Downscaling a 1080p notebook

**ForVictory** · November 10, 2012, 08:19 AM

How much more awfull would a game look like on a notebook with 1920x1080 as nat resolution when you set it at 1400x900 or even 1366x768?
Thx in advance!

**Totalheadache** · November 10, 2012, 10:46 AM

Originally Posted by ForVictory

How much more awfull would a game look like on a notebook with 1920x1080 as nat resolution when you set it at 1400x900 or even 1366x768?
Thx in advance!

why would you lower the screen native res? always keep your screens native or max resolution, just lower things like AA/AF/Shadows etc.

but there's no way of actually saying for sure, depends on the screen and whether you are amd/nvidia and the game in question.

only one way to find out...try...

**karamazovmm** · November 10, 2012, 10:53 AM

depends solely on the panel. Sometimes you will notice a lot of blur, sometimes not.

**snuggans** · November 10, 2012, 02:38 PM

Originally Posted by ForVictory

How much more awfull would a game look like on a notebook with 1920x1080 as nat resolution when you set it at 1400x900 or even 1366x768?
Thx in advance!

here's a demonstration

monitor's native resolution = 1920x1080
game resolution = 1920x1080

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

monitor's native resolution = 1920x1080
game resolution = 1600x900

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

ignore the different colors and composition (particularly the FOV), interpolation doesn't mess with these things, the screenshots were taken at different in-game times. what you should notice is the pixelation and black margins which ARE caused by interpolation.

the above image is not a screengrab, i emulated the interpolation effect in Photoshop because a screenshot of a full-screen sub-native resolution will display a perfectly normal-looking but smaller screenshot of the game, which does not accurately represent what one sees on the monitor while playing. i added two black borders at the top and bottom which did appear on my LG IPS monitor when downscaling res. you might not always get these borders, it depends on your monitor, the aspect ratio, the resolution, the game, possibly graphics card as well

**karamazovmm** · November 10, 2012, 05:01 PM

yeah those black borders shouldnt appear at all. they use the same aspect ratio.

**snuggans** · November 10, 2012, 05:29 PM

Originally Posted by Karamazovmm

yeah those black borders shouldnt appear at all. they use the same aspect ratio.

*shrug*

they shouldn't be, you're right, but for some reason they are.

sub-native resolutions on full-screen can be pretty weird with some games. Skyrim seems to add borders. just tested Civilization V and that one doesn't, there's just a whole lot of ugly stretching and skewness.

**Totalheadache** · November 10, 2012, 06:06 PM

tbh those screenshots show there's not 2 much 2 shout out about in terms of quality, yet i fail to understand the op's question.

well done though snuggans!

**snuggans** · November 10, 2012, 06:52 PM

Originally Posted by Totalheadache

tbh those screenshots show there's not 2 much 2 shout out about in terms of quality, yet i fail to understand the op's question.

the further you downscale from an LCD's native resolution with your in-game full-screen resolution, the worse it'll get.

there's noticeable pixelation going from 1:1 native 1920x1080 to 1600x900
go further down from that and it gets worse
and if you don't stick to your monitor's aspect ratio you introduce skewness as well.

some games will stretch the image to your whole screen, other games will add black margins.

**karamazovmm** · November 10, 2012, 07:18 PM

Originally Posted by snuggans

the further you downscale from an LCD's native resolution with your in-game full-screen resolution, the worse it'll get.

there's noticeable pixelation going from 1:1 native 1920x1080 to 1600x900
go further down from that and it gets worse
and if you don't stick to your monitor's aspect ratio you introduce skewness as well.

some games will stretch the image to your whole screen, other games will add black margins.

yep, thats why I said it varies from panel to panel, for example I have a panel here that it does 1080p, but if I put it at 768p it works perfectly, no blur at all

**snuggans** · November 10, 2012, 07:28 PM

that sounds worth looking into, which monitor is that?

**karamazovmm** · November 10, 2012, 08:20 PM

Originally Posted by snuggans

that sounds worth looking into, which monitor is that?

its a cheap LG monitor, when I get home I will take a look at it

**ForVictory** · November 11, 2012, 07:16 AM

Isnt 1400x900 the right size for a 17 inch monitor? Cause when i stretch out pictures of that resolution on my 17 inch laptop hey perfectly fit onto my screen, however with a 1920x1080 it doesnt.