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    How much will my notebooks performance be affected by using an external monitor at 1080p or 1600x900 resolution?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by WlLDER, Oct 4, 2011.

  1. WlLDER

    WlLDER Newbie

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    Notebook specs:
    Nvidia Geforce GT 540m GPU
    i5-2410m CPU
    8GB RAM
    500GB HDD 5400 RPM
    Notebook screen res: 1368x768

    EDIT: I meant just 1920x1080 res. Didnt mean to put the 1600x900. Forgot to delete it.

    Don't have a monitor to test it on so I am just wondering how much my notebook will suffer trying to play at a higher res than what the notebook was designed to use.
     
    WlLDER, Oct 4, 2011
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  2. Deks

    Deks Notebook Prophet

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    The gpu is more than capable of displaying things at 1080p, it's just that the performance in games will probably be very much so affected because it's considered to be a mid-range mobile gpu and will struggle with some games.
    Ultimately though, you will have to try it out and see how it behaves.
     
    Deks, Oct 4, 2011
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  3. WlLDER

    WlLDER Newbie

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    Do you think it will struggle with Modern Warfare 3? I heard CoD's run pretty smoothly on PC; that it doesnt take much to play that series.
     
    WlLDER, Oct 4, 2011
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  4. xault

    xault Notebook Consultant

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    The only difference I see on my 26" monitor is that there are some subtle lines, even with Vsync on. However, I don't really see any drops in performance. It may be because I'm using the VGA analog port, but I have an HDMI to DVI cable coming in tomorrow. I'll let you know if I see any improvement with a digital connection.

    EDIT: I noticed you're using a 1368x768 resolution. I had a lenovo y550, that I sold recently, which had the same resolution. I did hook it up to my 26" monitor via VGA (1900x1080), and noticed a slight decrease in performance. The temps also seemed to get higher by a few degrees C, but this was only during gaming. Overall, it will obviously make the GPU work harder, but that won't necessarily make it suffer...
     
    xault, Oct 4, 2011
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  5. Tsunade_Hime

    Tsunade_Hime such bacon. wow

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    MW3 engine is based off MW2 engine, slightly modified. My Vostro 1500's 8600M GT was able to run MW2 on like medium settings 1280x800. All depends on the resolution/quality you would like to play at.
     
    Tsunade_Hime, Oct 4, 2011
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  6. xault

    xault Notebook Consultant

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    Looks like those subtle lines went away using my HDMI out into my DVI in. I don't notice any decrease in performance or temp increase at all. If you can use HDMI, I highly recommend using an external monitor for games. Analog is ok, but not nearly as good because I was having some quality issues with it. Also, you may not be able to run 1080p resolutions...just depends on your card's capability. I can only tell you that the GTX 570M can support 1080p or even 1900x1200 (what I use on a 26" monitor), without any performance decrease.
     
    xault, Oct 4, 2011
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  7. Twe Foju

    Twe Foju Notebook Consultant

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    imo from my experience, the performance should not suffer much, especially GT 540m is quite middle end graphics for notebook

    the only issue you will probably face ( and you will ) is the decrease of performance because of heat after sometimes

    from the specs you have, i guess you're using Acer 3830?
     
    Twe Foju, Oct 4, 2011
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  8. tijo

    tijo Sacred Blame

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    1366x768 = 1049088 pixels
    1920x1080 = 2073600 pixels

    Your GPU will have to work twice as hard for 1080p, whether your GPU can handle it or not is another story. As the others have said, MW3 won't be a very demanding game so i expect you won't have to sacrifice to much in terms of settings to retain the same framerate.

    Oh and whether you use DVI or VGA shouldn't make a difference in performance, only the change in resolution.
     
    tijo, Oct 5, 2011
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