can resolution bottleneck performance?

[Guest]

I dont have much evidence behind this question, but here it goes.
Ive seen some benchmarks online which suggest that using a 720p monitor with higher end cards result in performance similar to 1080p. but the gpu usage is very low also. Below or around 50%.
I plan on using a high end pc, but with a 720p monitor. I'm trying to achieve good frame rates from now until several years from now. Lastly.i am not very experienced. so if this sounds wrong..

my questions:
is there a big gap in frames between 1080p and 720p?
can this low of resolution bottleneck performance?
a general explanation

 

[King Kevain]

You are confusing Resolution with Frame Rate - Resolution = picture Quality, Frame Rate = how many times the screen refreshes per second.

Visible Frame Rate can never exceed the rating of the screen - i.e Monitor is 60Hz, then 60fps is the best you will ever see on it (even if the game reports a fps of over 60)

Resolution is all about how many colours are displayed and how many pixels - have a read of this http://www.ebay.com.au/gds/What-s-the-Difference-Between-720p-1080i-and-1080p-Screen-Resolutions-for-HDTVs-/10000000177630830/g.html
Same holds true for any display, be it a tablet, PC Monitor or TV

 

[Guest]

what I mean is whether there is a difference in performance in these resolutions. which i know there is.

 

[King Kevain]

Again, the performance will be directly relative to the GPU you will use - the higher end the GPU, the less performance issues you will have.
A 720p monitor will never display an image as good as 1080p - the main point of difference is, the smaller the screen, the less noticeable difference is discernible to the naked eye between 720/1080. 720p is about all you need for a 21"-22" inch monitor or TV as there is not that much noticeable difference - but 720p is noticeably crap on a 50" screen compared to 1080p.

The higher the resolution, the more grunt you need in your GPU to maintain a higher FPS as it is outputting more pixels - but do not confuse resolution with size - it takes the same processing power to output 1080p on a 19" screen as it does on a 55" screen.

 

[Guest]

but can resolution determine performance? more specifically 720p in comparison to 1080p. also im not asking about screen size and quality.

 

[King Kevain]

no, resolution does not determine performance unless you are talking about a particular GPU and you plan on running it at a high resolution that strains the GPU - lets put it another way:

A car with a 400hp engine weighs 1000kg and goes 0-100km in 5 sec
A car with a 400hp engine weighs 2000kg and goes 0-100km in 10sec
if you put an 800hp engine in the 2000kg car, and it goes 0-100km in 5 sec...

If you look at resolution = weight, and Horsepower = GPU, then you see how performance is relative to the engine driving the car.

Resolution does not affect FPS directly - FPS is governed by the ability of the GPU and CPU to render the image on screen a certain number of times per second - as a rule of thumb, the larger the resolution, the harder the system works to render the images as it must display more pixels, so you need a bigger GPU to achieve greater FPS for higher resolution.

So getting back to your questions:
is there a big gap in frames between 1080p and 720p? - Frame rate has nothing to do with the Screen Resolution - though the harder the GPU works, the harder it is to maintain a good Frame rate, the higher the Resolution, the higher the GPU must work.

can this low of resolution bottleneck performance? Yes...but this is easily overcome by using components that can handle the Resolution and Image quality as well as FPS. Bottlenecking happens in systems that are pushed past their capabilities.

a general explanation - have given several already as well as a link which explains it better than me

 

[Guest]

very helpful. thank
though when you were answering about resolution bottlenecking performance. I meant in reverse of what you were saying pretty much.
I meant whether components could be 'too' good for resolution, with the resolution bottlenecking performance.