Is there any other resolution to run games on my maxed iMac?

[9007938]

I have the fully loaded 3.06GHz iMac with the upgraded video card. The native resolution is 1920x1200, which even with the iMac's decent specs, is a hefty performance dump being forced to run games in this high resolution. When I try lowering the resolution, literally every other resolution option looks like crap, while 1920x1200 looks crisp and perfect. Most of the other options aren't a matching aspect ratio for the widescreen monitor. Is there a good resolution you recommend, and if it isn't available in my game, is there a way to make it available?

Do I need to hack each game to display other resolution options that match my aspect ratio? How can I get better performance besides turning the graphics to crap? I would be happy running in a lower resolution with all other settings maxed, rather than most settings low with such a high resolution.

Do I have any options here or am I screwed? I'm sure some of you guys must have come across this issue! I'm a new Mac convert who can't get rid of my PC gaming.

Note: Preferably I would like to find an alternate widescreen resolution, rather than finding a way to use 4:3 with black bars, but either would be better than how it is now.

 

[The Flashing Fi]

For LCD screens, the only resolution that looks good is the native resolution (in your case, 1920x1200). Any other resolution will look like crap. No one can really help you with that. The only thing I can suggest is in the Nvidia Control panel is going to "Flat Panel Scaling," and disabling any scaling. What this will do is give you borders around the screen. So, if you run at 1440x900, it will be in a little screen. If you want it to take up the entire screen, there is nothing that can be done.

Most games should be able to do 1920x1200. If you need to select an aspect ratio, your aspect ratio is 16:10.

 

[9007938]

Thanks a ton man! I've always been a CRT stickler until I switched to Mac, so I wasn't aware of any such option! It fixed my problem by adding black bars, and even below native resolution it looks great!

So here's my second question, I would prefer to use a 16:10 resolution rather than a cropped 4:3 resolution. 1680x1050 or 1360x768 are I believe 16:10 resolutions that are lower than 1920x1200 that I would like to use, but none of my games have the option (even though it is available to switch my desktop resolution to). Is there a reason my games don't have this option? And if there is no reason, is there a way to force it into one of these resolutions?