Potentially Stupid Question (I have a...)

[OrangeWolf]

I'm more of a casual gamer than a serious one. What I mean by that is that while I game at least 5 days a week, I'm content to do so on Medium settings and only somewhat competitively (in part due to crap internet connection).

Here's the dumb question:
Is it true that playing in a resolution lower than the native is actually more taxing/worse than playing at native resolution?

I've been playing at lower res. than native for a decade or so and I've always heard this. Yet I've never actually noticed anything... well, noticeable.

Why do I do this? Because I like to tab out constantly, and it's a lot easier when you are playing in 1600x900 windowed mode on a 1080p monitor than if you're playing full screen. It's always bugged me just a little bit that this apparently makes the games run worse in ways other than simple resolution can account for.

And it doesn't make sense to me, though I suppose it might be something to do with LCD technology. It came up again today though and I thought I might ask since google didn't seem to vomit up straightforward answers.

 

[Dreamerbydesign]

This certainly do not tax the gpu more.

Most games do not look the best when scaled from a low resolution. This is the monitor basically.

Your gpu will be fine. But your gaming experience may suffer. And what I'm talking about has nothing to do with med or high settings

 

[OrangeWolf]

But your gaming experience may suffer. And what I'm talking about has nothing to do with med or high settings

This is sort of my original question - in what WAY does the gaming experience suffer that's different from med/high settings?

You say it doesn't look as good, but this is not something I've ever really noticed. It's possible that given how poor my eyesight is I just can't tell? The things I'm likely to notice are stuttering and dimness, and I can't see it affecting those, and if it's not similar to a difference in med/high then I'm at a loss.

Thank you for the response though - I am relieved to know that it doesn't magically tax the GPU more somehow.

 

[Dreamerbydesign]

This is sort of my original question - in what WAY does the gaming experience suffer that's different from med/high settings?

You say it doesn't look as good, but this is not something I've ever really noticed. It's possible that given how poor my eyesight is I just can't tell? The things I'm likely to notice are stuttering and dimness, and I can't see it affecting those, and if it's not similar to a difference in med/high then I'm at a loss.

Thank you for the response though - I am relieved to know that it doesn't magically tax the GPU more somehow.

The pixels do not usually map 1:1 so you end up relying on the monitor to handle the scaling. This feature is monitor specific. Some monitors do not even offer scaling (older models from many years ago).

The quality of the scaling depends entirely on the specific monitor.

I have never used a monitor that I found to be acceptable with anything other than the native resolution. And I have been gaming and building computers now for 20+ years. It all comes down to preference.