure if this will fit, though; I did some more research and there are a lot more to PCI slots than I originally thought. The slots I have open are 32-bit PCI 5v slots. This appears to be a 64 bit universal card? Maybe? I'm not sure.
I also hope that the power consumption of this card is not too high. It's undoubtably low, but is it low enough for a crappy OEM PSU?

 

[mohit9206]

i just dont understand how you said that the chipset doesnt support the resolution.
i dont think its possible.
if you buy a new monitor it should work at that monitors native resolution no matter how old or crappy your pc might be.
i think the issue is something else.
what are your pc specs ?

 

[Allen Parker]

i just dont understand how you said that the chipset doesnt support the resolution.
i dont think its possible.
if you buy a new monitor it should work at that monitors native resolution no matter how old or crappy your pc might be.
i think the issue is something else.
what are your pc specs ?

Hi Mohit! Alok here, and I'm facing the same problem. It's not that simple.. If you wanna know my PC's config, here it is:
Intel(r)865G Dell Monitor IN2030M on VGA (Standard VGA Graphics Adapter). No DVI-D cable.. The system config is Windows 7 Ultimate, 32-bit, Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.06GHz, 1.5 GB Ram, Mercury Mother Board. It's an assembled system.
Recently bought the Dell Monitor and the option for 1600x900 doesn't exist. It is the native resolution of my new monitor. Could anyone help??