DVI/Widescreen/Native Resolution Problems

In December I purchased a Dell 2007WFP.

Today my new video card arrived - Gigabyte 7600GS - AGP

Despite upgrading to the latest drivers (and then uninstalling them and re-installing again - with virus detection turned off - just to make sure they load properly), I have been unable to get widescreen resolutions.

Everything looks stretched, especially pictures.

If I connect using a VGA cable, I get a larger selection of resolutions to choose from, but the quality isn't quite as good as the DVI.Strangely it also reports that I have a CRT monitor and doesn't seem to recognize the Dell monitor.

With the DVI connector, of the resolutions above 800x600 I get a choice of 5 options (but only the first 3 work):

1024x768
1152x864
1280x1024


1600x900
1680x1050

If I go into the NVidia Control Panel, it reports native resolution as 1680x1050

However, if I click on the "change to native resolution button" the computer hangs.

Or if I choose 1600x900 or 1680x1050 from the resolution list down in the task bar I get a tiny vga box which says : setting mode fail OK


1152x864 is the only resolution that looks half decent.


I really am disappointed with my purchases, visually I don't see a huge amount of difference between my old Sony 19" CRT monitor and G3Ti200. I thought I would at least see a significant difference with the new 7600GS card. But no. And I really feel like crying


I would really appreciate any suggestions you may have on solving the widescreen dvi problem?


The Dell monitor also doesn't look as vibrant as those that I have seen in computer shops - I thought the new video card would dramatically make a difference, but it didn't. The Dell monitor is bright - very glary - I have the brightness turned down to 0 - it seems to continually get brighter. Also if you've got any ideas on how to reduce the white glare on the Dell that would be great as well.