# [SOLVED] Unable to set Win 7 to 1600x1200 Resolution



## Flaggman (Jun 8, 2010)

Hi everyone, first post and great forum!

I have recently installed Windows 7 32 bit Home Premium edition on my PC however despite listing the 1600x1200 screen resolution as usable, windows won't actually set to it.

I get one of two responses, either "Windows cannot use this resolution, please select a different one" or it goes through the motions as if it has set it but sets it to 1680x1050.

I have all of the available Win 7 updates installed to date.

I have a Sapphire ATI Radeon 4870 Toxic graphics card installed and the latest Win 7 32 bit ATI Catalyst driver installed also although I have also tried the 4 previous versions of the catalyst driver incase this was an issue with the latest one with no success. I have also tried installing a fresh Win 7 home edition and a fresh Win 7 Ultimate edition with no luck.

Both the monitor and the GFX card support this resolution but Windows refuses to switch to it.

I'm after this screen res so that I can play BF1942, BF2142 and BFVietnam at their max. resolutions.

At present I have re-installed XP on my second hard drive and have the machine in dual boot as XP has no problem supporting all of the available screen resolutions.

I've tried several ways to sort this including disabling the EIDE detection between the driver and the monitor and also rebooting with the monitor unplugged and then hot connecting the monitor to force Win 7 to redetect the monitor and re-check its resolutions. I've also tried running Win 7 with no Catalyst display driver installed. This brought some sucess. Win 7 could not detect all of the resolutions correctly but would run in 1600x1200 until rebooting where the original problem would occur again.

Could anyone please suggest anything else that I could try.


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

*Re: Unable to set Win 7 to 1600x1200 Resolution*

Hi, welcome to TSF

Open the Catalyst Control Center and select 'Desktops & Displays' from the top-left Graphics menu. It will show a blue image of your desktop.

Click the black triangle in the top right of the blue desktop image and select Properties. If 1600x1200 is shown in the Desktop Area box, select it and click the Apply button, then see if it will let you set the 1600x1200 resolution.

I had this same problem when trying to setup a TV on my new Radeon 4890. Clicking the black triangle made the full list of resolutions available in Display Properties.


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## Flaggman (Jun 8, 2010)

*Re: Unable to set Win 7 to 1600x1200 Resolution*

Thanks for the reply.

Yes I've tried this. Catalyst lists 1600x1200 as a valid resolution and if you select it as a resolution it goes through the motions as if it has set it but it actually sets it back to 1680x1050.


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## Flaggman (Jun 8, 2010)

*Re: Unable to set Win 7 to 1600x1200 Resolution*

Well, sorted and slightly embarrassed about it. 

It turns out my monitor doesn't support 1600x1200. XP said it was in 1600x1200 but it was actually in a lower resolution.

Sorted this by swapping my vga lead for a DVI-D lead which accurately identified my monitor and told me all resolutions and the max for gaming in 1440x1050 and looks a lot sharper and clearer than when XP was reporting to be at 1600x1200!

It is possible to force the system into 1600x1200 but the picture overscans off the edge of the screen.

Now winXP and Win7 both agree with available resolutions and work fine an gaming pic is lookin sexy :tongue:.


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

*Re: Unable to set Win 7 to 1600x1200 Resolution*

Thanks for the update. I'll mark this thread as solved. :smile:


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