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    Game vs. Desktop Resolution

    Discussion in 'Gaming (Software and Graphics Cards)' started by AmazingGracePlayer, Jul 25, 2007.

  1. AmazingGracePlayer

    AmazingGracePlayer Notebook Deity

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    I remember seeing some games suggest the in-game resolution to be smaller than desktop resolution. What's the benefit (if any) of that? What're the harms (if any) of having in-game resolution same as desktop resolution?
     
  2. thegsrguy

    thegsrguy Notebook Deity

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    Running a panel at native resolution will produce crisper images. If the native res is 1680x1050 and you play games at 1280x800, it'll look blurry.
     
  3. youra6

    youra6 Notebook Consultant

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    true. I have a really nice moniter but a really crappy computer, result: even CS looks blurry when my computer should be able to run it crisply (is that even a word? lolz...)
     
  4. thegsrguy

    thegsrguy Notebook Deity

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    I'd upgrade the video card if you can, it's silly to have a nice screen go to waste on low-quality images like that.
     
  5. masterchef341

    masterchef341 The guy from The Notebook

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    there are basically two things going on here:

    native resolution is indeed crisp and sharp. it is the best image quality, but also gives you the slowest performance.

    lower resolutions give you a blurrier image (or a smaller image, your choice) - which detract from image quality, but increase performance.

    1680x1050 means that your computer will have to render 1.7 million pixels per frame.

    1280x800 is just over 1 million pixels per frame.

    there is a massive reduction in pixel rendering power required there, as you can see.

    source games and battlefield and comparable games will run happily at 1680x1050. other games might run smoother at 1440x900 or 1280x800.
     
  6. ShadowoftheSun

    ShadowoftheSun Notebook Consultant

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    Most people turn off scaling to avoid the blurry images... although this does create black boxes around the edges which many people find annoying.
     
  7. AmazingGracePlayer

    AmazingGracePlayer Notebook Deity

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    I find it annoying. Black stripes on top and bottom are fine, but on left and right gets on my nerves. Usually, when I can only run a game with a black box, I'd just choose window mode (like Heroes of Might and Magic games)