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For 1080p PC players: Get Better FPS + 21:9 ultra wide by making it not 1080p

I don't have the cash to get a really nice monitor with a GPU that can run it at high resolutions and high framerates. Also, I'm a competitive gamer on PC, so I love my ASUS 144hz monitor.

Something I have started doing in ALL games that support it, is display my games in 21:9 (1920x810) on my 16:9 monitor. Why do this? You are displaying less pixels as a whole and increase performance, while you actually get a wider peripheral view in games. I love this for my single player gaming, which gives you a more cinematic feel with wider peripherals (DooM, Dishonored, Alien Isolation, Hitman). I enjoy it in my sim racing games like Assetto Corsa, so now I can see my mirrors better and where cars are relative to my position. What I really love it for is competitive games like CSGO, Rainbow Six Siege, Battlefield 1, and Rocket League. I can now take full advantage of the wider peripherals and hold angles better due to being able to see more to the left and right, while still seeing the same amount of information up and down. As long as you don't mind small black bars above and below your image, you will probably love this! Most of us watch movies with black bars, so I really don't think it's hard to get adjusted to. If you are like me and play a lot of your PC games on a TV, the black bars are even less of a problem.

Screenshot Compilation
Rocket League:
0iDqbox.jpg

NAmlEw6.png

DPsw0AZ.png

cgbzFX2.png


Counter Strike Global Offensive:
tKlyndK.png

3fMazLX.png

GX8HfgM.png

7OxG5Jq.png



Rainbow Six Siege:
ovK5Yih.png

bjpw0jV.png

4NbLRkR.png

us2ScZY.png


Assetto Corsa:
6jsiCzk.png

jZTqZNn.png

You'll hopefully notice how useful this is in games and gives you an immediately noticeable upper hand. It allows you to hold some more unorthodox angles in first person shooters, because you can see more than the usual player. It also allows you to see even more if you crank up your FOV in games, but I like how I can keep the FOV's at default settings and still see more than other players without getting that weird warping fish eye effect on the edges of the screen.

How do you do this?
giphy.gif

Pardon the low quality GIF, but this is what you do:
1.) Open NVIDIA control panel
2.) Go to the "Change resolution" tab on the left
3.) Click "Customize..."
4.) Tick the "Enable resolutions not exposed by the display"
5.) Click "Create Custom Resolution"
6.) Change Vertical Lines to 810, leave Horizontal at 1920.
7.) Click "Test"

You might need to go back to the "customize" section and tick your resolution to enable it as an available resolution. Congrats, now you should see the resolution 1920x810 in games that support arbitrary resolutions!
***IMPORTANT***
Makes sure you have "no scaling" enabled in the "Adjust desktop size and position" tab. This prevents the resolution from getting stretched across your screen.

Like so:
WAwi3WY.png


Hope this helps--feel free to ask any questions.

=D

Edit:
Thanks to:

Found some Dishonored 2 examples. It's a nice idea if you don't mind the bars. 16:9 was giving me 51fps and 21:9 gave me 58fps.

dishonored2_2017_03_1dojxz.jpg

image1y9bqj.jpg

Question regarding if simply increasing FOV in-game can achieve this:
This is a decent way of demonstrating it:

Here, I have the in-game FOV slider set to the default 60. First pic is 1080p (@85fps) and second is 1920x810 (@115fps--nice leap!):
0uQFlhz.png

NrrD9zp.png


Here, I cranked up the in-game FOV slider to the maximum of 90. Here, the frame rate difference stays about the same from the last set of pics:
9FKEfVw.png

VJxAovM.png

So, you can gain fps and gain peripherals with a more balanced look and avoiding the scaling problems that you get on 16:9 aspect ratio with high FOV's. However, as this demonstrated, you can crank up the in-engine FOV higher still and achieve even more peripheral vision, but with the fish eye on both. In Rainbow Six, I usually set my in-game FOV to about 75. 75 FOV stretches the sides in 16:9, but doesn't in the custom resolution.
 

RS4-

Member
I do the same on my 4k tv. 3840x1600, 3440x1440, etc. Easier for me to drive games at that res instead of 2160p.

Except in Overwatch, because it's considered "cheating" lolol, and they crop the screen anyway, by a huge amount.
 
