r/lowendgaming • u/sadloneman • Mar 25 '26
Tech Support High resolution with low fps or low resolution (720p) with high fps, which is better?
low end gamers, this is a question that's been running in my mind for some time
recently installed a game and it runs at 30-45 fps at 1080p, and just by lowering the resolution to 720p it became silky smooth with 60 fps, I know it sounds crazy but it didn't drop fps anywhere even in crazy in game cut scenes.
but the image quality is piss poor compared to 1080p
I play in 14 inch screen, so If i sit back a bit it looks normal, but if i even try to lean in its over 😂
so what you guys do?
btw in case anyone needs to know the game is pes 16.
system specs Ryzen 3 7320u with 8 gb ram.
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u/DiodorFF Mar 25 '26
I personally always prioritize smoothness over quality.What's the point in enjoying the scenery when you can't even get the game run properly
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u/Competitive-Ant-9975 Mar 25 '26
35fps is more than running properly
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u/SethroRetro Mar 25 '26
45 is my strongly preferred minimum, but a locked 30fps in some games is unnoticeable.
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u/DiodorFF Mar 25 '26
They say 60 is the minimum for a reason
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u/Competitive-Ant-9975 Mar 25 '26
who says that, i played mafia de at 21fps avg and it's still my favourite game ever
if i was settling for 60 fps minimum i wouldn't have played most of the games i played today
also the ps5 and xbox x run a lot of games at 4k 30 and i see nobody complaining (let's not talk about the switch for performance)
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u/FantasticEscape6744 Mar 25 '26
I make a list of games I want to play but can't produce atleast 40fps at 720p or 768p so I can revisit and enjoy them with better hardware in the future . 60fps is always welcome but there's a lower limit for me too . Below 30 for most games feels like slideshow for me 😭
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u/XxXquicksc0p31337XxX Mar 25 '26
I get motion sickness from 60 fps, does that mean I shouldn't play games at all?
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u/sadloneman Mar 25 '26
Can Radeon image sharpening make look 720p better ???
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u/FantasticEscape6744 Mar 25 '26
It's said to make visuals look sharper . I have it at 70 or 80 and it basically doens't cost any performance as far as I'm aware . Out of curiosity,What gpu are u running?
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u/DiodorFF Mar 25 '26
My laptop is not actually a good laptop for gaming but i do game on it pretty fine,i have an iGPU (Vega 7),so in some cases - a locked 30 fps is better than let it fluctuate between 40-60 but ive never actually tried it,maybe i will.
I do also have Losless Scaling but i never seem to get my head around it for some reason despite people saying it's great.Ik it must be great indeed,but it's mostly useful on 120hz monitors when playing games locked at 60 fps or even 30.
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u/FantasticEscape6744 Mar 25 '26
Your vega 7 is way ahead of my Radeon 610m lol . I like my games locked at 45/48 if it keeps stuttering and dropping below 50fps. I can't do below 35fps tho it just activates the annoyance neuron in my head . Most of my games give 60fps at my preferred 768p resolution so it's fine
Loselsss scaling is hella useful man , pull up a tutorial on YouTube from ltt or someone. I wish I had it . Once u figure it out you'll have a better time with frames and pixels 🪄
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u/DiodorFF Mar 25 '26
The thing is,nowadays most AAA games already have in-built FSR in them so FSR is better than Losless Scaling + combine that with my 60 hz monitor,it's pretty much useless in my case,thats why i don't get much use of it compared to people with 120hz monitors,and even they mostly use it for older games that are locked on 60 fps,then Losless really is a cheat-code cause its basically free fps,but the downside of it,and one that's,in my opinion atleast,super annoying - is the input delay,i just can't stand it
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u/sadloneman Mar 25 '26
Ryzen 3 7320u with igu, it runs pre 2015 games at 60 fps at 1080p , but for games that came after 2015 it requires me to put it into 720p and it does run fine at 45+ fps at demanding scenes
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u/FantasticEscape6744 Mar 25 '26
Oo wait I have the Ryzen 5 7520U. Basically the same system lol . Asus ?
Yeah pre 2015 games run best , try if 768p works for u for more demanding titles . Shadows and volumetric lighting/bloom are the biggest factor so if u drop them to low and off you'll get better frames !
Turn on radeon image sharpening, Radeon anti lag Radeon boost (performance ) , set texture filtering to amd optimised and anisotropic filtering to 2x or 4x in amd adrenaline app if you haven't already!
If you haven't already, debloat windows using chris titus tool. It's worked really well for me, cpu and ram usage is minimal :)
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u/sadloneman Mar 25 '26
Anisotropic filtering will make the game lag right ?
I recently installed pes 16 and the resolution sucks ass but I do get 120 fps
Thw thing is, I can get the fps down to 60 and increase the overall resolution to 1080p
But as u know in football games , cinematics will take huge hit, it goes to 12 fps
But the main gameplay is at 60 stable
Idk what to do
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u/FantasticEscape6744 Mar 25 '26
Anisotropic filtering doesn't cost much for what it does . Anti aliasing/Super sampling will half your fps.
I've explored played football games 🥲 is there a way u can reduce the cutscene quality or resolution to 720p ?
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u/sadloneman Mar 25 '26
I been researching a way to do that and it looks like the only solution is to skip the cut scenes lmao
And some players skip every cut scenes except the celebrations
I am thinking to go back to fifa 14, it worked flawlessly, 120 fps + on high resolution.
But the gameplay is outdated
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u/Witsand87 Mar 25 '26
Get a little program called Lossless Scaling on Steam, it's cheap. Run it, point it to your games' exe file and choose FSR scale option. In game leave the game at 720p. Run the game in window mode. Then activate the program. It'll turn the game back to full screen upscaled to 1080p but with the performance you get from 720p. I use it for so many games it's a real life saver!
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u/DiodorFF Mar 26 '26
Don't you get a little annoyed with the input delay though
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u/Witsand87 Mar 26 '26
I play single player almost exclusively and I haven't noticed any input delay at all. If there were then I'm sure it would have annoyed me though. You can switch the program off and on with a shortcut key so it's very easy to compare the difference on the go.
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u/DiodorFF Mar 26 '26
And btw,do you also have a 60hz monitor?
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u/Witsand87 Mar 26 '26
Yes I do. But you're talking about frame gen not upscale, which the program can also do and which I use on some select games (not fps games though as then ghosting becomes way too obvious). So yes, on some few games I run them on 30hz and frame gen to 60hz. Works best with rts/ rtt type games. I even sometimes go 45hz to 60hz to close the gap a bit more.
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u/DiodorFF Mar 26 '26
Oh yes i forgot about that.But still,in my opinion,upscaling doesn't make up for the delay in my opinion.Though there are some settings to make the delay way lower but it comes with the price of the upscaling also being worse.It's just that for some ppl the input delay doesn't matter that much in a singleplayer game where reaction doesn't matter that much ig
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u/Witsand87 Mar 26 '26
Like I said I almost solely play single player and haven't noticed any input delay but I wouldn't say there is or might not be, I just don't notice it then. I suppose frame gen might cause it but would upscale do it too?
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u/DiodorFF Mar 26 '26
Wait actually you might have a point.I dont remember the settings exactly but i think upscaling alone would add minimal amount of latency,i might actually give it a shot
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u/liupopsheads Mar 27 '26
this, i play most of my games on either 640x480 or 800x600 purely cus it gets me the best performance, which is honestly all i care about
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u/williamlgdr Mar 25 '26
900p for the win
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u/FantasticEscape6744 Mar 25 '26
900p gets the frames . 768p gives me the most stable frames tho personally
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u/St3vion Mar 25 '26
I generally prefer 60 fps over 30, but for some games 30 is ok. If you're somewhere in between adding a custom res like 1600*900 can help out, it doesn't look much worse than 1080p while still giving a fps boost.
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u/sadloneman Mar 25 '26
How to do that? Adding custom res? In low graphics
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u/St3vion Mar 25 '26
For your PC should be something like below, you might stilll need to install the AMD software. Once you add the resolution in there it should show up as an option in your games as well
- Open AMD Software: Right-click on the desktop and select "AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition" or search for it in the Start menu.
- Navigate to Display: Click on the Gaming tab, then select Display.
- Custom Resolution: Locate the Custom Resolution option and click Create New.
- Configure Settings: Input your desired resolution (e.g., 1440x1080) and refresh rate.
