4K monitor compromised for gaming at 1080p?

squerble · 20 Sep 2022 at 22:16

Hi all,

Currently have a very generic 24” (I think) Dell 1080p monitor. It’s connected to my gaming PC. My intention is to replace with a (likely similarly generic) 27/28” 4K monitor. The main purpose is for me to also plug in my MacBook Air while I’m working at home for various productivity apps, and it’ll be running in HiDPI mode (effectively 1080p but rendered at 4K), trying to get as close as I can to the “Retina” display of the MBA.

However, my GPU is only a 2060 Super, and it’s the aero version with a single fan so struggles a bit on cooling (it’s not a mini PC build, it’s full size). I got it for £100 from a mate last year so a nice bargain. I will not run any game at 4K, and will stick with 1080p.

My concern - and reason for the thread - is that games could look particularly more pixelated when I run them at 1080p, with the monitor using 4 pixels for each rendered pixel. Is this a valid concern, or am I not likely to notice it unless I’m searching for it?

Quartz · 20 Sep 2022 at 22:31

Why not just run both monitors?

But to answer your question, yes, you may well see pixelation when running your 4K monitor at 1080p. I did. But you should try lowering the quality settings in game while running at 4K. You may well be surprised at the results.

squerble · 20 Sep 2022 at 23:00

Quartz said:
Why not just run both monitors?

But to answer your question, yes, you may well see pixelation when running your 4K monitor at 1080p. I did. But you should try lowering the quality settings in game while running at 4K. You may well be surprised at the results.

Only got space for one

Quartz · 20 Sep 2022 at 23:36

squerble said:
Only got space for one

Oh well, but try running your games at 4k on Medium settings. The higher resolution will compensate for a lot.

SilverCider · 21 Sep 2022 at 13:27

1080p will look fine on your 4k monitor since integer scaling works between the two resolutions. You may seem to lose a little sharpness going up from 24" to 28" at the same resolution.

EsaT · 21 Sep 2022 at 14:27

There's no loss of resolution or sharpness with any integer scaling.
And for as long as we're comparing same size monitors, visible pixel size will be precisely same.

2560x1440 would be far harder scaling target, because of scaling algorithm literally having to guess values for new pixels.

Anyway 4K's high pixel density would be good for trying also scaling from 2560x1440 in lighter games.
Only major thing is that unless you're satisfied with 60Hz or some 75Hz, 4K monitor is going to cost.

Quartz · 21 Sep 2022 at 22:43

I'm going to revise my earlier comment about 1080p on a 4k monitor. I've been watching on my 4k monitor some Youtube videos of games played at 1080p and pixellation was not bad. Note though that I have a near top-end 4k monitor. Pixellation was very noticeable on my old Samsung 4k monitor.