windows 7 64bit - gaming resolutions

[gfunk19]

hey all

My monitor is a 18.5" wide Benq G922HDAL which supports a max res of 1366x768.
Now recently i decided to upgrade from win xp 32 bit to win 7 ultimate 64 bit (coz i just upgraded from 2gb ddr800 to 4gb ddr800)
My Desktop runs at a res of 1366 x 768.
Most of my games i run on 1024 x 768 to give better performance , which works fine in xp, but in windows 7 ultimate 64 bit when i try run my games on 1024 x 768 there are black margins on the sides of my screen and the picture only displays in the middle of the screen. the only way to make the game take up the whole screen is to run it at 1366 x 768 (the screens max res.)

What do you guys think could be causing this? btw i have a geforce gts 250 with the 64 bit drivers installed that came with the card
Thanks

[Prime]

Update drivers? Check the wide resolutions box? Or run in xp compatibility mode.

[Monty]

It is a feature of windows 7 - you're running games at a 4:3 aspect ratio but your monitor has a widescreen aspect of 16:9. Windows 7 doesn't stretch the screen so that the 4:3 aspect fits the 16:9 aspect (as this distorts your picture), it just doesn't render where no rendering is needed, giving you a better but smaller picture

[SykomantiS]

Correct Monty. There should be a way to change this though, either in the nvidia control panel, or on the monitor itself. Failing that, why not just run at your native res? I've borrowed a GTS250 from a friend (I'm still running a 7600gt ), and at my native 1680x1050 it more than adequate. (system specs are 3gig drr2 800 and a 965Be, all underclocked because I can't source the damn mobo I want) I mention this just to point out that the card can handle it.

[hamin_aus]

Most of my games i run on 1024 x 768 to give better performance

Why does this resolution give better performance
You have a decent enough graphics card and if the game is capable of running at the native res of your monitor then you should run it at that res as it will look best that way.

It's not like your monitor runs at 1920x1200

[gfunk19]

shot for replies, games like gta4 run smoother on 1024 x 768 (considering i have the textures set to high) so I prefer the smoothness. I'll install win 7 on my other hard drive and see if i can try sort it out. oh ya is my pc gonna run games better on win 7 64 bit (with 4 gig ddr 800) compared to xp 32 bit with 2 gb ddr800?

[Monty]

Why do you want it to run on your whole monitor? You're distorting the picture unless you run it at 16:9 aspect ratio

[gfunk19]

I set the aspect ratio to 16:9 at 1024 x 768 and it still only displays in the middle of the screen with the black margins on the side, however it works fine with windows XP

[ADV4NCED]

Listen to what the other guys said, use a higher resolution

1024x768 will by default use a 4:3 aspect ratio, so up your resolution then use 16:9 and check if that is better

[Monty]

I set the aspect ratio to 16:9 at 1024 x 768 and it still only displays in the middle of the screen with the black margins on the side, however it works fine with windows XP

1024 by 768 cannot be a 16:9 aspect ratio!