# Resolution Mismatch: Can I Ignore This Warning...
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolution-mismatch-can-i-ignore-this-warning/795233
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [September 1, 2017, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolution-mismatch-can-i-ignore-this-warning/795233 "2017-09-01T07:33:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2017, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolution-mismatch-can-i-ignore-this-warning/795233/1 "2017-09-01T07:33:59Z")
… without damaging my machine? I play WoW on a screen which is 28" straight across. It is actually an HD TV. My current setting using W7 is 1366x768 which I like because with my macular degeneration it makes the writing in the game larger.
Thanks
Q
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### Author:  [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2017, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolution-mismatch-can-i-ignore-this-warning/795233/2 "2017-09-01T09:00:47Z")
You can but be careful about making it too big or you won’t be able to see the edges of your screen. Which will make clicking on icons or shutting off your computer, or getting to the control panel problematic.
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### Author:  [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2017, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolution-mismatch-can-i-ignore-this-warning/795233/3 "2017-09-01T09:29:36Z")
Thank you, **Grrr!**.
I’m leaving the setting alone. I have had what you mentioned happen before and had to do a system restore. I wrote “had”, but I may not have needed a system restore. Just wanted to get my machine back to where it was asap.
20 years ago I probably could have figured it out myself, but at 67, I find myself turning to the Dope and folks like you to help me out.
Thanks again!
Quasi
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### Author:  [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2017, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolution-mismatch-can-i-ignore-this-warning/795233/4 "2017-09-01T14:12:36Z")
As **Grrr!** says, it’s probably just OK.
I think that’s a warning that the resolution you picked isn’t the “native” physical resolution of the display device. But if you picked the resolution intentionally, the native resolution of the display doesn’t matter.
The warning is basically “Your screen won’t look as good as it should”. But if your eyesight works better at coarser resolutions, “looking as good as it should” isn’t a consideration. (What good is finer resolution if your eyes can’t make it out, or it causes headaches to try?)
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### Author:  [@busterpickle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/busterpickle)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2017, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolution-mismatch-can-i-ignore-this-warning/795233/5 "2017-09-01T15:03:21Z")
More than likely, that resolution is going to be scaled to one of the resolutions that are supported by the TV. If you have a 16:9 1080, it’ll support 720 and 480 and scale your selected resolution to one of those. Depending on the generation/quality of the screen this could result in a poor rendering and tearing and other things.
You could try and select a supported resolution and see if you like it, like 1280x720p and adjust the scaling of icons.
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### Author:  [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2017, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolution-mismatch-can-i-ignore-this-warning/795233/6 "2017-09-01T15:20:57Z")
With today’s devices, it just means that your picture quality isn’t as high as it could be - running 1366x768 on a 1920x1080 screen means you aren’t using one pixel of TV per pixel of image, so depending on how good the TV is you might get some artifacts. If you the lower resolution is easier for you to see, this doesn’t matter. Back in the old days you could set a monitor to a resolution and refresh rate that would damage the monitor if you weren’t careful, but both modern monitors (and TVs) and modern versions of Windows won’t let you set them to a damaging setting unless you work really hard at it (hacking into and modifying the firmware of the device is not something you do accidentally).
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### Author:  [@Blakeyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blakeyrat)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2017, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolution-mismatch-can-i-ignore-this-warning/795233/7 "2017-09-01T23:56:52Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#):
>
> … without damaging my machine? I play WoW on a screen which is 28" straight across. It is actually an HD TV. My current setting using W7 is 1366x768 which I like because with my macular degeneration it makes the writing in the game larger.
>
> Thanks
>
> Q
You could try changing the TV to its native resolution (1920x1080 I assume?) then turning up the monitor zoom in Windows to 175% or 200%. That should result in a sharper image than what you’re doing now, your computer knows how to upscale pixels better than your TV does. And your TV will stop nagging you about not being used in its native resolution.
I can’t guarantee World of Warcraft would respect the zoom setting, though, game developers sometimes like to do their own thing and ignore the OS settings. Still, it’s easy to undo and you can give it a try.
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### Author:  [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2017, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolution-mismatch-can-i-ignore-this-warning/795233/8 "2017-09-02T00:09:41Z")
Games don’t usually use Windows font information.
Googling, looks like you can try options \> advanced and there is UI scaling. This might change other things and not to your liking. If that’s the case, you’ll need to try a mod. Here’s one: [https://wow.curseforge.com/projects/fontifier](https://wow.curseforge.com/projects/fontifier)
The description says it’s discontinued but a discussion from a year ago suggests it still works. There might be a better one on the mod sites.
As others have said it won’t hurt your computer or monitor. But because it’s not an even multiplier of 1080p graphics could _potentially_ suffer.
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### Author:  [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2017, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolution-mismatch-can-i-ignore-this-warning/795233/9 "2017-09-02T11:11:14Z")
what **Pantastic** said. these days it’s almost impossible to damage a modern display via incorrect resolution settings; if the display doesn’t like what you’re sending it you’ll get no picture or an incredibly weird one.