I just got a new Asus 23" HD widescreen monitor. I chose 16:9 aspect ratio at the Skyrim launcher, and I am getting black bars on the top and bottom of my screen when I play. If I don't choose this aspect or higher, I can't choose a very high resolution. How do I get rid of these bars?

This belongs in the PC support section for Skyrim, I think.

Anyways, what's your native resolution? Is it 1920 x 1200?

1920x1080.

If I choose this setting in Skyrim, it is full screen, but my video card can't handle it. I am building a new PC tomorrow but would like to know for future reference.

Black bars are the result of running at a different aspect ratio than the native aspect ratio of the screen. It sounds to me like the resolution somewhere isn't matching up. There is no way to get rid of black bars without running at the same aspect ratio as the screen and stretching or zooming, both of which don't look good.

Are you running the desktop at 1920 x 1080 as well?

Yes, the desktop is set to 1920x1080. Unless I set Skyrim to 16:9 and run @ 1920 x 1080, I see black bars.

If your monitor is 16:9 aspect ratio and the resolution you're using is also 16:9 aspect ratio it should fit the screen all the way.

Try 16:10.

I actually have this issue with New Vegas running it in Ultra.

See how 1600x900 looks and runs.