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    Does outputting to an external monitor reduce performance?

    Discussion in 'Gaming (Software and Graphics Cards)' started by berryal, Aug 1, 2015.

  1. berryal

    berryal Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hey guys.

    Question:
    Does outputting to an external monitor via displayport reduce performance (gaming or otherwise) at all? Or if it does not, then would it put any extra stress on the system's CPU/GPU? This is of course when the laptop's display is disabled and the output resolution is the same as the one on the laptop. Nothing is different, but just does the performance change? Also does it take more GPU/CPU to run 720p on a 1440p monitor than it would to run 720p on a 1080p monitor? Aesthetics aside.

    Reason:
    This seems like a silly question to me and i'm sure to you, but I just wanted to check since I'm planning on selling my gaming laptop and playing games on my Surface Pro 2 instead. My Surface's GPU obviously isn't very capable, but I only really play Counter Strike GO and at 720p, it runs 99% of the time at 60FPS, which is all i need. But, it does this ONLY JUST, like really within a minuscule error bar. I'm using an external USB fan to aid the tablet's cooling and have everything set to low and the resolution scaled up from 720p on the 1080p panel. If the performance was to reduce at all, then the game would stop being playable (pretty much). So I just need to know the above. Also, any extra stress on the system would cause extra heat and eventually lead the CPU to throttle and hamper performance.

    Just needed top be 100% sure before I sold up and bought a monitor. Thanks :)
     
    berryal, Aug 1, 2015
    #1
  2. octiceps

    octiceps Nimrod

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    No on both counts
     
    octiceps, Aug 1, 2015
    #2
    hfm, TBoneSan and berryal like this.
  3. hockeymass

    hockeymass that one guy

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    If the output resolution is the same then no. The GPU is doing the same drawing work regardless of the output display.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
    hockeymass, Aug 4, 2015
    #3