Vista - is there a way to increase the screen's resolution over the maximum capacity of win?

I have a Samsung SyncMaster 226BW (22" wide) screen and GForce 8400GS screen card. I use Windows Vista x64 OS, is there a way or does someone know a trick I can increase the screen's resolution above 1680*1050 (this is the maximum resolution the OS provides and this is the maximum res. listed by the screen manufacturer as well)?

thanks ppl for your time

Your monitor performs best at its native resolution. You can play at resolutions lower than 1680x1050, but not above. However, the picture is still best at native. If by change you make the mistake of setting some game's resolution to more than 1680, you may soon find yourself in safe mode uninstalling drivers... besides, the 8400GS is a low end card that can barely handle 1680.

Hi kukurik14,

Sorry, but there is no way to increase the screen resolution above the native resolution of your monitor. Vista does cater for larger resolutions, but these are subject to the monitor and graphics card that you use, although the maximum resolution will be limited to the native resolution of your monitor (as stated above). In order to protect the monitor, Vista and the graphics card drivers usually hide the modes that the monitor cannot display, so if you wish you can change this setting to show all modes to see what other resolutions are available. WARNING - IF YOU CHOOSE A SETTING HERE THAT YOUR MONITOR DOES NOT SUPPORT, YOU MIGHT DAMAGE IT. If you are after more screen estate, then you will either have to go for a multi-monitor display setup or invest in a monitor with a larger resolution.
Dwarf

you mean damge something in the OS or you're talking about an irreparable physical damage?

I MAY BE WRONG HERE! But based on the fact that I've NEVER heard of a TFT/LCD monitor breaking because of usupported settings I'm fairly certain that the physical failure problem is a CRT issue.

I'm 100% sure though, that you won't have *any* benefit from trying to trick the monitor into showing more lines. In the unlikely event that you'd actually get it to work it would only look like crap, since some lines wouldn't be displayed because of how flatpanel technology works. If you need to show something of a higher resolution on your monitor, find software that downscales for you (don't know *any* videosoftware that doesn't do that :P).

I'm assuming you're considering the possibility of adding 30 lines vertically to get 1080p resolution. Bear in mind that 1080p is actually 1920x1080 resolution... So it's not as close to the resolution of your monitor as the 1080p label might lead you to believe.

No, I mean that it is possible to damage your monitor by trying to get it to display a resolution that it does not support, especially if you are trying to get it to display a resolution which is higher than its native setting.
Dwarf.

just asked;
I am a software developer and thought I'll have the ability to have smaller icons in the bars, and smaller/visible lines...

thanks for warning me, I really don't want to damage my screen right now...

Out of curiosity I did a very quick attempt at finding evidence of *any* monitor REALLY breaking because of attempting to use unsupported resolutions... Didn't find anything. I know a *few* people who actually got problems with their CRT monitors because of it, but even that seems *extremely* rare. All I find is people saying "Don't do it, you'll ruin your monitor".

not only I don't use CRT nor LCD but I use TFT, it really looks strange that you could damage a screen physically with setting higher res.


however,
the resulution I use is listed as maximum res. in the list.

You can *easily* tweak that so you can set higher resolutions, but it won't help you, since the monitor will show you a nice "Unsupported Resolution" box and nothing else.

Unless the issue is that your monitor actually is capable of higher resolution, and the info the OS get is incorrect. But that's not the issue here, your 226BW is just not capable of better.