I am unsure of the solution. Not in the New Year’s sense of a promise to myself that I couldn’t keep, but in the sense of the total number of pixels. Lately, I’ve been feeling self-conscious about playing all my PC games at 1080p resolution. It all started a few months ago when a PC Gamer graphics card review I was reading described the card’s strong frame rate capabilities at “low resolutions” like 1080p.
low? 1080p? When did that happen?
It feels like it wasn’t that long ago that 1080p was the gold standard for video games, and 1440p and 4K were considered ideal. go too far Game target to hit. But looking around, this no longer reflects my reality. Most of my friends and colleagues have at least 1440p monitors. Some have 4K screens on their desks, but not many. On the other hand, I’m using his 2 of his 1080p monitors. His 60 Hz Dell screen from 2013 that my father “borrowed” from his last job, and his 144 Hz screen that he bought in 2019.
I thought my current 1080p 144Hz monitor was a splurge when I bought it. It seemed like a luxury to spend a few hundred bucks to save a fully functional screen so I could watch Rainbow Six Siege at 100+ fps (definitely worth it). As a shooter fan, I’m usually more concerned with framerate than resolution, but I’m not an fps maximalist who would set everything low to see how high my frames would go. My eyes don’t settle for anything lower than 1080p. I thought this meant “I want the game to look good” rather than “I want the bare minimum”.
Maybe I should have grabbed the hint first. I think “minimum” means 1080p when 2022 video games release their official system requirements. In the TV world, 4K HDR has been the default for several years now. When I was tasked with updating my roundup of monitor deals for Black Friday, I saw 1440p and 4K monitors fly off digital shelves, leaving 1080p screens pristine. Indeed, 2K and 4K gaming is no longer the future of PC gaming, but the present of PC gaming. I apologize if this is old news.
What the data show
That’s right, polls of my friends and peers show that I’m a weirdo. It’s no surprise that the PC gamer staff likes the finer details of our tastes, and of course manufacturers like to buy expensive monitors that are newer. I want people to believe it’s the norm. But what does the data show?
Possibly the largest PC hardware usage tally freely available on the internet, according to Steam’s latest hardware survey for November 2022, I’m not the only one obsessed with 1080p guns. Over 65% of surveyed Steam users primarily play games in 1080pThat’s why 1080p is orders of magnitude more popular than any other resolution Valve tracks. The next most popular resolution, 1440p, made up just 11.34% of the survey pool. Surprisingly, 4K comes in fifth at 2.60%, followed by 5.70% for 1366×758 (similar to 720p, but slightly better) and 2.66% for “other” (perhaps for unusual widescreen settings and windowed players). combination).
Interestingly, the 65% at 1080p doesn’t quite match the number of surveyed Steam users who could theoretically achieve higher resolutions. Of the 10 most popular GPUs tracked (which make up about 36% of the survey pool), 6 are older Nvidia 10-series cards that are best at 1080p and 4 are newer 30-series capable of 1440p/4K. Or 20 series. There are many old cards, but there are also many new cards.
I’m not the only one obsessed with 1080p guns.
It’s far from a scientific conclusion, but my takeaway is that most Steam users still play at 1080p. This is because the hardware is optimal in 2022. Also, many people continue to use 1080p monitors despite the theoretical benefits. from an upgrade. I’m packing a 3060, so please pack me up with them. However, Valve’s stats leave us with some big questions: How many users are actually on this survey? Do increasingly common tools like DLSS that use AI upscaling to make low resolutions look higher ruin the numbers? Who’s Still Playing 720p?
At least, Steam’s numbers speak for the longevity of 1080p. This has been the standard for over 15 years. HD was a really big moment. They don’t make technological leaps like they used to.
On a personal level, seeing the numbers makes me feel better about mediocre image quality. I’d like to say my personal choice was right, but honestly it’s not stubbornness leading me, it’s just procrastination. Looking around the office, he can spot four other things that reasonably needed to be upgraded months or years ago. For example, a wobbly desk with a screw falling out last week, or a pair of his shoes that have turned more brown than black since last year. , Mass Effect mouse pad with spilled soda, or torn trousers scenario. Especially when you glance at his 1440p screen on a partner running something as simple as Overwatch 2 and think “Damn, that looks way better than my garbage” monitor upgrade I’ve thought enough about
Maybe in the New Year’s sense, I plan to settle. resolution resolution. Gaming still thinks he looks great in 1080p, and I don’t think it’s crazy (so should you), but 2023 feels like a good time to take the plunge.
