Up For Debate - Current Average Gamer Screen Resolution In 2016

Written by Neil Soutter on Sat, Jun 25, 2016 5:00 PM

Its time to take a look at the gaming screen resolutions you prefer to game at, and then we shall see what your fellow PC gamers like to run on as well. Not everyone can game at 1440p or 4K or even 1080p. But as the years go by and tech moves on, these larger screen ranges open up more and more to fellow gamers across the globe.

However, some people, even if they have the money to game at 4K, may choose not to. Perhaps buying a game rig that is capable of this is one thing, but not having any games that would look very good at 4K stops you paying the premium price. Or maybe you dont want your desktop to become compromised, icons being shrunk, desktop space getting warped, wallpapers not fitting.

Whatever your screen resolution choice and circumstance, lets have a chat and find out how you fit in with what everyone else is doing today. I have put together a regular Up For Debate screen resolution poll. I am not including every resolution, as that would be boring, but choose the one closest to yours and then state below if it is different.

The resolutions I am listing are

  • 1280 x 720 = 720p
  • 1366 x 768 = HDTV 720p/1080i
  • 1600 x 900 = 900p
  • 1920 x 1080 = 1080p
  • 2560 x 1440 = 1440p
  • 3440 x 1440 = UltraWide
  • 3840 x 2160 = 2160p
  • 4096 x 2304 = 4K

And for reference 8192 x 4608 is 8K. But I dont suppose many of us will be playing games on an 8K screen resolution at this moment in time.

Another point of reference with regards to gaming screen resolutions is the HTC Vive Virtual reality screen resolution is 1080 x 1200  per screen. So 2160 x 1400 and it needs to run at a high FPS (around 90FPS) to work properly.

Also in the discussion area below, share your reasons for gaming at your chosen screen resolution. Is it financial, is it because you hate how games look when they have more pixels, is it because your country does not have a good price point for powerful graphics cards or is it simply that your Game-Cave isnt big enough to accommodate any larger monitor?

The screen resolution I am currently playing games on is

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14:17 Jul-02-2016

hi i want to know if upgrading (or downgrading?) from a 5:4 1280x1024 monitor to a 16:4 1366x768 one give better fps in games.

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14:26 Jul-02-2016

At 1366x768 you will be rendering 80% of the pixels of 1280x1024, so expect around 20% better framerates.

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14:27 Jul-02-2016

1366x768 has less pixels, so in theory, you'd see higher performance, but the difference isn't that large so I dunno if you'll actually SEE any improvement.

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14:30 Jul-02-2016

25% difference. That's the difference between rendering 48 frames and 60 frames per second. Quite noticeable, IMO. Ofc depends on the games in question, but it wouldn't vary from the estimate that much anyway.

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14:31 Jul-02-2016

And does the screen size matter?
like running games at 1366x768 on forexample a 17 inch and then at 24 inch 1366x768 screen. Will there be a difference in fps

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14:32 Jul-02-2016

No. Pixels are pixels, no matter the size. The big difference would be how you SEE them. Larger pixels will stand out more and so will aliasing.

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14:33 Jul-02-2016

Okay thanks for the help guys \o/ +1

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14:34 Jul-02-2016

No problem, anytime :)

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16:18 Jul-02-2016

honestly I wouldn't jump from 1280x1024 to anything lower than 1920x1080

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16:53 Jul-02-2016

As much as I hate it I have to agree.
However in his case the gaming experience (framerate wise) would drop significantly going to 1080p.

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12:59 Jul-03-2016

true true :)

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00:28 Jul-02-2016

Way back when I was playing games on Windows 95 with some CRT monitor. I can't remember what resolution it had, but I bet it would show up as a tiny window on my current monitor. Don't even ask what hardware I had then, the beige case didn't even have branding on it. All I know is it played the games I had.

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12:35 Jul-02-2016

CRT screens have NO resolution, you could run them at 1080p (4:3) and more if you wanted :)

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21:49 Jun-29-2016

Playing most games at 7680 x 1440. Got my first Qnix2710 for $300 two years ago and was so impressed bought two more.

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22:42 Jun-29-2016

I'd assume you get 60fps in witcher 3 on tweaked ultra/high. At least considering my performance at 5K.

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04:48 Jun-29-2016

no 2560x1080

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05:20 Jun-29-2016

I know, how about this, everyone who has a 2560x1080, like this comment

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15:24 Jun-29-2016

Don't be a point whore. The survey probably would've worked better without a horizontal resolution, so utlrawides have critera. As such, they can just choose the 16:9 version to subsitute.

