New Monitor Advice

[marklaur]

I am about to update my Pc and would like some advice about displays. In FS2004 i need to have the "Mipmaps" sets nearly all the way to the right to get any scenery detail. But if I go all the way the picture goes all wavy as you move past scenery, especially buildings like the AA does not work.

I will be getting either an ATI 4870 or Nvidia GXT280 card but not sure about a monitor. Size does not matter 17" will be fine.

Is there any monitor or monitor card combination that will help reduce th eproblems when mipmaps are set all the way to the right. When I had a CRT monitor the problem was no where near as bad. Recently I purchased a fairly cheap LG Flatron and the picture has taken a turn for the worse.

Not sure if I have explained the problem very well, but any advice for the best card / monitor conbination would be good. I still play a lot of old titles so I would like to stick with the 4 x 3 ratio if possible.

Cheers MarkL

[Tom Clayton]

If you go LCD, be sure to set the screen rez at whatever's "native" for your monitor. In almost all cases, that will be full right on the slider in the Settings tab. At the native setting, if one pixel is supposed to be white and the next one black, that's what you get. It make for a nice sharp image. Anything else causes the monitor to interpolate, giving you two (or more) grey pixels and a blurred image.

As FS9 was originally designed for 4:3 monitors, I'd try a 1600x1200 monitor. I'm currently running 1280x1024 monitor (5:4) which causes a slight vertical stretch in 2D panels, but I can live with it. We recently bought a widescreen to replace my wife's dead CRT and I tried it on my rig for a while. The 2D's were squashed nearly flat, so I gave that one back to her and reinstalled mine.

[LonelyplanetXO]

I know you said 17" is good enough, but to be honest my advice would be go for the best vid card you can afford, then the biggest monitor. I have an Nvidia 8800GTS 640mb card and invested in a 28" widescreen monitor, going from a 17" CRT. It's a different experience altogether on a big screen -much more absorbing and realistic.

LPXO

[marklaur]

My main problem going bigger than a 17" is keeping the 4x3 ratio, as I do not want distorted screens. Where I live there are not too many brands stocked, and I w3ant one that has a decent dead pixel return policy.

Cheers MarkL

[LonelyplanetXO]

Flightsim 9 will run wide screen no problem. My res setting is 1920x1280 or something like that. No distortion, just a nearly lifesize VC!

[Willy]

Interesting timing here. :d

I just replaced my old Samsung flatscreen CRT with a 19" ViewSonic LCD. My old FX 5200 video card don't do widescreen so I was looking at monitors with the standard ratios. I was pretty much limited by my graphics card to either a 1280x1024 or a 1920x1200 native resolution. Cheapskate that I am, I ended up going with a 1280x1024. I ordered it from NewEgg on Saturday and it was on my front porch when I went out this morning.

So far, I'm tickled to death with it. :d:d:d:d:d

[Tom Clayton]

This is the default C172 on a 1440x900 screen with the Sim's settings set to match that. Only the 2D part is affected. The outside scenery, VC, and exterior aircraft views are all unaffected as long as the display settings match the monitor. With a 5:4 monitor (1280x1024), you get the same thing vertically, but not nearly as pronounced.

The only time you don't get the stretch is when a developer designs a panel specifically for widescreen use, which is rare - although a recently mentioned Piper Seminole has both options.

[marklaur]

Interesting timing here. :d

I just replaced my old Samsung flatscreen CRT with a 19" ViewSonic LCD. My old FX 5200 video card don't do widescreen so I was looking at monitors with the standard ratios. I was pretty much limited by my graphics card to either a 1280x1024 or a 1920x1200 native resolution. Cheapskate that I am, I ended up going with a 1280x1024. I ordered it from NewEgg on Saturday and it was on my front porch when I went out this morning.

So far, I'm tickled to death with it. :d:d:d:d:d

This is one monitor that I am looking at, as ViewSonic seem to have a decent waranty. Glad to hear to like it, and that resolution will do me.
For the desktop I like no greater than 1024 x 768. Better than that and I can not read anything.

Cheers MarkL

[srgalahad]

I'll phrase this as a question since I haven't had a chance to try it ( still in the 4:3 world)..
If the best choice (price, etc) available is a widescreen (but 24" - anything less will not display more than 1050 lines) why not run FS in a window fit to 1600x1200 and use the rest of the display for other stuff like TeamSpeak, Nav software, Duenna etc? That leaves you with approx 300x 1200 for the other programs
That gives you the option to have the 16:9 monitor as future widescreen software becomes available

Rob

[marklaur]

I'll phrase this as a question since I haven't had a chance to try it ( still in the 4:3 world)..
If the best choice (price, etc) available is a widescreen (but 24" - anything less will not display more than 1050 lines) why not run FS in a window fit to 1600x1200 and use the rest of the display for other stuff like TeamSpeak, Nav software, Duenna etc? That leaves you with approx 300x 1200 for the other programs
That gives you the option to have the 16:9 monitor as future widescreen software becomes available

Rob

This is one thing that crossed my mind, but do not know how feasable it is. Problem is not all the old titles I have will play in a window. They just have full screen mode. Now if I could set a resolution so not all the screen is used, can you play full screen but not use it all. Like with a TV have black portions of the screen.

Another problem is some titles seem to work best if they are set they same resolution as your desktop. So standard may be best.

Just wish I knew someone with a wide screen I could run a few tests on, and see for myself.

Cheers MarkL

[LouP]

27 in Dell running at 1900 x 1200 and I could never be happier with this set up

LouP