Resolution and Settings question

Ninjamilez · May 22, 2014

So I'm stuck on buying a monitor.

I read somewhere that as your resolution goes up the filters you need can be pulled back.

Basically I would like to know if it would be better to get a higher resolution monitor (i.e. a 1440p monitor) and apply less filtering or get a lower resolution monitor (i.e. a 1080p monitor) and put the filters at a higher setting?

Is is more GPU intensive to run higher settings at lower resolutions or lower settings at higher resolutions?

...or is this more a question of budget since the lower resolution would cost less and require a lower spec GPU to get decent frames?

Cons29 · May 22, 2014

1080 is good already, sure 1440 is better but your gpu should have enough ram and muscle.

what gpu do you have? (or plan to buy)

if you go 1440, you have less reason to use AA

Plusthinking Iq · May 22, 2014

aa have no baring on resolution, its the ppi and distance from monitor. most aa technology enlarge the pixel problem unless you add at least a 50%drop in fps.
its only the aa that is suppose to "fake" higher resolution. so that is why some people dont use aa on higher resolution. but lowering aa is the worst, it works best at max level or off,

andy610 · May 22, 2014

The lower resolution would definately improve performance, however it does allow for more detailed graphics. If you want to go for a higher resolution you might need to turn down the detail. This all depends on how powerful your GPU is in the first place to whether it will even run well at 1080p before 1440p. From my experience it's often easier to run higher detail instead of resolution. It depends on the detail and the resolution of course. Overall it's more down to personal preferrence. Do you prefere more detail or sharper picture quality? and also what would you consider to be sharp enough for you?

I hope this helps.

Ninjamilez · May 22, 2014

Cons29 :

At the moment I'm planning on waiting for a GTX 880 since I'm not going to be building until around later this year and I will probably hold off buying a GPU until Maxwell is released. If I can afford two of them I would probably be going to 1440p for sure.

My budget might allow for dual SLI 880s, though,

Ninjamilez · May 22, 2014

Plusthinking Iq :

Okay, thanks for the input.

Ninjamilez · May 22, 2014

andy610 :

I'm not sure since I've only recently got into PC gaming and haven't had much of a chance to try out different monitor resolutions.

I'd probably say my preference would be more detail.

Rationale · May 22, 2014

Using more AA and AF at a lower resolution will have better performance than using less at a higher resolution.
You can offset the drop in performance a bit by using 2xMSAA or Post AA at 1440p instead of 4xMSAA at 1080p for example, but it won't completely make up for the performance cost of increasing the resolution.

Anisotropic Filtering is usually only a tiny framerate hit. Anything more than 8xAF doesn't improve quality significantly, but even 16x doesn't really hurt performance aside from maybe 2fps on a reasonably strong video card. At 1440p you could probably get by with 4xAF in many games, but there's really no point since the switch from 8xAF to 4xAF wouldn't noticeably affect your performance at all, so I generally stay with 8xAF no matter the resolution.

So... yeah. 1440p will still be a much bigger framerate hit. That's why consoles always drop to 720p before they cut their assets too heavily.

Ninjamilez · May 22, 2014

Rationale :

Okay, thanks.

That makes me consider a 1080p monitor.

I'd like to be able to hit around 120FPS in most current games since I'm getting a 144Hz monitor and would like to take advantage of that refresh rate.

unknownofprob · May 22, 2014

good option, did you want a monitor recommendation?

for another question to your topic; I have both a Samsung 27" 1080p 60Hz monitor and an Asus 27" 1440p 60Hz monitor, I can verify and say that 1440p looks much better then 1080p when the game image isn;t stretched, with modern games this is not an issue, it is actually a noticeable difference. Now I am looking into getting a 4k screen and selling my 1440p monitor.

Rationale · May 22, 2014

unknownofprob :

I've noticed a pretty big difference from 1080p to 1440p... Not much of a difference at all from 1440p to 4K at the 27" size though. I'm guessing the main advantage of 4K would be allowing larger screens to have a similar PPI, rather than markedly improving quality at the same size and range.

And I still play my games on a 1080p monitor, because that's simply all my GTX 660 can handle. The GTX 880 might very well be meant to run at 1440p... Nvidia has been aiming for WQHD resolutions ever since they released the original Titan.

Ninjamilez · May 22, 2014

unknownofprob :

Currently I'm looking at the AOC g2460Pg (1080p) or the ASUS ROG Swift PG278Q (1440p). Both are 144Hz and come with G-Sync.

I'd like to have G-Sync but I'm not sure if the price is worth it.

Any other recommendations or thoughts about G-Sync?

unknownofprob · May 22, 2014

I think G-Sync is a good idea, to be put in short.

ASUS ROG Swift PG278Q, Now that s what I'm talking about! I have the Asus PB278Q currently.

Ninjamilez · May 22, 2014

Rationale :

unknownofprob :

I've noticed a pretty big difference from 1080p to 1440p... Not much of a difference at all from 1440p to 4K at the 27" size though. I'm guessing the main advantage of 4K would be allowing larger screens to have a similar PPI, rather than markedly improving quality at the same size and range.

And I still play my games on a 1080p monitor, because that's simply all my GTX 660 can handle. The GTX 880 might very well be meant to run at 1440p... Nvidia has been aiming for WQHD resolutions ever since they released the original Titan.

I'm not really bothered about 4K at this moment.
Hopefully we'll have some confirmed specs for the 880 by the end of the year.

Ninjamilez · May 22, 2014

unknownofprob :

I'm just hoping the price doesn't go over £500/$840-ish.

andy610 · May 22, 2014

Ninjamilez :

If detail is what you are going for then I would suggest going 1080p, the resolution is already very sharp and would benefit you greatly for your frame rate. Also, those monitors are much cheaper if you are on a budget allowing you to go for a 120hz monitor if you are aiming for smoother gameplay.

Ninjamilez · May 22, 2014

andy610 :

Ninjamilez :

If detail is what you are going for then I would suggest going 1080p, the resolution is already very sharp and would benefit you greatly for your frame rate. Also, those monitors are much cheaper if you are on a budget allowing you to go for a 120hz monitor if you are aiming for smoother gameplay.

Yeah, I think I'd prefer the higher FPS than the resolution.

Even though I'm not really on a low budget I'd still rather limit my spending so I don't go crazy with it.

I can save about $220 if I stay at 1080p.

Thanks for the reply. I think I may have found a solution at last.

Resolution and Settings question

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