How does resolution affect performance?
Created 4 months ago Updated 1 week ago
Resolution is a major factor affecting game performance, as it determines how many pixels need to be rendered by your hardware. To put it simply, higher resolution = more pixels to process. While higher resolutions provide sharper and more detailed images, they also require more processing power.
Each resolution contains a specific number of pixels. For example:
5120 x 2880 = 14 745 600 pixels
2560 x 1440 = 3 686 400 pixels
So at 5120 x 2880, approximately 4 times as many pixels need to be rendered compared to 2560 x 1440. While the performance won’t necessarily be exactly 4x lower, it will require substantially more processing power. The stronger the hardware, the better it will handle high resolutions without significant performance loss.
Resolution in System Requirements
In system requirements, the listed resolutions indicate the maximum resolution for achieving the target FPS, not the minimum resolution needed to run the game. For example, if the requirements list 1080p at 60 FPS, it means that the specified hardware is the minimum needed to reach that performance at that resolution. If you increase the resolution, expect a performance drop, unless you have more powerful hardware.
Resolution Scaling
Resolution scaling techniques allow a game to render at a lower resolution while using advanced upscaling methods to enhance the image quality, making it look closer to a higher resolution. This helps maintain image quality and high performance.