Play 1080p on 1440p monitor

[Stuffz121]

Hi, so I just got a new monitor which is the Acer Predator XB27 2560x1440, 27" and 144hz.

I like it quite a lot and I am seeing the difference between 1440 resolutions and 1080 more and more as I play my games. However I did get a 20FPS loss in most of my games due to the higher resolution which was expected and I couldn't help but wonder how I could game on a lower resolution.

I do know that it's always best just to keep the display at its native resolution and turn down some settings which I'm perfectly fine with doing except for one of my games. The only game I would like to play on 1080p again to keep better FPS, would be Warhammer 2.In many cases the battles in that game get pretty intensive which does lower my FPS even further which is why I'd like to putting it at 1080p and see how it goes.

I am also aware of the fact that playing on a resolution lower than that of the native will create a stretched/blur effect on the screen as a lower resolution is basically smaller number of pixels now having to fill a bigger screen or something to that effect. I really don't know much about monitors and how to calibrate them or mess with the aspect ratio or any of that.

So my question is how can I decrease the blur/stretched effect on my monitor while playing 1080p? Could i try putting up those black bars that appear around the screen that shrink the screen? Will it retain the same refresh rate? What are my options and how can I do them? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

[bjornl]

Depending a little on how the black bars are generated If you have the black bars you will probably be on a 1440p screen, and get 1440p frame rates.
There is no setting to reduce the scaling results of playing 1080p on a 1440p screen.
If you want better frame rates you will have to deal with the fuzzy 1080p images, play at lower graphics settings (at 1440p) or get a better video card. In some games, windowed mode might work to get you the fps you want. but you will have a bit of a distraction dealing with the background.

 

[Stuffz121]

Depending a little on how the black bars are generated If you have the black bars you will probably be on a 1440p screen, and get 1440p frame rates.
There is no setting to reduce the scaling results of playing 1080p on a 1440p screen.
If you want better frame rates you will have to deal with the fuzzy 1080p images, play at lower graphics settings (at 1440p) or get a better video card. In some games, windowed mode might work to get you the fps you want. but you will have a bit of a distraction dealing with the background.

So those black wouldn't really work out? Ya I did try to play 1080p in window mode if that's what you meant. It looked just as good as my old 1080p monitor at full screen but the game made window mode a little too small I think, and I see no way of increasing the size. I have a MSI Gtx 1080 Gaming and I've had it for little less than a year so unfortunately a new GPU isn't really an option.

I tried putting the game in window mode at 1440p just to see how it was, but the game wouldn't enter window mode despite having it selected in graphics settings. Thanks for the suggestions anyways.

 

[bjornl]

Depending a little on how the black bars are generated If you have the black bars you will probably be on a 1440p screen, and get 1440p frame rates.
There is no setting to reduce the scaling results of playing 1080p on a 1440p screen.
If you want better frame rates you will have to deal with the fuzzy 1080p images, play at lower graphics settings (at 1440p) or get a better video card. In some games, windowed mode might work to get you the fps you want. but you will have a bit of a distraction dealing with the background.

So those black wouldn't really work out? Ya I did try to play 1080p in window mode if that's what you meant. It looked just as good as my old 1080p monitor at full screen but the game made window mode a little too small I think, and I see no way of increasing the size. I have a MSI Gtx 1080 Gaming and I've had it for little less than a year so unfortunately a new GPU isn't really an option.

I tried putting the game in window mode at 1440p just to see how it was, but the game wouldn't enter window mode despite having it selected in graphics settings. Thanks for the suggestions anyways.

Then try to speed your system up.
Empty %temp% and %windir%\temp
run malwarebytes anti-malware
close all background tasks (especially chrome)
use sysinternals AutoRuns to see what is starting with your PC.
Try to overclock your system and video card.

 

[gosubuilder]

surprised you are having issues running 1440p with a 1080 card. from reading this and other forums it seems like once you get a 1070 they recommend going 1440p.

 

[Stuffz121]

surprised you are having issues running 1440p with a 1080 card. from reading this and other forums it seems like once you get a 1070 they recommend going 1440p.

Ya I think it just depends what games you run with the Gtx 1080. For the most part I only get low FPS on warhammer 2 and all my other games run fine.

Most people that I see on forums tend to use the 1080 cards with games like witcher 3, gta5 and Battlefield 1 which I agree are good games to test out your PC, but in my opinion, total war warhammer pushes computers much more.

I have witcher 3 and it runs great but, there's just a lot more intensive scenes going on at warhammer than the witcher.

 

[J_E_D_70]

I run Battlefield 1 on a 27” 1440 at 1080p for increased framerate in fullscreen without issue. Looks great, no fuzziness, no bars.

 

[bjornl]

I run Battlefield 1 on a 27” 1440 at 1080p for increased framerate in fullscreen without issue. Looks great, no fuzziness, no bars.

Interesting, but not relevant. No two monitors scale to different resolutions the same way.

 

[J_E_D_70]

Hmm. Didn’t know modern monitors can have substandard scalers. The more you know...

 

[SiiMiiK]

Hi Stuffz121, I have the Acer Predator XB27 2560x1440, 27" and 144hz. I have no issue with upscaling a 1080p resolution on this monitor. I prefer 1440p since it is much better in general if an acceptable frame rate is achieved.

However, I think you just after viewing 1440p on a 27-inch monitor it is difficult to go back to use 1080p with low pixel density.

Here is a comparison: (had I given you a blind test I think you have chosen the wrong image...)