What's the best rez for my games?

[Drewby]

I am getting a 9800 Pro 128MB here in about two weeks. This will give me the opportunity to run my games at higher rez (my monitor's max is 1280x1024). So here is my question: What will look better? 1024x768 as it is my monitor's native rez, or will 1280x1024 look better even though it is not the native rez?

Thanks in advance! :thumbup:

[Gaim Mastr]

Looking at your system specs, I think it'll all come down to two other factors. How high can you set your Full Scene Anti-Aliasing (FSAA) and your Ansioscopic Filtering (AF) before the frame rate drops too low ??

Normally the higher resolution will give you better texture quality, if the game supports it. But we all know that texture only makes up part of the overall graphical quality. Smooth edges, shadows, lighting, smoke, reflective surfaces (water), etc. also play a major factor.

I'd take 1027x768 with 4xFAA and AF over 1280x1024 without FAA and AF any day of the week.

[0x64657200 0x6A61636B616C00]

It's generally best to run at whatever your run your desktop at....

Why?

Short geek answer; 3d applications are merely a 3d environment overlay on your existing desktop. I.e. a beefed up version of any other application out there, generally w/ ALT+TAB & WINKEY key commands eaten so you can't switch application context.

If you run at higher or lower than your desktop resolution you force the system to not only redraw the game each frame, but it has to handle the redraw of the desktop underlay as well. It's minor in most cases but when you're talking about going from 1024x768 desktop to 1280x1024 game you're adding a few extra processing steps each frame.

When you say "native res" to what exactly are you referring to?

[DanTheManPR]

When you say "native res" to what exactly are you referring to?

He's porobably talking about the LCD screen's native rez. I would keep it at 1024x768 - when an LCD is not operating in its native rez, its looks weird.

[SupaTroopa]

I bought a 9800 Pro recently and have a new 19" Samsung monitor that goes up to 1600x1200, but have my desktop at 1024x768. Games and/or my monitor don't like me messing with the resolutions at all it seems, so I just stick with 1024X768 and pump up the FSAA and AF settings.

There just isn't enough of a difference in visual quality (although noticeable) to justify the effort and drop in framerate right now to run most games at anything other than my desktop's 1024X768...ecspecially newer games which are the bulk of what I play.

Smooth edges and high texture quality are much more important to me than resolution honestly - but 1024x768 is the minimum I'll play any game at that supports it.

[0x64657200 0x6A61636B616C00]

He's porobably talking about the LCD screen's native rez. I would keep it at 1024x768 - when an LCD is not operating in its native rez, its looks weird.

His monitor's max is 1280x1024 so I took it to mean he's on a CRT. :)

Drew, is this an LCD?

[Drewby]

Yes I am on a CRT. A 17".

When I say native rez, I may be mislead. I though that your monitor's native rez was supposed to be its best quality picture. Otherwise it expands or despands (yeah I made that word up) the image to fit the screen. I may be mistaken, but this is what I understood it at.

Yeah, I may just have to fiddle around. Lower rez with AA/AF or higher rex without the goodies. I guess we will find out in two weeks.

[Torsion]

With a 9800 card you can probably still get smooth framerates with a higher rez. Therefore, you might as well just run the games in 1280*900 resolution. However, if you are getting choppiness it is more economical to lower the rez and just keep on the AA and AF. This will give you good image quality and good performance.

[0x64657200 0x6A61636B616C00]

For basis if clarification;
CRTs have no native resolution. They have a maximum resolution and refresh rate.
LCDs do have native resolution. They also have a maximum refresh rate.

[Drewby]

For basis if clarification;
CRTs have no native resolution. They have a maximum resolution and refresh rate.
LCDs do have native resolution. They also have a maximum refresh rate.

OK, then no worries. I will just experiment around with resolutions and AA/AF settings and see what looks the best. :thumbup: