Displays gaming question - monitor resolution

Hey Everybody,

New to the forums but have been a bit-tech reader for awhile now, one of my more favourite sites for hardware reviews. Anyway I was wondering if I could tap into the wisdom of the those more experienced than myself. I'm putting together a new build which is my first major upgrade in ~4 years, (Q6600, 2gb ram, Geforce 8800GTX etc) and the only thing I'm having trouble on is the monitor. Cant decide on whether to get a 24in or a 22in + 19in (normal aspect ratio). Obviously the 24in is better gaming wise (others probably better work wise) but I'm wondering whether being forced to game at 1920x1600 is actually going to be worse. I figure the gtx card is going to be fine for that res now but in a years time (or even apres Crysis) probably wont be or will it? So will I be forced to drop down a resolution in a year or so and if so how bad will that look. I'm not super picky about image quality but dont want to spend all that on a 24in when in a years time the 22in will actually look better as I'll still be able to run at native res.

Any advice would be gratefully received, thanks.

 

My graphics card was made in 2005 and I can still run stuff at my native res (1680x1050).
I believe it will be fine, but don't be suprised if you have to drop some detail or turn off the AA.

If you want you can always run it at a non-native res, most monitors nowadays should have 1:1 scaling so it's just a block in the middle of the screen.

 

Welcome to the forums.

Although I'd still try to add a second monitor at some point I don't think you'll ever regret getting the 24" (unless you break it or something). I went from 19" to 19"w to 22" to TripleHead2Go and every time I use the older setup (2ndary computer) it feels small.