Media Centre on the cheap

[Stuart*]

As an aside (but vaguely related point) I decided to treat myself to a 19" widescreen LCD monitor for my PC. I've been tinkering with the settings most of the evening (colour, resolution etc), but the quality doesn't seem as good as on my old, smaller LCD monitor.

Can anyone suggest what the ideal resolution is for a 19" W/S. It suggested the maximum (1440x900) but everything seemed very small. I've currently got it on 1360x760, but the text doesn't look very good on some sites.

I also can't seem to change the refresh rate from 60Hz, even though the specs say it's capable of 75Hz. Would that be down to my graphics card (which is the one that came with the CPU - a "NVIDIA GeForce 7300 SE/7200 GS") Is it worth me in investing in a better graphics card to make the most of the new monitor?

[Sput]

The maximum is generally the clearest as it's mapping exactly onto the physical pixel grid of the monitor. Tried cleartype for lower resolutions? Don't worry about the 60Hz, I doubt there'd be a perceptible difference. As for it not looking as good, it could be a crapper monitor but do check out the gamma. I find that it's often too high and needs a little knocking off.

[Stuart*]

The maximum is generally the clearest as it's mapping exactly onto the physical pixel grid of the monitor.

I've put it back to the maximum, which does seem alot clearer! I think perhaps the text looked too small before because I tried the max resolution as soon as I plugged it in, and it was obviously such a drastic difference from my old monitor. After a couple of hours getting used to that 'in-between' resolution the maximum doesn't seem such a difference now.

As for it not looking as good, it could be a crapper monitor but do check out the gamma. I find that it's often too high and needs a little knocking off.

I've tinkered abit more with the gamma, it seems alot better now. I'll have to stick in a DVD and see how good that looks.

Thanks for your help