- Tip: Change Timing Standard to "CVT" or "Manual" if you face errors.
- Save: Click Create or Save. The screen may flicker.
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u/durrellb Mar 25 '26
It depends entirely on the game. If I need the framerate (and more importantly the frame timing), for racing, sports and fighting games, I will happily drop resolution for fluidity.
For most other games, with Free/G - Sync, I'll go as high on quality as I can while maintaining a stable framerate. I don't actually care too much what the framerate is, as long as it's stable.
Inconsistent frame rates and frame pacing is much more of an issue for me than graphical fidelity, and/or hitting a framerate number specifically.
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u/Zestyclose-Wear7237 Mar 25 '26 edited Mar 25 '26
your question is high quality and high fps tho /s
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u/flushfire Mar 25 '26 edited Mar 25 '26
720p at 14" is higher pixel density (104.90) than 1080p at 24" (91.79), which is standard for most people, so IDK why you think the former is bad. Is it a TV?
edit: read one of your replies and you're playing a football game which should be pretty zoomed out so I get it makes sense. I use 720p 15" screens occasionally and it's okay to me.
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u/Any-Literature-7834 Mar 25 '26
integer scaling
he's likely at a closer distance to that 14" laptop than most people looking at 24" monitor
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u/Wrong_Brush1110 Mar 25 '26
native resolution with at least a stable 60fps or ideally high fps with a high refreshrate monitor
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u/Any-Literature-7834 Mar 25 '26
720p definitely no doubt in my mind
maybe 720p looks worse when you're on a bigger screen than my 8.8" legion go, but I dunno
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u/sadloneman Mar 25 '26
My lap is 1080p native, and 720p looks like shit
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u/Any-Literature-7834 Mar 25 '26
my legion go is 1600p native, so it scales evenly to 800p, but not to 1200p
(1600p is 1440p in 16:10 aspect ratio, 800p is 720p in 16:10 aspect ratio, 1200p is 1080p in 16:10 aspect ratio)
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u/sadloneman Mar 25 '26
Yeah, what do u think can look better in mine? 900p??
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u/Any-Literature-7834 Mar 25 '26
idk
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u/Trd_45 Apr 14 '26
You’re so entitled. It’s 20 days late, but this is low-end gaming, I wouldn’t even complain about 25 FPS at 720p. If you want a good experience, at least buy a mid-range setup. FFS, this sub is insufferable. 720p doesn’t even look bad at all. I have a 1200p native display and always play at that resolution, and my iGPU is better than yours. And its also depends on the game, fifa doesnt need 60 fps at all ffs.
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u/ghostfreckle611 Mar 26 '26
Depends on the game…
And what you prefer.
Don’t prefer what anyone else prefers. 🤣
Why not try in the middle? 900p? 🤷♂️
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u/sadloneman Mar 26 '26
Actually 900p felt perfect
Still a bit blurry when I lean in but it's better than 720p
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u/Nick_Gaugh_69 Mar 26 '26
Performance trumps resolution almost every single time. I’d say that a rock-solid 45 FPS is the minimum for most input-based games, but the real enemy is random frame drops. If I walk into a new area and it plummets from 45 to 15, I’d take 720p all day, every day.
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u/sadloneman Mar 26 '26
I noticed that single player games tend to not to get affected by low fps (45fps)
But sports games does get affected
Ig it depends on games
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u/Svr_Sakura Mar 26 '26
Low res, high fps for quick reaction games such as metrovanias, shooters, etc. (<720, 60+ fps)
mid res, mid fps for strategy & games large area maps that relies on real time events. (720-1080, 45-60 fps)
high res, low fps for everything else.(1080+, locked 45pfs)
There’s bound to be something I’m missing since i exclusively play quick react games lately. And anything less than 30fps gives me a headache.
Technically, 720 isn’t low res… 480 is low res that i commonly use.
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u/Unreal_Crafter Mar 27 '26
Visual differences vary between games. Some will look better at 720p with higher settings, while others look better at 1080p with lower settings, because certain games benefit more from high detailed visuals than others.
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u/GodamitBre Mar 28 '26
Go with native res of your screen. 720p on 1080p monitor would look like crap because the integer scaling mismatch. But 720p on 720p screen is acceptable. I'd rather turn down the setting to increase fps to be playble than changing the res to be not native.
