No big deal, but I finally bought a "widescreen" monitor -- with a slight difference -- its a CRT (not LCD).

I've been "considering" widescreen ever since the excellent Dell 24" LCD came on the scene. But, I really like the versatilty of a CRT -- regarding sharpness at many resolutions, game response, color reproduction, and black level. And, I worry that the next big thing is around the corner (you guys did great buying the Dell over a year ago).

So, while I wait for the perfect "digital" display to be invented, I got a USED discontinued model Sony GDMFW900 (HP OEM variant) widescreen CRT. Cost me $479 delivered (around $2000 delivered new) -- get one cheaper than I payed on EBay.

http://www.superwarehouse.com/Sony_GDMFW900_24_CRT_Monitor/GDMFW900/p/105660

Its nominal 24" CRT actually shows 22.5" at 16:10 widescreen -- in use the 22.5 is almost larger than my field of view as close as I sit -- so its big enough. It runs all resolutions at high refresh, but the recommended widescreen is 1920x1200 -- which is where I run the desktop and games, so far.

Titan Quest demo and Oblivion in 1920x1200 widescreen function and look great. The text is pin sharp as I surf the net (and post on SimHQ). Glad I have an X1900XT to drive it at that resolution.

Knock on wood that it does not fail on me -- as I am now hooked on widescreen

I am keeping my Sony 21" CRT in dual-monitor setup. The two monitors are basically identical in quality, size, appearance, and controls -- just vary in width. So, it looks and feels like a nice setup so far.

FWIW.

wow, that is one sweet monitor. i have a 22" w/ 20" viewable- didn't actually know crts got much bigger. must leave a hell of a footprint, those two!

92.6 lbs!!!
It's obvious that you're never going to have to carry that thing anywhere (or you're superman reincarnated :p )

What kind of settings are you running in Oblivion to get decent performance at that res? I can't even run at 1600x1200, but it is borderline. 'Course I insist on running HDR and some other settings like actor fade quite a bit higher than default.

How's Oblivion look on that beast, Allen?

Speedo, John,

Oblivion was breathtaking and continues to be moreso. Moreso is primarily a psychological effect due to the screen size and shape and less a function of resolution.

Actually, running around on a sunny day in the forest is just fantastic (to me) with the wide screen filling the space in front of me. The textures hold up real well at high-res close-up.

As far as my settings: I reinstalled Oblivion and have installed the latest patch (new in the last week). I set to 1920x1200 with ALL the sliders maxxed (for you Speedo, I just now went through and made sure they were all maxxed ) except shadows at about 1/3 of the way (I still get nice shadows) and no AA (not needed at 1920x1200 and still does not work with HDR using the official patch).

I think the Oblivion patch improved the graphics response. I can run and fight through the worst case thick grass and trees -- without any load screen messages (maybe those were deleted in the patch).

In fact, just before posting I went back and tried the worst case again (which is running/fighting in beautiful lush thick forest and grass just outside the capital with a view all the way across Cyrodiil to the mountains on the other side of the kingdom). I tried again to be sure of my statements. Once an outdoor area is loaded (which may occasionally involve a momentary stutter when I am running through an outdoor area), I can run around in it and fight both first person and 3d person views with no hesitations.

Really, I am amazed. I did not think it would play smoothly at 1920x1200 with everything maxxed (it is actually slightly better than at 1280x768 when I was using 17" wide screen on my 21" monitor). I attribute that mainly to the brand-new patch -- and, possibly, improvements in the most recent ATI drivers (which seem to get a tiny bit faster every month). The loading of new areas is supposed to be enhanced for dual-processors and the lack of significant area load hestitations is probably due to that.

The Dell is about all but Excellence. It's a good TFT, but not excellent.
For excellence you need some extra bucks to buy an EIZO, NEC or similar display.

Welcome to the phantastic world of widescreeen!

If you need advice for widescreen usage in games, especially older ones, you should definitely take a look here:

Widescreen Gaming Forum

Here you can find tips and tricks for almost every game to play it widescreen-style.

Nice to see crt's aren't dead.
Your Monitor is a true monster! Sony makes brilliant crt's, congratulations!

I own this one:

Thanks for the link. I'll be cutting over there as my problems arise

Yup, my wife wants one similar to yours -- but, she too is "stuck" with a Sony CRT for the time being

lol, I think your CRT is a good choice.

AA not needed at 1920x1200?! Preposterous!! You're just going blind in your latter years, Allen.

If you install the 6.5s, there's a special "Chuck" driver update that lets AA + HDR work fine together.

Only too true My corrected vision, once 20-16, is not even 20-20 anymore.

When posting or reading posts, I often think how our physical ability to hear and see color our perception of audio and visual quality of our systems.

Of course, being deaf and blind does have its advantages -- I can get by with a cheaper audio card and cheaper monitor

Another plug for the Widscreen Gaming Forum. Very good signal-to-noise over there, and organized very well.

Yeah. I'm a member for a few months there. The tips are very good and the user monitor reviews are worth reading.
Check out my widescreen EF2000 Typhoon wallpapers there.