Help with Screen Resolution

[MidNight Marabana]

I am having a very hard time setting screen resolution. I just bought a new computer with a NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 750Ti graphics card. I'm using an old 2008 monitor : Acer 22" flat panel active matrix TFD LCD, model AL2216W, with a max resolution 1680 x 1050. The new computer's Windows 10 display settings screen size is set to that size, which is the recommended size (according to Win 10). My avi in my new computer looks thinner, and my inventory looks thinner to me. I found out my old computer settings were incorrect, which was part of this problem, so I am trying to get this computers settings right. Using the new computer I rezed a box prim in world, sized it equally up, made sure it was square in my view, and measured it with a ruler directly on my monitor. It was slightly taller than wide, so the new computers view is somewhat thin. Is there a way to correct this, or is this monitor too old for the new computer?

Thank you for reading and any help will be very much appreciated.

[Rachel1206]

Your monitor is using an aspect-ratio of 16:10, which is considered best for computational work with spreadsheets, document handling, CAD etc . The aspect-ratio is locked on your monitor.

Only work around as far as I know - IF supported by the NVidea control panel, is to change to a customized resolution ( for example 1600x900 ) and adjust to minimize black borders you will experience.

New monitors use 16:9 the now de facto industry standard (HDTV etc.). Your monitor is much better!

[MidNight Marabana]

Rachel, thank you for your quick response. Getting my resolution right has been very confusing, and this helps.
I am wondering if the reason my box prims in SL are not perfectly square but a bit too tall in height and narrow in width because my resolution is 16:10 rather than the industry standard of 16:9? I am trying to get my resolution as near perfect as possible as I am learning to build mesh, and I do not want my builds to be off. Thanks again for your help.

[Madelaine McMasters]

The aspect ratio of the pixels on computer LCD monitors is always 1:1 and operating systems expect that. The aspect ratio of the entire screen is a different thing, and is determined by the pixel count in both directions. Your LCD is 1680 pixels wide and 1050 pixels tall. That's a ratio of 1680/1050 or 1.6:1 or 16:10. Windows should automatically fill that entire area with a desktop image that's 1680 pixels wide and 1050 pixels tall. The resulting desktop pixels will be square, just as they are in the hardware.

Browse the web or look at your PC photo library? Do images there look okay? If so, the issue is with SL. If not, the issue is with Windows. There may be an "Aspect Ratio" setting in your NVIDIA driver that allows you specify a screen aspect ratio that's different than the native 16:10 of your monitor. If there is such a setting, I'll guess that it can be set to match the monitor or be forced to something else. Make it match the monitor.

This aspect ratio setting may be hidden in the form of a resolution setting. Again, if the driver allows selecting resolutions other than what your monitor supports natively, make it match the monitor's native resolution of 1680x1050. Setting it to 1600 x 900 would result in both a little bit of image blurring and a change in the aspect ratio of everything you see.

[Monty Linden]

By any chance, are you using a VGA cable for video?  Do you see black, unused screen areas at the right or left of screen?

 

[MidNight Marabana]

Thank you Madelaine and Monty for your response. My monitors max resolution is 1680 x1050. Nvidia is set to that, as well as Windows. If I finally understand correctly, with Nvidia and Windows  set to the same resolution of the monitor there should be no distortion, no stretch, no scrunch. Internet images look ok. The standard cube in blender measures square on my monitor. So this must be the correct resolution. Is there any way to check resolution in world other than to measure a cube?
 Monty, I don't know what a VGA cable is. The monitor cord is the one that came with the monitor. There is no black unused areas on screen.

Thank you all again for your help. Now knowing my old computer was so way, way off, thank you for the schooling, and helping me make sure I get this new one set up correctly.

 

[Whirly Fizzle]

9 minutes ago, MidNight Marabana said:

Is there any way to check resolution in world other than to measure a cube?

Activate the Advanced menu in the top menu bar with CTRL+ALT+D
Advanced -> Set Window Size

or

Open snapshot floater, CTRL+SHIFT+S
Choose "Save to disk"
Set size to "Current Window"
The width & height will show under the snapshot preview.

Note: I'm lazy & didn't check behaviour is the same on the LL viewer, I'm using Firestorm.
 

[Whirly Fizzle]

25 minutes ago, MidNight Marabana said:

My monitors max resolution is 1680 x1050. Nvidia is set to that, as well as Windows.

If you set 1680 x 1050 (16:10 WSXGA+) under Advanced -> Set Window size, does that fix it?

[MidNight Marabana]

Yes Whirly, thank you that was very helpful.  I believe I finally have this all set now. My major problem was just understanding and everyone's help was just what I needed in getting there. Thank you all!