I think this has been asked recently but don't remember the topic. It would seem to be a common
complaint.

Some old and maybe some new games look best with a 640x480 screen. However, certain combinations
of video drivers and monitors appear to not permit selection of this screen resolution. Here is
an example of this problem.

I was replaying Beyond Time which looks best at 640x480. I was testing it with WinXP (it actually
will crash with WinXP but likes Win98SE) and tried to select 640x480. I have a GeForce 7600GS video
card, the 260.99 driver, and a Samsung SyncMaster 204B monitor.
I normally run the screen at 1600x1200 and both the Windows and nVidia software seem to give 800x600
as the lowest resolution.
I don't know what more modern OS give as options but here is what I did with WinXP.

Right click on the Desktop and select Properties. When Display Properties shows, right click on
Settings. My Screen Resolution was limited to 800x600 so I clicked on Advanced.
I clicked on Adapter and List All Modes. This produced a massive list of screen modes where I
eventually found 640x480 32bit color. When selected, what seemed to be an impossible mode started.

I hope this will help people with the problem.

That's great to know, Robert. I assume you're using Windows 7? Unfortunately, the advanced settings for the display is not available on Windows 10 using this path. In Window 10, right click on the desktop, select Display Settings and in the next screen select Display Adapter Properties and finally List All Modes in the next small screen.

I think Robert is using XP.
"List All Modes" is also available in Windows 7
https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/255-screen-resolution-display-settings.html

and Windows 8
https://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/5572-screen-resolution-set-displays-windows-8-a.html

Here's another way to get to it in Windows 10, which might also work for older Windows
https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo-Beac...80/td-p/3379523

though whether it goes down to 640x480 may depend on which video card and monitor you have.

Last time I was buying a new monitor, I asked Ben Q beforehand (because I'd had a really good Ben Q one for years) whether 640/480 was an option - and got a reply asking, incredulously, why on earth I would need such a setting !!

So I bought an Hanns.G monitor instead as they were only too pleased to report I wouldn't have any problems with that resolution

Little do they know about us silly gamers!

Silly ?? Not us !!

Nah .... I'll say Happy

What's "silly" is buying a monitor based on someone else's needs and not yours.

Who would do that

Not you, certainly.