Difference of 1440x900 gamiing compared to higher res?

[damage424]

I've had my Samsung LCD for a while now on 1440x900. The one thing I love about it is it doesn't need a lot of power to game on it; although my PC is powerful enough, minus my 4850.

I was just wondering how much of a difference is my 1440x900 to a 1920x1200 or 1680x1050? Does the hit of performance justify the larger res?

 

[Phil1977]

Hi damage424!

Screen resolution has a major impact on performance...

The easiest is to multiply hor. times vert. pixels and you get a MP (Megapixel) figure...

e.g. 1920 x 1080 = 2.1 MP
Your screen has 1400 x 900 = 1.26 MP

My screen is just for gaming and has 1366x768 = 1 MP

I get roughly double the performance on my screen compared to a Full HD screen...

You would have to upgrade to a 5850 to get the same performance if you where to go with a Full HD screen.

 

[damage424]

Thank you for your response Phil1977.

I understand the performance will have a huge hit if I upgrade my monitor to a higher resolution. The real question is, how much of a difference are the visuals compared to higher res? Gaming on my current resolution, the graphics looks great and I can max out all the settings. How much of an improvement, if any, do higher resolution monitors offer?

 

[Hippiekiller]

Hi damage424!

I get roughly double the performance on my screen compared to a Full HD screen...

.

Absolutely wrong. If your card has enough frame buffer etc moving from 1440*900 too 1920*1080 will have little effect in most games. Once you go up to 2048x thats when the High res starts taking its toll on modern cards. 1600x + isnt hard at all for cards these days.

 

[fffblackmage]

Absolutely wrong. If your card has enough frame buffer etc moving from 1440*900 too 1920*1080 will have little effect in most games. Once you go up to 2048x thats when the High res starts taking its toll on modern cards. 1600x + isnt hard at all for cards these days.

You're horribly wrong.... Resolution is hugely important. Moving up to higher resolutions has a very obvious impact on framerates. Whenever someone asks about upgrading their gfx card, people will always ask what resolution they'll to be gaming on for that reason.

Some examples

It might seem like just a few fps difference, but it can mean playable or not. This varies between games and the hardware you're running, but generally, there is a noticeable difference. However, the hit on framerates is probably not quite as linear as Phil1977 had described.

 

[Lonyo]

Absolutely wrong. If your card has enough frame buffer etc moving from 1440*900 too 1920*1080 will have little effect in most games. Once you go up to 2048x thats when the High res starts taking its toll on modern cards. 1600x + isnt hard at all for cards these days.

Resolution always has an impact.
RAM only sometimes does.

As you can see, an increase in resolution causes a decrease in performance.
Once you go over the frame buffer limit of a 256MB card however, you take a much bigger hit than just the increase in resolution alone causes. The 512MB card shows a decrease, but nowhere near as much.

Basically @ OP:
Your performance will decrease with a higher resolution, but if you go too high, you'll get a bigger decrease through exceeding the framebuffer than just the resolution alone causes.

 

[damage424]

But what makes gaming on higher res more appealing? Why would I want to upgrade from a 1440x900 to higher res?

 

[MalVeauX]

Heya,

1440x900 to 1680x1050 is not a huge jump. You have to consider how you `see' things. You see more horizontally than vertically. And the pixel difference between those resolutions is not that big vertically at all, 150 pixels. But horizontally you gain a bit more (240). That's again, not a big gain. You will notice most modern cards (like the 4850) perform perfectly fine in games, new games, at 1680x1050. You won't see a huge performance gain going down to 1440x900. But if you were to see the two side by side, you probably would only be able to pick out the one at higher resolution just because things were a little tighter on the screen and slightely less jagged pixelated straight lines here and there. Ultimately though, they're not that different. Jump up to 1920x1080 and again, you only jumped up by 180 pixels vertically. But horizontally you gain nearly 400 pixels. 400 pixels is a lot in terms of what you get to see. Look at 800x600 compared to 1280x720 for example. Huge resolution difference when playing a game, and that's another difference of about 400 pixels. Going from 1440 to 1920 is a big difference in how the game looks, and how much real estate you have to see.

Higher resolution also results in less pixels being seen on every little detail. At low resolution, every straight line will be jagged. At higher resolution, you will not see that as much. And if you add AA to the visual effect, you get no jagged lines, which is beautiful (more picturesque and less like a computer generated pixeled 3d image).

However, I will say, I think 1440x900 is a good gaming resolution for someone looking for a budget system that can play all games at that resolution and do so really well. It's a good gaming res in that sense. Generally you can even turn on AA on this resolution, it will look great, and still perform very well.

Very best,

 

[Barfo]

I went from 1280x1024 to 1920x1080 and it was a big difference, everything looks very sharp, jaggies are much more difficult to notice and pretty much non existent with AA enabled, besides the extra real estate. I'm very pleased with it.

 

[Phil1977]

Morning guys!

Sorry for the late response, over here in Perth we are on a different time zone

What are you gaining by moving to a higher resolution...

Its a debate similar to a minefield. Ask a home cinema guy if you can tell the difference between 720p and 1080p... You will get all sorts of answers and a religion like debate.

Obviously with a higher resolution you will see more detail. But your monitor is also larger, so you will likely have it a bit further away.

When I game I have my 18.5" LCD really close. I have put it on a few books and move it really close. When I watch a movie I push it back again.

I believe that jaggies are still around, even on a Full HD screen. Thats why I love 4x AA, it really lifts the IQ.

