Question: I just bought a monitor for a relative's computer (Intel 82915G chipset) which should produce 1600x900. Though the current card can produce 1600x1200, there's no way (that I know of) to force it to produce 1600x900. 

Assuming buying a card would be a solution, how would one find a cheap video card that can do 1600x900? They don't seem to list the modes in most ads.

If I'm missing something in Windows, please let me know, but I've looked around quite a bit and tried many things (including unsupported resolutions, etc).

Answer: 
Generally speaking, any recent video card from nVidia, ATI, Intel, or another major manufacturer will support any resolution the monitor marks as displayable. Usually there are a set list of common resolutions which the monitor supports, up to it's native resolution. Here is a list of common video resolutions:

[![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/NAJmi.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/NAJmi.png)

1600x900 is an odd resolution, and won't be displayed in any configuration panel unless it's the screen's maximum / native resolution. Out of curiosity, what monitor are you using?

If the monitor does not have a native resolution of 1600x900, you can try to [force an arbitrary resolution](http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/lcd-display/42122-tutorial-forcing-custom-resolution-windows.html). However, be warned that running LCD displays at anything other than their native resolution generally looks horrible. Supported resolutions aren't put in ads for graphics cards because only the maximum resolution is dependent on the graphics card, and it should be good to display any resolution less than that (Most consumer cards from ATI/nVidia will support up to WQXGA per display given a dual-link DVI cable or similar).
Hooray! I have found a cure for this problem.
I have an optiplex gx280 with the same chipset, Intel(R) 82915G/GV/910GL.
Windows XP pro
I also have an Acer X203H 1600x900 monitor that was not able to achieve this resolution.

You can solve this dilemma by using an awesome software called Powerstrip. Can be found here <http://entechtaiwan.com/util/ps.shtm>

Follow the instructions here
<http://forums.entechtaiwan.com/index.php?topic=24.0>

Hooray! Resolution desired has been acquired.

HINT:I hooked up this monitor to a PC that worked with it and took a screen shot of the working monitor stats to enter into the non-working pc.