Which aspect ratio for games? 16:9, 16:10 or 4:3?

[Ramses]

I have a stupid question, if you run a game that has a max resolution of 1280x1024, how does a wide lcd react?

Sent from my Evo 4G

 

[Athadeus]

Stretches it or puts black up black bars depending on the model and/or settings of the monitor. From what I've seen, most cheaper monitors just stretch everything to full screen.

 

[Blue Shift]

There are a lot of myths that get perpetuated on this forum... One of them is that games maintain vertical FOV and scale horizontal FOV.

No.... it depends on the game. Some scale both so the overall FOV stays the same, some scale vertical only. Battlefield 2 is an example of a game that maintains horizontal FOV and scales vertical.

Thanky you. This FOV nonsense that otherwise sensible people dish out is rather annoying.

 

[Wolves]

FOV is bigger in 16:9!!! and yes. I dont count old games from 2004 or something like that! 16:9 is the way to go for gaming!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_of_view_in_video_games


In Witcher 2 and Assassins Creed the 16:10 users get black bars.
http://www.gamespot.com/forums/topic/28664892/witcher-2-black-bars

 

[crisium]

I like how the first two responses answer the thread but sad defenders of the dieing 16:10 keep voting for it anyway.

We get it. 16:10 is a better desktop resolution. Who wouldn't prefer 1920x1200 over 1920x1080 for your desktop? It is objectively superior.

However, we are talking about gaming. There are few, if any, games optimized for 16:10. 16:9 usually gives you the same vertical viewing area but superior horizontal viewing, making it objectively better for gaming. Most older games are optimized for 4:3, but this hasn't been a fact for several years.

Those of you with 1920x1200 monitors should voluntarily play in 1920x1080 and accept the black bars. It's not a lot of black bars, but that extra horizontal vision can get you more kills in FPS.

Personally I use a CRT and game at whatever aspect ratio I please.

 

[Ramses]

Stretches it or puts black up black bars depending on the model and/or settings of the monitor. From what I've seen, most cheaper monitors just stretch everything to full screen.

On one that does black bars, is it fuzzy from not being at native resolution?

Sent from my Evo 4G

 

[BababooeyHTJ]

The first time that I ever got motion sickness was when trying to use a 16:9 monitor and Half Life 2 because of the low FOV. It also happened in other games with too low of a fov. That hasn't been a problem for me with 4:3 or 16:10.

 

[evilspoons]

On one that does black bars, is it fuzzy from not being at native resolution?

Sent from my Evo 4G

You can override the stupid in-monitor scaling if you have one of many new video cards. The Nvidia, AMD (ATI), and Intel drivers all give you scaling options. Personally, I set my Nvidia cards to give aspect-ratio scaling - i.e. black bars appear when you're not at native aspect ratio. It can be fuzzy/grainy if the resolutions are very different from your monitor's native resolution, but on most games it actually looks alright.

I think the video cards actually do proper bilnear scaling too instead of the horrid nearest-neighbour most cheap monitors do.

(In the Nvidia control panel, look for 'Adjust Desktop Size and Position' and then choose 'Use NVIDIA scaling with fixed-aspect ratio').

 

[dpodblood]

For purely gaming I would say 16:9 because most games today are ported from console versions which are designed for 16:9 as well.

 

[BababooeyHTJ]

For purely gaming I would say 16:9 because most games today are ported from console versions which are designed for 16:9 as well.

That makes a difference why?

Most console ports are also meant to be played on a TV at five or so feet away and have a low FOV.

 

[postmortemIA]

Again this FOV BS. I have 16:10 monitor that scales 1:1
Suppose I use it as 16:9 monitor, 1920x1080 resolution, and that "magic" FOV, just how would person that has 16:9 would use it.
But... I have 120 more vertical pixels left; that can display more of stuff than that 16:9 screen could.

So, as it has been said, if game developer was smart, you'll see more with higher resolution.

 

[Bolas]

I'm pretty happy with 7680 x 1600 (alternately 4800 x 2560). Go, 12 megapixel gaming!!

 

[Check]

Assuming that Hor+ is the way the game implements widescreen AND your widescreen monitor is larger than the 4:3 counterpart, widescreen would be the way to go.

Some notable games that have been released that use the Vert- are:
Mass Effect (2007)
Wolfenstein (2009)
Civ 4: Colonization (2008)
Gears of War (2007)

 

[PCboy]

Voted 16:10 because it's the closest to the golden ratio.

Also, for multiple display gaming 16:10 is much better than 16:9, the latter being way too wide without enough height.

This post says it best, gaming or not.

 

[evilspoons]

This post says it best, gaming or not.

Note that most of the arguments in this post come down to the higher resolution and physically larger screen rather than the actual aspect ratio.

 

[JBT]

16:10 FPS are not the only games out there which imo would be best for 16:9.