16:9 or 16:10 in games

Culinia

Culinia

Culinia

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I am used to 16:10 displays (1680 x 1050).

The next monitor I am thinking of getting is a 16:9.

Does this mean, in games the image will be stretched making and (for example) people look wider as opposed to as they should on 16:10?

In other words...

I can live with going from 16:10 to 16:9 if only the image is more widescreen i.e. I can see more field of view (and not up and down) as long as it does not make the picture more "squashed"...

Thanks for help.
 
Nothing will "stretch". Get that out of your head right now. As long as you set the game to render at your screen's native resolution, everything will look fine. You'll simply get "1" less of the image you would get on 16:10 as the game will literally chop off the top and bottom of the image.

The "16" denotes the width; with "9/10" being the height:

If a monitor is 1600x1000 pixels it is 16:10; 1600x900, 16:9. So in that switch the user would "lose" 100 pixels: 50 from the top of the image and 50 from the bottom.

That's 160,000 fewer pixels for the graphics card to render, so there'd be a slight easing on the GPU. However if your hardware can handle any game whatever, the user "gains" the extra pixels. More is displayed on screen, the UI is less cramped, etc.

It's swings and roundabouts, really. If you can afford the extra money and GPU processing, get 16:10. Be aware, though, that this means you'll get black bars during video playback.
 
Thanks for clearing that up for me.

To clarify if I were to go from 1680 x 1050 to 1920 x 1080 will I "gain" extra 30px vertically and gain 240px horizontally?

The screen I was thinking of getting was the 27" Iiyama and cannot think of another screen that is that size or more that is 16:10 apart from the Hannspree 28" but I have been put off from buying that actually.

(http://overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-054-IY&groupid=17&catid=1120&subcat=) - 27" Iiyama
 
It's a bit more complex than that. You're getting more pixels, yes, but going down in ratio. So relatively the game will display less image on the new monitor, but at a higher resolution. How "much" the game displays will reduce, but more pixels will be used to display the lesser image.

It's really hard to describe in words. As most games have a fixed FOV, simply getting a higher resolution monitor doesn't mean that more is actually displayed - with regards to the games renderable content. The ratio (16/10 etc.) denotes how much is shown, and the resolution is how many pixels are used to display it.

You'll get a clearer image on a new monitor that is 1080p, but unless you stay with 16:10 (1920x1200), you will see less of an image than before.
 
I have found this excellent site and it made this picture for me:

27" 16:9 against 16:10
27-inch-16x9-vs-27-inch-16x10.png


Marvellous!

(displaywars.com)

Also this is what I will be updating to: 22 to 27

22-inch-16x10-vs-27-inch-16x9.png


ALSO

http://www.hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1034520255&postcount=131

According to that ^

The 16:9 looks better actually for some reason, more widescreen etc. I like it, if this is true of course?
 
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If you're playing widescreen games - this WSGF is probably the best for seeking advice on which are the better games for widescreen formats.

They rate each game and compare what is gained by going from 4:3 to 16:9 or 16:10
...and also any hacks necessary for older 4:3 games (<2004) to make them widescreen capable.

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com
 
I personally use a 16:10 monitor with my rig and I personally wouldn't wish otherwise.

The extra height on the monitor is useful in many ways, firstly for getting more in each frame in games, as there is more on the height ratio to display. You also have more room on the desktop with which to work with.

The best method explanation I can give is when thinking about ratios is to disregard the actual monitors resolution for a moment. All 16:10 displays will show a full picture, a 16:9 display will show that same picture, with bits taken off the top and bottom, nothing will be squashed.

Higher resolutions give more details due to more pixels regardless of ratio, i.e. 1920x1200 is 16:10, 1650x1080 is 16:10, therefore they will display the exact same image, but 1920x1200 will have more details in the same image, placing more stress on the gpu.

Compare this with 1920x1080, which is 16:9, you will be seeing the same image once more, with parts cut off the top/bottom due to being a smaller ratio height wise.

Sorry if that hasn't helped much more, I can only recommend 16:10 for more of an image basically.
 
If you watch movies, however, 16:9 will eliminate black bars. Well - actually most modern films are in super-widescreen and you'll get black bars anyway. But what you'll avoid are the two different types of black at the top and bottom:

The movie's own "black bars" won't be as black as the monitors "no data" black bars so it won't look uniform. Looks kinda awkward. Again - hard to explain.
 
I find 16:9 great for gaming as it fills the peripheral a little better and theres a little less vertical (pitch) eye movement which can be tiring.

Tho thats at 2048x which helps to add that little extra pixels wise not sure if I'd go for it at lower resolutions over 16:10.
 
I just switched to 16:9 from 16:10 and I'm lovin' it.

16:10 is definitely better for browsing/word processing etc. But the movie aspect ratio seems much better suited to gaming. Having more of your peripherals filled is more important than the vertical area imho.
 
but there just asd wide an image as each other?
Just get a 30" and be done with it.....

edit: ive also never understood why people hate the black lines on a 16:10 screen, since its just extra space, and you already have a monitor border around te image, so its not really any different?
 
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Ch3m1c4L said:
Just get a 30" and be done with it.....
Click to expand...

Yea I'd love to, but I can't justify spending £1000 on a monitor and then I'd have to upgrade my graphic cards. Very expensive operation. Perhaps my next rig I will get a 30incher in 4-5 years or so.

Thanks for everyone elses inputs but I really am not sure which one to get now.

the 27" 16:9 screen is 33.62cm x 59.76cm and the 26" 16:10 34.38cm x 55.01cm (HxW) Iiyama's that I was looking at. So close.
 
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