1080p Vs 720p

When it comes to gaming, screen resolution is important. While you need to take into consideration the resolution of the graphics card in your PC build, without a good screen resolution, you will be unable to unlock a GPU’s full potential.

In this article, we will be taking a look at both of the resolutions in more detail. We will be discussing which one is better for gaming, and how they are different from each other.

First, let’s take a look at a 720p resolution. 720p is more commonly referred to as Hi-def, Hi-Definition, and the most popular being HD.

720p is typically used by the majority of HDTV broadcasting channels. The 720p is the format in which the picture is displayed, and the screen resolution that is used is 1280×720.

720p is often seen to be inferior to 1080p or 1440p due to its smaller size. However, when looking at the resolution, the size of the screen you are using is important. If you are using a 720p format on a large 40-inch flat-screen tv, the picture quality is not going to be great. But, if you are using a mobile device or small monitor, a 720p resolution will be clearer.

The number 720 represents how many pixels high the overall resolution is. In this instance, the height is 720 pixels. The p represents how the pixels on the screen display themselves, which is progressive. In a progressive picture, all of the pixels in a resolution are displayed simultaneously. There is no slight lag or alternating lines as there are with an interlaced picture. Progressive pictures provide a better image quality.

While 720p is acceptable for smaller screens, the overall image quality is not fantastic. As it has a smaller number of pixels in comparison to 1080p, it will not provide as great of a resolution. This means that your overall gameplay experience will be limited.

Typically, the higher the resolution of the screen, the better the graphics will be. The majority of gamers will not game with a 720p resolution as it does not provide enough detail, especially for next-gen, AAA, or MMO games. However, for general TV watching, this resolution is not the most popular choice, but it is acceptable.

Given how intricate games are becoming, the better the resolution of your screen, the better your overall gameplay and experience will be.

1080p is equivalent to a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080. As this resolution has almost double the number of pixels in comparison to the 720p, the overall image quality will be twice as good. The images will be a lot sharper and crisp too.

Similar to the 720p resolution, the 1080p uses progressive scanning, which provides a better image quality. When looking at which resolution is used the most, 1080p is by far the most common resolution. The aspect ratio for both resolutions is 16:9.

While 1440p and 4K resolutions are available, 1080p is still the preferred choice for the majority of gamers. This is because the image quality is still great overall and the resolution does not lag at all.  Sometimes the increased resolution of 4K can slow gameplay.

1080p is more commonly known as Full HD or FHD. While 720p is still a commonly used HDTV format, it is slowly becoming replaced by the superior 1080p. There is no competition when it comes to which of the two will provide the better picture and overall quality for gameplay.

While 720p is acceptable to watch TV shows or movies in and it is the resolution used by many popular streaming services, it does not work as well for gaming.

In gaming, anti-aliasing can be a problem. If you are unsure of this term, it refers to the minimization of picture distortion. When an image or video is low resolution and it is displayed in a larger resolution than it is intended for, there are not enough pixels in the image for it to remain clear at a larger resolution.

Given this, the picture can become distorted and not as crisp or clear. In gaming, you will want as little spatial anti-aliasing as possible. Given this, 1080p will provide a better resolution in comparison to the 720p because it displays a clearer picture.

While it may be more difficult to tell the difference between the resolutions on a smaller screen, the larger the screen and the more intricate the game, the more obvious the difference in the resolutions will be.
1080p monitors and screens are fairly reasonably priced, especially in comparison to a 1440p or 4K resolution. Given that gaming at this resolution is preferred, there is no real need to splurge on the highest spec tv. A good-sized and quality 1080p TV or screen is more than substantial.

Related Pages

• 1080p vs 1080i
• 1080p vs 1440p
• 1080p vs 4K
• Is 1440p 4K?

1080p is the optimum resolution for gaming. It provides a clean and crisp image overall. It should not slow your gameplay down at all and it is superior to 720p.

While you may get away with having a 720p resolution on a smaller screen, if you want to take gaming more seriously, 1080p is the better option. While you can choose a 1440p or a 4K resolution, it is not currently the preferred resolution. However, these resolutions are likely to be more future-proof in future years.

If you have the option to choose between 720p and 1080p, 1080p is easily the better and clearer option overall. It is also the default resolution for the vast majority of TVs and monitors currently.

However, if you only have a 720p resolution TV or monitor available it is still possible to game on it, but the overall gaming experience will be limited to an extent.