What Is the Best Screen Resolution for Pc Gaming?
Important Why Choosing of Screen Resolution for Gaming Is So Important? Before You Decide Which Components You Will Use to Build Your Gaming Pc, You Have to...
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Why choosing of screen resolution for Gaming is so important?
Before you decide which components you will use to build your Gaming PC, you have to decide what screen resolution you will use to play games.
Screen resolution is directly related to:
- The type and required performance of the GPU (video card), which is directly transferred to its price.
- The amount of Video Memory on the graphics card - higher resolutions require more VRAM.
- CPU type and speed so that your Central Processing Unit does not slow down the fast graphics card
- Motherboard type to match the CPU.
- The type and parameters of the monitor (s) to work in native resolution matched to the screen resolution you plan.
The result of a poor selection of the planned resolution in relation to the performance of Gaming PC may be the lack of smooth gameplay (low FPS), which is what every player wants to avoid.
So, let's try to think about what resolution you should use when playing games.
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A few words about the screen resolution and FPS (frames per second).
Simplifying the topic, visual quality of game graphics and smoother gameplay in PC games are influenced by:
- Screen Resolution in Gaming PC, maximum number of separate pixels (basic units of a digital image) in each dimension that can be displayed, e.g 1920x1080. Higher resolution makes the images displayed in the game becomes more accurate and detailed, simply nicer and more realistic.
- FPS (frames per second) - the number of images (frames) that your Gaming PC can generate on the monitor screen in a unit of time, a second. Higher FPS in games increases the realism of the displayed image by improving the smoothness of the displayed images.
The amount of FPS displayed by your Gaming PC depends on the computing power of your CPU (Central Processing Unit) and in particular the computing power of your GPU (Graphics Processing Unit).
The higher the screen resolution you want and the greater the intended amount of FPS, the more calculations must be made per unit of time.
Sample number of pixels to be calculated depending on the resolution and FPS:
| Resolution | 1 FPS | 30 FPS | 60 FPS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1280 x 720 (720p HD) | 921 600 pixels | 27 648 000 pixels | 55 296 000 pixels |
| 1920 x 1080 (1080p FHD) | 2 073 600 pixels | 62 208 000 pixels | 124 416 000 pixels |
| 2560 x 1440 (1440p QHD) | 3 686 400 pixels | 110 592 000 pixels | 221 184 000 pixels |
| 3840 x 2160 (2160p UHD) | 8 294 400 pixels | 248 832 000 pixels | 497 664 000 pixels |
As you can see clearly, for example, to get the same amount of FPS at 3840 x 2160 as you would at 1280 x 720, you'll need a 9 times more powerful GPU + CPU duo.
And this is the reason why the choice of resolution to play games is the first and most important choice you have to make when buying a new Gaming PC.
Because the prices of the CPU and GPU you will have to pay for to maintain the desired amount of FPS in a given resolution may be too high. A higher resolution always comes with a higher price that you will have to pay for your Gaming PC to keep your FPS demands.
Unless you prefer nicer graphics at the expense of fewer FPS, or games you will play do not require high FPS.
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Alexander Ross has covered the video game industry for a decade, writing deep dives on game design, esports tournaments, VR developments, and gaming culture.
