Monitors Monitor issue: 800x600 in widescreen

vebk

vebk

Adept
Till we upgrade our systems in our tiny office, I am being made to work on a desktop that will make you cringe - Pentium III, 256MB RAM (I think SDRAM), 15" widescreen monitor which is set at 800x600, Intel 82810 motherboard. :no:

Since I have no say in the matter for the time being, I am trying to get the display to show at 1280x720. The monitor (Acer x153w) supports 1280x720 and the onboard graphics (Intel 82810) supports 1024x768, but it just doesn't change to either. I have downloaded the latest drivers for both the monitor and the onboard graphics, but no go. It won't show me more than 800x600 in the settings.

Am I missing something? What can I do to make this totally frustrating experience a slight bit nicer by at least having a widescreen resolution so everything doesn't look stretched!! :huh:

p.s. Please don't give suggestions relating to throwing / destroying / burning etc. this desktop and getting a new one. It's not an option right now. Quitting my job is also not an option, though this desktop makes me think of some "Office Space" moments :p
 
Option #1: Install Powerstrip in WIndows to set a custom resolution and refresh rate.

Option #2: Install Xubuntu and edit the xorg.conf file to display your specified resolution.
 
I tried powerstrip.. unfortunately the option for "custom resolutions" is ghosted. So it appears that the Intel 82810 doesn't support custom resolutions. Guess I am shit out of luck.

How much would a basic graphics card that would allow 1280 x 720 cost? And how much would it cost second hand?
 
Does your mobo have an AGP slot? Older gen. AGP cards in good condition should be available for under 500.

If you don't have an AGP slot, try getting a PCI-based (not the latest PCIE) graphics card.

If there isn't anything on the mobo, you're SOL. Use it to bake pizzas in the oven.
 
I've got an Athlon Thunderbird with 256mb ram back home that works perfectly fine. I don't think a P3 is particularly outdated for office work the display issues aside.
 
I have an old Duron that I boot up once every month to keep it in check. Boot time from the time the power button is pressed right to opening Firefox in XP SP2 is about 2 minutes and 20 seconds.

I also have an AthlonXP running running 24*7. Soft boots every weekend take about a minute and a half.

Do a fresh install of XP and watch that baby fly.
 
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