The reason I chose a 720p screen (mine has 1366 x 768) is because it is the "fastest" resolution in modern LCDs and I get more value out of my hardware. I have a basic Radeon 5750, but I can play games at settings where a Full HD screen owner would need a much stronger graphics card.

Another reason I chose this resolution is because I do play older games (like point and click adventures) and most of them run at 1024 x 768. As long as you turn on GPU scaling in your driver you can play letterboxed (black bars on the side just like on a widescreen TV when you watch a old movie).

Anyway thats just some reasons why I chose a lower resolution screen. In the end it is a personal choice and there is no right answer...

EDIT:

Now I wasn't such a gamer, I would buy a Full HD screen hands down. Simply because they don't cost much and you get a massive screen.

So for me gaming performance (and value) is the only reason why I chose this 18.5" screen.

 

[Yuriman]

Resolution = the number of pixels that items on screen are made up of. It's probably the most important factor in image quality, since you can't see other detail unless you have enough pixels to display it. When buying a monitor, especially for a gamer, resolution is probably the most important factor to consider. When turning down detail in games to increase your framerate, resolution is the last thing you want to turn down.

 

[Phil1977]

I hope it is ok to post some images.

I play a lot of BF2142. This is another game I play in 4:3 because if you play in widescreen you miss out on vertical detail. It also stretches the maps and HUD...

I am very impressed with the IQ of these Radeon cards.

I play with 8x AA (Adaptive Multisampling) and 16x AF.

8x AA looks sweet, but I am most impressed with the AF (look at the ground in the first image). Sharp textures all the way into the distance.

Well done ATI!

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/1729/screen000y.png

 

[cbn]

I've had my Samsung LCD for a while now on 1440x900. The one thing I love about it is it doesn't need a lot of power to game on it; although my PC is powerful enough, minus my 4850.

I was just wondering how much of a difference is my 1440x900 to a 1920x1200 or 1680x1050? Does the hit of performance justify the larger res?

Calculating the pixel count helps determine the GPU needs.

 

[Grinja]

Morning guys!
As long as you turn on GPU scaling in your driver you can play letterboxed.

Where does one turn on GPU scaling in the newer Catalyst Control Center?

 

[crackshot91]

Where does one turn on GPU scaling in the newer Catalyst Control Center?

I want to know this too...

 

[0roo0roo]

mostly such a low resolution is crude looking, the pixels are quite big with those 1440x displays.

 

[toyota]

mostly such a low resolution is crude looking, the pixels are quite big with those 1440x displays.

the pixels dont look big at all to me because those monitors are only 19 inches. after all its the resolution in relation to the size of the monitor that matters isnt it?

 

[crisium]

This is why I like my CRT. I game at 1920x1080 whenever I can, lower when I can't. This allows me to keep my video card for the long haul.

1440x900 is nearly the same bandwith as 1280x1024, so just compare those results. So when you see reviews you can see firsthand the performance hit when moving up the resolution.

toyota, yeah it's pixel density. I wouldn't want to look at 1440 on a 30-inch display, but something small is fine.

 

[WildW]

Where does one turn on GPU scaling in the newer Catalyst Control Center?

In the dropdown menu choose "Desktops & Displays"

Right-click on your monitor in the list bar at the bottom - a menu opens - choose configure.

Image scaling is on the first tab that opens (Attributes).

I don't know why they've changed CCC to make everything so hard to find.

 

[TemjinGold]

But what makes gaming on higher res more appealing? Why would I want to upgrade from a 1440x900 to higher res?

For games, aside from stuff looking sharper, you also simply see much more of it at once. This effect is most noticeable in RTS games because the player with the higher resolution has a huge advantage in the game.

 

[toyota]

For games, aside from stuff looking sharper, you also simply see much more of it at once. This effect is most noticeable in RTS games because the player with the higher resolution has a huge advantage in the game.

for gaming a higher resolution doesnt help you see more if it keeps the same aspect ratio. in other words 1600x1200 doesnt let you see anymore than 1024x768 because they are both 4:3 aspect ratio and 1920x1200 doesnt let you see anymore than 1440x900 since they are both 16:10. in fact its funny when people choose 1280x1024 over 1280x960 because that will actually display less of a view for gaming because it cuts off some of the fov from the sides.

 

[Yuriman]

a higher resolution doesnt help you see more if it keeps the same aspect ratio. in other words 1600x1200 doesnt let you see anymore than 1024x768 because they are both 4:3 aspect ratio and 1920x1200 doesnt let you see anymore than 1440x900 since they are both 16:10.

A higher resolution allows you to see more of the battlefield with the same detail, or the same area with more detail.

 

[toyota]

A higher resolution allows you to see more of the battlefield with the same detail, or the same area with more detail.

not really. a 22inch screen with a 1680x1050 res is going to look basically identical to a 19inch screen with 1440x900. now it being physically larger will be helpful of course but its still the exact same info being displayed for the game.

now if you had a 19inch screen with 1680x1050 then things would look a little crisper and have less aliasing than a 1440x900 on the same size monitor.

 

[Hey Zeus]

This is why I like my CRT. I game at 1920x1080 whenever I can, lower when I can't. This allows me to keep my video card for the long haul.

1440x900 is nearly the same bandwith as 1280x1024, so just compare those results. So when you see reviews you can see firsthand the performance hit when moving up the resolution.

toyota, yeah it's pixel density. I wouldn't want to look at 1440 on a 30-inch display, but something small is fine.

What s a CRT?

 

[crisium]

Something that's capable of a higher resolution than your display (albeit with a small screen when in 16:9 or 16:10). This baby can do 2048x1536.