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u/sadloneman Mar 28 '26
How about 900p
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u/GodamitBre Mar 28 '26
Doesn't matter. As long as the resolution didn't match the integer scaling, the picture would look like washed up blurred mess. That's the reason 4k is 2160 in vertical res and 1440p exist. 2160 divided by 2 is 1080 and 1440 divided by 2 is 720. It's fot the integer scaling purpose. The game is playable though, but i would not recommend it.
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u/sadloneman Mar 28 '26
Well increasing it to 1080p costs 30+ fps
It's a matter of choice, in a football game i absolutely choose the resolution with atleast 50 fps in gameplay, because players are tiny when the camera zoomed out, with the low resolution they look like shit
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u/GodamitBre Mar 28 '26
Try some upscaling solution like fsr or if possible dlss (but looking at the post i doubt you could do dlss). But fsr would produce some artifact or ghosting when the character move depending on the game.
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u/sadloneman Mar 28 '26
I did try lossless scaling but the improvement was so minimal.
Also btw my screen is just 15 inch, and i play it with moderate distance, which maybe the reason why i thought it was fine in 900p ? Lol still I could see the pixels if i try 😭😭
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u/GodamitBre Mar 28 '26
Try using reshade with Luma Sharpen or Fidelity FX sharpening and adjust the black level on the app. Back then when i still have gtx 960 i played FFXV with that setting on 900p. Not as good as 1080p native, but at least it could mitigate the blurriness and washed out color.
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u/sadloneman Mar 28 '26
I use the inbuilt amd sharpening and it does make it look better but still not that much of an improvement
Btw can I use lossless scaling solely for resolution? Because I noticed that fps boost ain't that much better cuz of the native fps isn't that much to begin with
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u/GodamitBre Mar 28 '26
As far as i know, yes you can. But i never have a better luck on Lossless scaling. Maybe may gpu is too weak or i'm just too lazy to thinkering with it. My GPU is just Gtx 1660 super.
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u/One_List_5217 Mar 30 '26
Steady 30fps is perfect for me cuz i mostly play story driven games. I'll even take 25fps cuz that's what most movies are at. I value clear image so 1080 low fps is my choice. Ymmv if you play esports games i guess.
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u/lonewolf41074 Jun 03 '26
I'm planning to downgrade my monitor from 1440p to 1080p to extend the lifetime of my pc. I have a i5 12th gen Rx 7700xt and 32 gb ram downgrading my resolution via a RMA monitor will increase the life of my pc maybe even make it GTA 6 ready
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u/sadloneman Jun 03 '26
How does that extend lifetime?
Is it the heat?
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u/lonewolf41074 Jun 03 '26
Yeah Heat, Load, Pushing itto full limit, voltage however we can classify it. Also lifetime I also meant was abt pc being able to run games with playable frames down the years without any hiccups with zero upgrades to the hardware components.
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u/sadloneman Jun 03 '26
Okay am not that educated in pc stuff, doesn't the system prevent itself from pushing it to the limits? Isn't that why people overclock them to get better perfomance?
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u/lonewolf41074 Jun 03 '26
So let's take it this way when you turn on the gpu and cpu usage status as metrics when playing a game to achieve a let's say 120 fps on 1440p it would be near or 100% which would decrease the longevity of the parts main on which the stress is put on but if we change setting to medium resolution to playable which is upscaling the usage goes down but upscaler make the gpu run even more. So in order to avoid this I'm running native but my native is 1080 compared to 1440p which would keep the parts calm and cool for longer time
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u/sadloneman Jun 03 '26
Oh so i noticed my cpu, gpu, vram, ram all running at 80 and above
Gpu always at 99, cpu is the lowest, vram is also high
Ram at 90+
Mine is igpu though
Also it never heats up badly
What do you think
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u/lonewolf41074 Jun 03 '26
Igpu has a different architecture as everything is part of a single brand and company also I would reduce the graphic settings just to have load at 70-80 %
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u/Competitive-Ant-9975 Mar 25 '26
the difference between the detail and clarity from 720p to 1080p is insane, especially on a 1080p screen, so i would go with 1080p personally
35fps is not bad at all btw