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15:11 Jun-29-2016

Yeah I also have that Ultrawide 1080p

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21:04 Jun-28-2016

Can't afford upgrade at this time, and want to upgrade GPU and CPU first.

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17:54 Jun-28-2016

im on 1280 x 1024 dual monitor and it is good enough for me - my work laptop is 1080p but its smaller so i dont see any difference.


personally, i am not fussed - it works so why change it ? :) my rig is more than enough :)

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22:03 Jun-27-2016

Top 5:


1-1920x1080
2-1366x768
3-1600x900
4-2560x1440
5-1280x720

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10:35 Jun-27-2016

Mine is 1920x1080, but 1440 is the next best thing and is pretty much playable on most recent cards. :)

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16:19 Jun-27-2016

GTX 1080Ti or Radeon Vega GPUs could probably be the first cards that would be able to run games properly at 4K

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16:44 Jun-27-2016

Getting 100+ fps in 4K ultra games here and I even play many games at 5K (5120x2880), but I am on SLI, so depends on what you consider "properly". 50-60fps is pretty solid at 4K on a single 1080.

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00:16 Jul-02-2016

Properly by my terms means no framerate dips bellow 60 fps

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12:37 Jul-02-2016

Set some settings back a bit and 4K60 is no problem. It's only if you shout "I want mah ultraz and hairworkz and all dem eye-candies and anti-aliasing - ALL AT 4K 60FPS!" is when you have a problem. Be reasonable.

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09:46 Jun-27-2016

3200x1800 here. Wasn't listed though. >.&#60

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08:15 Jun-27-2016

1920x1080, but I play more recent AAA titles at 1280x720 to get closer to 60 FPS

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01:06 Jun-27-2016

Currently have a 3k screen, I'll be upgrading prolly later this year when 1080M SLI become avalible for laptops (or when that happens XD) and what better than a 4k screen to pair with that sli gpu &#603

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07:53 Jun-27-2016

how about 3440x1440 (21:9) ? :D

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13:14 Jun-27-2016

What and downgrade from what I have? :P 3840x2160. I never thought I would be hard core resolutionist, but ever since upgrading to a better screen and seeing the new details I have never seen before, I can never go back, if I just stayed at 1080p....The world would be a cheaper place for me lol.

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14:05 Jun-27-2016

Are you actually driving that 4K display off your laptop..?

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03:41 Jun-28-2016

3k On this laptop with an 880m 8Gb....Going to upgrade (when 1080M comes out for laptops with 4k screen (110hz refresh &#603 ), or 980M SLI)

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07:55 Jun-28-2016

I don't suppose you actually get to play games at that resolution, though? 880M, as good as it used to be, is just not a card to play above 1080p well...

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22:55 Jun-28-2016

Played DA:I almost max settings at 3k....Lol now looks like I will have to upgrade sooner than later...on my old backup laptop >.> and bonus time is not till september ug. Hmmm might have to by a cheapo interm laptop till then under 900 ....hmmm

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15:35 Jun-29-2016

Inquisition at 3K on that 880M? 30fps?

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14:00 Jul-01-2016

Yup think i submitted my fps I remember 27fps with fade touched settings, high thirties low 40s for ultra setting.

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00:54 Jun-27-2016

I go for 1080p. The main reason being price, as the peripherals with more that resolution is quite expensive where I live.

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18:19 Jun-26-2016

no option for ultrawide 2560x1080

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13:13 Jun-26-2016

Whoa!! 1080p users are so much! Looks like I'm still in 20th century... Well, some games I own, run on 1440x900 and some on 1280x720, 2 or 3 at lowest res either 800x600 or 640x480. :p

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13:48 Jun-26-2016

well, with your configuration I would do the same.

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15:43 Jun-26-2016

sure. because yours top notch...leave the guy alone

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15:52 Jun-26-2016

Yeah, we're all gamers here. Some have better rigs, some worse - after all we're from a variety of different backgrounds, social and financial situations and we're from all over the world. The fact that we can all enjoy the same passion no matter the differences is pretty damn epic if you ask me.

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18:16 Jun-26-2016

@xquatrox
nice reply

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11:33 Jun-27-2016

Totally agree with you, i'm having to play games with integrated graphics atm as i've had to RMA my 290x. The difference in graphics and resolution is worlds apart, but the main thing is that I can still play some of my games still :).

