1600x900 VS. 1280x1024?

[Built Different]

So i currently have a 1280x1024 monitor. My dad has a 1600x900 monitor. I was gonna see if we could do a swap since I game and I think that a widescreen format would be better. I don't think I would have much of a perfomance drop, my GPU is an Asus HD 2GB 7850. So would the 1600x900 be better than the 1280x1024 for gaming?

[SilentHorizon]

It will only give you widescreen instead of full screen, because your gpu is so powerful and your resolution is so low you could more than play with that monitor.

Yes widescreen will be better.

[Legend]

1600x900 will look way better than 1280x1024 and shouldn't be much of an issue for a 7850.

[_I_]

if the monitor is 16:9, use that resolution
1280x1024 (5:4) will look stretched to hell on a 16:9 monitor

[Astraea Kisaragi]

I'm a wallpaper designer and this constant changes of aspect beats the hell out of us, devaluing our past works.
5:4 was a fail attempt after 4:3 to create a new monitor standard, assuming that people will use computer just for computer work, and not for watching movies/videos. It sure had some quality advantages above the formerly most used 1024x768, but as monitor and TV standards/technologies started to slowly merge, 5:4 completly lost it's purprose. Widescreen was the way to go.

With the current prices, I don't see reason to buy anything lower as 1920x1080. Your GPU handles it easily, and if in new games you met some slowdown, you can set to a lower resolution in the same 16:9 aspect.

[4IDEN]

I think people have misread it it cant look stretched because 1280x1024 is a monitor and you would never use that on your res on your dads monitor. I would have it off him because i could be wrong but im guessing that most games are designed for 1920x1080 or 1920x1200 so i think the 1600x900 should be alot better with way more pixels to boot.
Sometimes a change is just nice makes things feel fresh.