It’s that of the time again where we’re ready for another straw poll on which resolutions we’re all gaming out.
Nvidia has dropped an entire new generation of RTX 20 Series graphics cards since our poll, simultaneously targeting 4K with its top-end GPUs while also trying to sell their ray-tracing capabilities. 4K and raytracing aren’t really compatible, so if you’re interested in real-time raytracing then you’ve got yet another reason to stick with your trust 1080p display.
Things have been a little bit quiet on the AMD front but they have got a bevy of graphics cards targeting 1440p now, including the Radeon RX 56, RX Vega 64, and the new Radeon VII which can hit 4K at a stretch.
In our 2018 poll on gaming resolutions, the overwhelming majority of you said you were gaming at 1920 x 1080. It’s been the standard resolution for the best part of a decade now and it seemed like it did the job well enough for most of you.
After 1080p, 1440p was the second most popular, while 4K was just about the third-most popular PC gaming resolution. GD has a community full of gaming enthusiasts and yet the number of us gaming at 4K was just 7.4% of the number playing at 1080p.
If we go back even further down the rabbit hole, to 2017, we can see some other interesting figures. At that point, 43% were player at 1080p, so this resolution is actually increasing in popularity if anything. Two years ago, just 0.69% of PC gamers surveyed were playing at 4K though, so 4K’s popularity increased about nine-fold within a year.
So we were wondering what the situation here is on GD and how your setups are changing GPU advances. Are you still rocking your dependable 1080p display or have upgraded to a higher resolution yet? Is the far more powerful hardware needed for a resolution bump worth the cost?
Get voting and let us know what your thoughts are below!
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PC Specs
I am purely waiting for OLED monitors to have high refresh-rates. Then I shall bid thee farewell to my AOC AGON.
PC Specs
lol why 4k has more popularity than 3440x1440 uwqhd? Sacrificing refresh rate (hz) and gpu load for density they cant even distinguish..
PC Specs
It is really small difference, but my guess would be because it is harder to run and a lot of people aren't used to ultra wide screen. I know I find widescreen displays too big. Plus you can still run on game or two, or play older game that won't support widescreen and you are left with hacks or regular 1440p.
PC Specs
Also some games have terrible support as well, which feels like they are just stretching things to fit or cutting things to fit. But in any case, both really feel equally niche according to this poll. Same goes with 1080p ultra wide screens. Also a lot of people are just happy with 60hz,...
PC Specs
... which works fine for quite a lot of games, like RPGs for example. I imagine if they did refresh rate poll, 60hz would be by far most popular choice, followed by 144hz. I would imagine comparable to 1080p and 1440p difference in this poll.
PC Specs
agreed for most, except i didnt compared 1080p to uwqhd, but with 4k (8,294,400 pixels per frame), which is even more demanding than 3440x1440p (4,953,600) So, no, its not harder to run, but easier!
PC Specs
1440p 144Hz, i think it's the sweet spot for now.
PC Specs
4k for movies not gonna spend money for resoluton 1080p is and always will be perfect for gaming.
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1080p
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Haven't upgraded in a couple of years, still on 2560x1080 ultrawide
PC Specs
I'd love to play in 1440p but as of now I'm playing 1080p still
PC Specs
Still on 1080p,That ont change until i find a midrange card capable of running any game in the market at smooth 60fps ultra settings, and that wont be a thing for the upcoming 3 years.
PC Specs
I'm gaming at 4K @ Ultra 60hz. Once you see it you can't go back. It's 2019 and I personally feel that the age of 1080p is coming to a close.
PC Specs
i am wondering do y by any chance play sports games or something as i dont see how can y get playable fps in 4k at ultra
PC Specs
No. I play AAA RPG, MMO, and fighting games primarily. I have a 1080 Ti, which is sufficient for 4K Ultra 60 fps. I guess it depends on what you consider playable fps. I really don't care about 120/144hz gaming where someone else might see that as playable where I see 60hz as playable
PC Specs
I would love to see another poll in which you have to pick what resolution you play and what gpu you have, it would be very interesting to see and probably surprising how many users use 1080p+high end gpu.
PC Specs
i would like to see that to
PC Specs
4480 x 1080 triple display Eyefinity (1 x 16:9 in the middle and 4:3 on each side).
Would like to go to 2560 x 1440 144Hz at some point.
PC Specs
I use a 1920x1080 144 hz screen.
PC Specs
It depends on the game, I do 2160p if I can maintain 60fps, otherwise 1080p.
PC Specs
In titles that support SLI (or where even a single GPU can plow through) and where I can reach -80fps I play at as high a resolution as I can, which ends up being 5K. This would include games like Witcher 3, FarCry 5, Life is Strange (1, 2, prequel), GTA V, Source Engine games, Mafia II, HITMAN, etc.
Some games will run better at 4K, like Mafia III. Some games just start giving weird input lag at 5K, even if the fps is 60 or more. Must be engine issues.
If the game is a heavy action game where reflexes are important - I want the maximum fps I can get. Then I play at native res, which is 1440p. My screen is a 165Hz one with G-Sync.
These games would include DOOM, Quake Champions, etc.
PC Specs
Is it me or not that many games are supporting SLI lately
PC Specs
Was always the case, really. Not much different from how it was in the past. Rockstar supports it, Ubisoft support it, CDPR support it. I get by.
Mind you that I use SLI the way it's "intended" to be used - I have the best Single GPU solution available already and the only way to get more is SLI. When people used to SLI GTX 960s - that was weird :D
PC Specs
2560x1440 once I get my 2080 & 144hz monitor. : )
Just noticed I switched my system on GD. lol*
Main rig:
i7-8700K
16gb ddr4
5TB HDD 7,200rpm
GTX 960 (2gb)
PC Specs
4k just isn't there yet. Once we have 4k monitors with 144 refresh rate (and the hardware to run that smoothly of course) then we can talk.
PC Specs
I'd like to first see engines and games optimized to actually reach that. Some games can't go past a certain fps when maxed out no matter what, regardless of being in 720p or 4K. Most notably for me it was Crysis and FarCry games.
PC Specs
1280x720
Cuz i have a laptop for gaming.
Saving money for a more expensive laptop, one with a good GPU
PC Specs
Your laptop is fine for everything else. Should seriously consider desktop PC and leave that laptop for work/education/portability. I think buying new one would be waste of money.
PC Specs
Not if ya want portability. No.
I too am considering getting a laptop.
PC Specs
Yea I have 3 mischievous nephews and niece so If it cant be locked away in a cupboard, I wont buy it :P
PC Specs
1080p.
But if I were to upgrade I'd go for a 21:9 monitor over 4K.
Because greater field of view has more function than simply having more pixels on the screen.
PC Specs
1440 x 1440 per eye. 90hz.
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VR?
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yup.
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540p