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14:06 Jun-27-2016

Hope you get your card back soon! :)
I was having a blast playing SKyrim on-the-go on my tablet with Intel graphics :D

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13:31 Jun-28-2016

More than a better Hardware I need a better Internet connection. Mine is just 60KBps. You can imagine downloading JC3 at this speed from Steam....

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01:59 Jun-27-2016

Yeah fam, leave him alone. At least he's not a console peasant.

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16:55 Jun-26-2016

Yaa bro, very well said.

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12:56 Jun-26-2016

Been with this monitor since 2009..

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03:56 Jun-27-2016

same

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11:02 Jun-26-2016

1080p, but I use DSR to play my games in 1440p (or 2160p for less demanding games).

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10:57 Jun-26-2016

1366 x 768 for 4 years :D

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10:15 Jun-26-2016

My TV is still 1080p one, and my next TV will probably be 1080p as well. I don't just think 4k is worth extra money, not for games or any other media.

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09:06 Jun-26-2016

1680x1050. When this monitor won't work anymore I'll upgrade to 1920x1080.

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09:00 Jun-26-2016

someone 1680x1050 :D

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09:02 Jun-26-2016

ask me that 2 years ago :P

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09:45 Jun-26-2016

yeah still, i dont feel like i need to change to higher.

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11:06 Jun-26-2016

i think i will change it to 1920x1080

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13:54 Jun-26-2016

1680x1050 since 2007.

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14:44 Jun-26-2016

/raises hand been using 1680x1050 since May-4-2008.

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Can They Run... |

| 60FPS, Low, 1080p
Ryzen 5 5500U 6-Core 2.1GHz GeForce GTX 1650 16GB
100% Yes [1 votes]
| 60FPS, Ultra, 1080p
Ryzen R5 1600 Radeon RX 580 Sapphire Nitro+ 8GB 16GB
0% No [1 votes]
| 60FPS, Ultra, 1440p
Ryzen 7 5800X 8-Core 3.8GHz GeForce RTX 3090 Zotac Gaming Trinity 24GB 32GB
100% Yes [1 votes]
| 60FPS, High, 1080p
Ryzen 3 3100 4-Core 3.6GHz GeForce RTX 3050 16GB
| 30FPS, High, 1080p
Ryzen 5 2600 GeForce GTX 1660 Gigabyte OC 6GB 16GB
0% No [2 votes]
| 60FPS, Low, 1080p
Ryzen 5 5500U 6-Core 2.1GHz GeForce GTX 1650 16GB
| 60FPS, High, 1440p
Ryzen 7 5800X 8-Core 3.8GHz Radeon RX 6900 XT 16GB 32GB
| 60FPS, Medium, 720p
Core i5-10300H 4-Core 2.50GHz GeForce GTX 1650 8GB
| 60FPS, High, 1080p
Core i9-9900K 8-Core 3.6GHz GeForce GTX 1060 Gigabyte Mini ITX OC 6GB 32GB
66.6667% Yes [3 votes]
| 60FPS, High, 1080p
Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core 3.6GHz Radeon RX 5700 PowerColor Red Dragon 8GB 16GB
| 60FPS, High, 1080p
Ryzen 3 3100 4-Core 3.6GHz GeForce RTX 3050 16GB
0% No [1 votes]
| 60FPS, Ultra, 4k
Core i9-9900K 8-Core 3.6GHz GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Asus ROG Strix OC 11GB 32GB
| 30FPS, Ultra, 1440p
Ryzen 5 2600X 6-Core 3.6GHz GeForce GTX 1080 16GB
100% Yes [1 votes]
| 60FPS, High, 1080p
Ryzen 3 3100 4-Core 3.6GHz GeForce RTX 3050 16GB
| 60FPS, High, 1080p
Ryzen 3 3100 4-Core 3.6GHz GeForce RTX 3050 16GB
100% Yes [1 votes]
| 60FPS, High, 1080p
Ryzen 3 3100 4-Core 3.6GHz GeForce RTX 3050 16GB
100% Yes [1 votes]
| 60FPS, High, 1080p
Ryzen 3 3100 4-Core 3.6GHz GeForce RTX 3050 16GB
0% No [1 votes]
| 60FPS, Ultra, 1080p
Ryzen 5 5600X 6-Core 3.7GHz Radeon RX 6700 XT 12GB 32GB
| 30FPS, Low, 720p
Core i3-2367M 1.4GHz Intel HD Graphics 3000 Desktop 4GB
| High, 1080p
Ryzen 5 2600 GeForce GTX 1070 Ti MSI Gaming 8GB 16GB
100% Yes [1 votes]