Gaming in non-native resolution on retina iMac

[Mac32]

Hi!

I know there have been some threads about this issue already, but it's still a bit unclear to me.

I've been using a late 2012 iMac 27' (Nvidia 680MX), and it's been great for occasional gaming. I'm now considering buying a new iMac 27'. I notice when gaming in 1920x1080 the image becomes (in addition to the decreased resolution) washed out and blurry, because the monitor is not running in native resolution.

Obviously gaming with the retina resolution is not realistic, and I would continue to use 2560x1440. So how would the latest 27' retina iMac look in 2560x1440, vs. my late 2012 iMac in native resolution? (I mostly play older games like STALKER w/mods.) Will I get a more washed out and blurry image? If so, how big is the difference?

Thanks!

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Hi!

I know there have been some threads about this issue already, but it's still a bit unclear to me.

I've been using a late 2012 iMac 27' (Nvidia 680MX), and it's been great for occasional gaming. I'm now considering buying a new iMac 27'. I notice when gaming in 1920x1080 the image becomes (in addition to the decreased resolution) washed out and blurry, because the monitor is not running in native resolution.

Obviously gaming with the retina resolution is not realistic, and I would continue to use 2560x1440. So how would the latest 27' retina iMac look in 2560x1440, vs. my late 2012 iMac in native resolution? (I mostly play older games like STALKER w/mods.) Will I get a more washed out and blurry image? If so, how big is the difference?

Thanks!

The retina iMac displays in 1440p by default anyway, otherwise it would be so small it would be unreadable, they haven’t got the graphical grunt to run 5k gaming anyway (very little has short of two graphics cards in SLI). It will look great don’t worry about it.

 

[Mac32]

Thanks for the comment, but I would really appreciate someone who have experience with both monitors to give their insight. Anyone?

 

[cynics]

Thanks for the comment, but I would really appreciate someone who have experience with both monitors to give their insight. Anyone?

I have experience with both but haven't invested a lot of time gaming on a 5k iMac.

To explain further on the post before yours. 5k is 5120x2880, this resolution scales evenly into 1440 (5120x2880 / 2 = 2560x1440) so it should look pretty good.

Since it scales evenly it will look better however keep in mind you will be used to looking at 5k for the most part. Lower resolutions will look blurry by comparison even at native resolutions. However I think you'll be happy with it.