Do you sometimes lower the resolution to increase the quality?

[apoppin]

I have not once considered switching to my old Dell 2005FPW (1680x1050) when having difficulty pushing native res on my NEC PA271W (2560x1440). It's as if the old monitor just doesn't exist to me...

Well, i have some really excellent displays. i work on my 15" 13x7 notebook most of the time but when i game, it is usually on my HP LP3065 at 2560x1600. It is an extra-ordinary and very fast-response display that works well for even twitch shooters.

However, there are many times that i prefer to play in S3D; i now have a 1080p 27" 120Hz display is not a step down from 30-inches as 3D has its own attraction. And when games like Metro 2033 or Crysis 2 demand more than SLI'd GTX 580s or Tri-Fired HD 6970s can comfortably manage at 2560x1600, i gladly step down to the 27" 1080p solution.

That said, i would have a lot of difficulty transitioning from 30" down to 22" just to gain details and AA.

 

[Martimus]

When I had a CRT (up to about 6 months ago), I would almost always lower resolution to maintain higher quality in games. Now that I use a LCD, I do the opposite, where I am more likely to reduce quality to maintain resolution. The exception is GTA4, where I moved the resolution to 16x10 to avoid the occasional slow downs over removing AA.

 

[taltamir]

The exception is GTA4, where I moved the resolution to 16x10 to avoid the occasional slow downs over removing AA.

Which means you should vote for "it depends on the game". I keep resolution up 80-90% of games but on occasion I find a game where I do prefer to lower resolution to up settings. "Sometimes depending on game" does not mean "most times" or even "equal amount"

 

[NTAC]

I did this for BF3 when I had the 260 GTX and I said to myself... fck no!!! So it was time to upgrade.

But, that's a good measuring stick for yourself. If you find that you actually have to lower your res just to play a game, then its time to upgrade your rig.

Oh I see the question better now... no I will ALWAYS take down quality settings before I muck with res.

 

[taltamir]

This raises a question...
Why do console developers lower the resolution to increase settings?
xbox360 and PS3 are capable of 1080p, it just requires the developers to skimp elsewhere to achieve, yet they never do.

 

[BenSkywalker]

Can't vote in the poll, no options for 'it depends on the display'.

With CRTs it was a no brainer, LCD monitors make it far more likely for me to drop settings, but LCD TVs scale *far* better then monitors so if I'm hooked up to them it makes it fairly simple to drop resolution.

 

[Lonbjerg]

Depends...since I'm not stuck with LCD's, their inferior I.Q and "native resolution"...I can choose...without tthe drawback of LCD's.

(Running 2x21" CRT's in (2x)1600x1200)

 

[RavenSEAL]

Resolution > Quality, any day.

 

[LokutusofBorg]

I don't really have a response to the poll (I play a few games that don't go up to my monitor's native resolution so I play windowed a lot, or just in lower res because I don't have a choice) but I just wanted to chime in to say that the context here needs to be split a little bit.

Anybody that is lowering resolution before turning off AA is a nincompoop and doesn't understand what AA does. Aliasing is a direct effect of resolution. Anti-aliasing is a software compensation method for overcoming graphical artifacts specifically created by lower resolution.

So when I say split, I mean the context here should talk about adjusting three things: AA, resolution, quality settings. Turning down/off AA is a completely different animal compared to turning off shadows or lowering textures or whatever.

 

[LoneNinja]

I would rather run BF3 at minimum settings 1080p than lower the resolution, it honestly looks better that way to me. Same can be said for BC2 and a few others I've actually tested, LCDs look like crap with low resolutions stretched over the entire screen. It won't matter how good the image is at it's native resolution, stretch it over the entire screen and it looks like crap to me.

I don't have that set rule for all games, but I do for most. Draw distance can be a factor, if I need lower res to increase draw distance than so be it, but that effects game play is some titles like GTAIV.

 

[styrafoam]

Running below native res is only acceptable in old games that don't support it.

 

[Avalon]

I used to reduce resolution to increase quality when I had a CRT. Not anymore, with my LCD, though.

 

[LV3]

I always reduce quality before lowering resolution. My GTX460 is still sufficient for my needs at 1080p, when I can no longer play on 'High' settings it is time for a new GPU, not a lower resolution.