Does anyone sacrifice Resolution for High Quality?

Ok, I have a new Dell 1520, 8600gt. I wanted to ask something.. Recently I was playing ARMA which is an awesome military game. To be honest, I love it. You can play it offline and online and both can be dynamic experiences.

My question is this... Does anyone with a laptop sacrifice screen resolution (example 1280x800) to get higher quality screen effects? Meaning would you play a game in 800x600 with high or very high quality rather than 1024x768 or 1280x800 with medium or low settings? What normally looks better and has better feel?

Thanks for your responses!

SXO792

 

yes. i prefer my games to run smoothly over the quality of the graphics.
is that what you were asking?

 

I would never go down to 800x600, or even 1024x768 (I only game on my 24" desktop monitor), but sure, I play STALKER at 1280x1024 for example, and play in 1600x1200 all the time. It just depends on the game, what has the biggest effect on visual quality and performance.

 

i play rainbow six vegas on 800x600, HDR on, Blur off, Shadows LOWest and get around ~30 fps...and man dose it look horrible! but if i increase the resolution to 1024x786 my framerates drop to ~15....UNPLAYABLE, and dont get me started with 1280x800 and 3 fps

 

I lower resolution if needs be. On my second computer (the 6400 with X1800XT) I can only play Vegas in 1024x768....which is a joke but thats beside the point....I'd much rather the lower res with higher video options then high res and lower options.

On my Go7400 I even tried the lowest res and the lowest possible settings and it still wasn't very playable....

 

Vice versa for me, I just can't stand low resolution

 

I think what hes looking for is resolution VS. graphics gimmicks.


I am an avid supporter of the whole gameplay rather than graphics side of the fence but on this issue I'd say resolution over other stuff. My LCD's look funny if I play at something other than my native resolution, and I really don't mind not having super high AA or AF (in fact I keep it off). So on my HEL-80 its 1680X1050 and quality if need be.

 

i don't think he means AA and AF, i think he means like in game graphics settings.

it depends on the game really... but i think once im rocking 720 lines or more vertically im happy. so 1280x720 is good, or 1024x768, or 1280x800.

i probably wouldn't go lower than any of those resolutions to get more advanced effects or texture qualities. but it really depends on the game.

 

Depends. If its between 1024x768 @ max, 8x AA and HDR with all bells and whistles, and 1280 x 800 high 2x AA no HDR etc, I would go with the higher resolution. On the other hand, if its 1280x800 with extremely low settings, or 1024x768 or lower with mediumish settings, I would go with the lower resolution.

In other words, I'd sacrifice graphics for resolution, but resolution for playability (IMO, fugly graphics make a game unplayable, so I group that under playability, wheras not being able to count the hairs on the main character's face I consider to be purely a graphical issue).