1080p on a 1440p monitor

[Gallarian]

Hey guys,

I was at computer store recently shopping for monitors. I told the assistant that I wanted 1080p, but he showed me a 1440p for pretty much the same money.

When I said that I dont wanna game at 1440p, he told 'thats fine, just turn it down to 1080p when gaming and it makes absolutely 0 difference when compared to a 1080p monitor of the same size, you'll get the same quality'.

However, I've always believed that running a monitor at less than native res is bad for image quality.

Can anyone shed any light on this for me?

Cheers,
Gall

 

[Cazauxx]

The difference is the 1440p screen will be more "prettier, crisper" (I'm sorry but I hope you understand ) than the 1080p screen although you may not notice a difference at all.

But when gaming there will be a FPS drop with the 1440p screen,
Here are some examples:
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/iQ8eMSuBFWw/maxresdefault.jpg

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Y67DeUlmO0c/maxresdefault.jpg

 

[beegmouse]

If you run an modern monitor at a non native resolution, the monitor scales the image.

The result is blurred.

If you have a 24" 2x1 pixel screen with 1 black and 1 white pixels.
The same image on a 3x1 pixel screen shows One Black, One Gray and one white pixel.

Mulitply it up and the effect is still there. But Above 1080 it becomes difficult to distinguish individual pixels on a 24" screen. So the blurring stops being an issue.

 

[chriscornell]

Crt-monitors scaled well, no flatpanel monitor scales as well as crt screens did - the biggest problem when scaling a 1440p monitor to 1080p is that the downscale is around 30% - this uneven number will blur the image, since pixel count doesn't add up.

If you we downscaling on a 4K monitor the resolution would add up to: four pixels accounting for one and the image would be clearer.

TV's build in scalers are often far better than computer monitors/graphics cards.

I would always run Flat panels at their native resolution, unless I was sitting far away from the screen I was using.

 

[guanyu210379]

I have 1440p monitor (XB270HU), 1080p on 1440p monitor is not as bad as people described.
Who wants to do this anyway? Except for watching movies.

FPS drops? What FPS drops on 1440p? ummm...
As long as your system is really strong enough to run 1440p, there is no really frame drops.
Or other words, I would not call it frame drops...to be more accurate fps loss, you will simply get roughly estimated 40% less fps compared to 1080p on the same system.
You can also put it this way, to drive more pixels, you need more brute performance.
If your system can run tons of fps on 1080p, the fps loss on moving to 1440p is perhaps unnoticeable.
BTW, believe me! the benefits you get moving from 1080p to 1440p exceed the cons of fps losses by far. You will not want to go back to 1080p.

 

[dark_lord69]

Crt-monitors scaled well, no flatpanel monitor scales as well as crt screens did - the biggest problem when scaling a 1440p monitor to 1080p is that the downscale is around 30% - this uneven number will blur the image, since pixel count doesn't add up.

If you we downscaling on a 4K monitor the resolution would add up to: four pixels accounting for one and the image would be clearer.

TV's build in scalers are often far better than computer monitors/graphics cards.

I would always run Flat panels at their native resolution, unless I was sitting far away from the screen I was using.

I agree 100% He understands image scaling and how it works.

 

[Xtergo]

whats is your system if it can handle 1440p there is no reason to choose 1080p if your getting a good quality monitor

 

[4745454b]

Another thought. People tend to hold onto monitors for much longer then the PCs attached to them. You MIGHT want to consider getting the 1440 monitor and "suffer" with the lower FPS/"blurry" image until your PC catches up again. This way you don't spend the money on a 1080 monitor now, and then again a 1440+ monitor "years" later.

I'm on a 3x1080 setup right now, but I'm starting to feel the itch to move to 4k. Not that I game in 4k or can watch movies in 4k. But I'll have it for when I need it.

 

[Gallarian]

Sorry should have mentioned this before in OP; Firstly my specs are in my sig (i5-6600k, 8GB RAM, 980ti). Secondly, Im not just getting one monitor, Im mounting three on a triple bracket.

I am well aware that my system is capable of playing modern games on a single 1440p monitor, however, Im not comfortable doing so when it still can't push every game I play to beyond 60fps with all settings maxed (Witcher 3 for example will still dip to 45, Attilla down to the low 20s, GTA to the 40s etc). I have experienced 1440p gaming and do not think it is worth losing FPS and graphical settings for. Then when you consider Im going to be runnning 3 monitors, then 3x1080 seems a lot more viable than 3x1440.

Thank you for all the replies, I've think Ive the answer; down-scaling a 1440p to 1080p will NOT give the same image quality that a good 1080p monitor of the same same would due to the uneven pixel scaling.

Cheers guys!

 

[Xtergo]

Just remember that you have a good color contrast ratio and a low response time
Good Luck

 

[4745454b]

While I have a 3x1080 setup, I only game on the center one. I like having the side monitors for other things. You could do the same with 1440 monitors.

 

[guanyu210379]

Yup!, at the moment, gaming on 3x1080p is somehow more viable than a single 1440p but a single 1440p is a lot better than a single 1080p. (if you game with all those 3 e.g. nVidia surround)

Yeah! Forget 4k for now, even for a single monitor if you want high fps and really high graphic settings, even with a GTX980Ti.

Yeah, you tend to keep the monitor longer than the PC, this is also true, based on my experience.

Witcher 3 (some high+mostly maxed, hairworks on, E3FX mod) @1440p on GTX980Ti (OCed via MSI afterburner) does not dip below 50 fps zone if you have a processor with 8 threads e.g. i7 or E3-1231V3. Witcher 3 can gain a little advantage on having more threads. I saw this on my friend's PC.

For games like Witcher 3, GTA V, Starcraft 2, Grid 2, etc. I am ok with those games to run only on 60 fps. I need more fps mainly only for ego shooters.

1440p is a great upgrade from 1080p but not really an upgrade from 3x1080p.

BTW, looking at monitors, resolution and fps are not the only stuffs you have to pay attention too.
For now, an 144Hz 1440p 27" IPS display with either GSync or FreeSync is the best gaming monitor you can get today. Such monitors are the best upgrade from normal 60Hz IPS or 120Hz TN.

 

[Suzuki@1473780084@1473780163]

The resolution will never tell the full story, it can't. A low contrast 1440 is going to look less sharp than a 1080 with higher contrast. As for surround, I say go for it if you can. But you'll be needingt to run a lot of pixels at once, very hard to do with newer titles, almost twice as difficult than running a single 2.5k display.

 

[guanyu210379]

What Suzuki means about a lot of pixels:
3x1080p means 3x pixel amount of a single 1080p.
A single 2560x1440 means only 40-50% more pixels than a single 1080p.