Games not running in full screen mode

Ideally, inside those games (in the video options) you would set the screen resolution to match the native res. of your LCD (likely, what your Windows desktop is set to).

So, if your screen is 1680x1050 ... that is 16:10 ratio. On newer games, you can set it that way or the next lower 16:10 res like:

Set a width and height matching the aspect ratio you have. Here are some examples of resolutions (Width x Height):

852x480 16:9 Widescreen
1280x720 16:9 Widescreen
1365x768 16:9 Widescreen
1920×1080 16:9 Widescreen

1280x800 16:10 WideScreen
1440x900 16:10 Widescreen
1680x1050 16:10 Widescreen
1920x1200 16:10 Widescreen

On older games, you can only set them to run at 4:3 aspect ratios like 800x600 or 1024x768 (more square). This leaves black bars on the sides. While you can sometimes use controls on the video driver or the display itself to "stretch" the screen (to fill those gaps) you end up with a non-proportional image (things are too fat or thin). Just like on my home theater, I'll take black bars and letter-boxing over a stretched (basically incorrect) image any day.

Hi Tesla,

what you pointed out seems to be the issue, exactly.

My computer is running at  a resolution of 1920 X 1080, and the games are running at AR of 4:3 (1024 X 768 being the best available option)

Still, I m getting very irritated by the black bars...can you tell me where the stretch option is available from? I have forever used nVidia and know where the option is in its control panel, but in Radeon control panel I just can't seem to find the option!

Can you be kind enough to point me to it, so I can try the stretch option and judge for myself whether i prefer the stretched non-proportional images or the black bars?

Also, This is an unrelated query, but is there a way to check for driver updates from alienware? something like an auto-checker? i tried navigating on the site and the closest i could come to was a manual listing of all the latest drivers...and checking each installed version on my laptop and then deciding whether to download or not seems extremely cumbersome(not to mention pre 2000 era-like)!

Thanks once again for your help and promptness in reply.

Counter Strike Source will run at 1920x1080 (or 1365x768 16:9 Widescreen) natively. Just change it in the game options.

This is from CCC Help:

If desired, you can specify a preference for GPU scaling by selecting Enable GPU scaling. Doing so ensures scaling is always performed by the GPU.

1. Based on the navigation system contained in the Catalyst™ Control Center window, do one of the following:
   • Navigation menu—From the display palette on the Desktops & Displays page, click the desired monitor, and then click Configure in the context menu that appears.
   • Navigation tree—From the tree in the Graphics Settings tab, expand Monitor Properties.

For laptop video drivers, you can get them from support.dell.com . However, if it's working I wouldn't worry about driver updates just yet.

hi tesla,

me and my friends are still on cs 1.6...that doesnt hav that mode...

arkham asylum and assassin's creed 2 ran fine...full screen and all...

still couldn't locate the stretch option according to your directions....dunno what i m doing wrong! :(

Counter Strike: I think it has to be CS-Source (not the original CS). If CS:Source, you should all install the patch (as long as the server you play on supports it). I got CS: Source for free many years ago on Steam when I bought Half Life 2. When playing CS: Source on Steam, it installs the latest patch automatically.

ATI CCC Scaling:

Open CCC Advanced
Desktop & Displays
On the bottom monitor icon, right click and select Configure
Modify Scaling options

Note 1: Scaling is only available for wide-screen displays
Note 2: I think Windows and/or CCC must identify your monitor by it's proper name (so it knows it's abilities)