What % of the screen is black bars with this setting?

I'll try and post a screenshot that demonstrates this, but it's literally the same amount of black bars or less that you would see while watching a movie on a TV.

thats not 1080p thats like 800p!!!

Can't tell the difference in clarity when you play most games. It looks great. If someone is a resolution snob, this is obviously not for them and will probably have a high end monitor GPU combo anyways.
 

Caayn

Member
Why not just alter the FOV and use the entire screen?

I'm a happy owner of a 21:9 screen but I don't understand why people want to voluntarily play with black bars.
 

Waaghals

Member
That was a perfect first post.

That being said, I see no problem doing that if you want to, assuming you prevent the screen/gpu from stretching the image.
 

gngf123

Member
As long as you don't mind small black bars above and below your image, you will probably love this!

I moved away from my 16:10 monitor that I really liked just because it absolutely sucked that some games didn't support the resolution and decided to use black bars instead.

Fuck black bars.
 

DOWN

Banned
Why not just alter the FOV and use the entire screen?

I'm a happy owner of a 21:9 screen but I don't understand why people want to voluntarily play with black bars.
I never understand people who have a problem with black bars. A good aspect ratio is what's important. Not that the aspect ratio of specific content doesn't need your whole screen. Do y'all get this perplexed when people like Blu-Ray and the aesthetic those have at their ratio?
 
This topic is offensive. Black bars in games (not movies) is atrocious. Characters and HUD elements already take up too much space as it is nowadays, I'm not making it smaller.
 
This topic is offensive. Black bars in games (not movies) is atrocious. Characters and HUD elements already take up too much space as it is nowadays, I'm not making it smaller.

LOL I'm sorry for offending you dear.

I really don't see how it's a big deal for many. The HUD elements remain in the same position, if not further away from the central location of the screen. You are misunderstanding how this works.
 

mlclmtckr

Banned
I moved away from my 16:10 monitor that I really liked just because it absolutely sucked that some games didn't support the resolution and decided to use black bars instead.

Fuck black bars.

Wait so did you move to 16:9?

I don't understand how black bars are worse than just having a shorter screen.
 
LOL I'm sorry for offending you dear.

I really don't see how it's a big deal for many. The HUD elements remain in the same position, if not further away from the central location of the screen. You are misunderstanding how this works.

Lol I'm not misunderstanding at all, I know exactly how it works.

Also I'm not actually offended, but it's a terrible idea.
 
Why not just alter the FOV and use the entire screen?

I'm a happy owner of a 21:9 screen but I don't understand why people want to voluntarily play with black bars.

When you increase the FOV on a regular 16:9 aspect ratio, you get a strange warping on the edge of the screen and get a fish eye effect. This prevents that entirely. Also, if you increase the FOV in this custom resolution, you can see even more than a 16:9 higher FOV.

It's just about options.
 
Lol I'm not misunderstanding at all, I know exactly how it works.

Also I'm not actually offended, but it's a terrible idea.

=(

I don't know why you gotta be a big meanie poop head about it ;)

If you don't like it, then don't use it. For some of us, this is a great option. I thought I would hate it, but I tried it and ended up loving it.
 

Nzyme32

Member
I'm actually with you on this OP. With thanks to Dr Dogg quite a while back I also messed around with this on my now 6 year old laptop

It was perfectly fine for doing 30fps gaming at its native 1366x768, but when it came to games that I was close to getting 60fps when I was just a bit off, this proved a good compromise when I absolutely wanted to play. By no means ideal, but since IQ and 60fps is what I needed most, this works well. Don't use that laptop since last year, but made it work (so long as those games were compatible)

Also a good little test to experiment with 21:9 if you haven't before.
 

Anteater

Member
that's what I used to do with some games on my old gpu when dropping settings weren't improving the framerate much, it was an alternative to going sub hd-stretched, although the annoying thing was that not all games support the res/aspect ratio
 

Rookhelm

Member
could you use a higher 21:9 ratio that isn't 800 x 1920?

Would that be worse? Can't say I know a whole lot about resolutions
 

gngf123

Member
Wait so did you move to 16:9?

I don't understand how black bars are worse than just having a shorter screen.

I used the chance to move to a larger screen (in both physical size and resolution). It was a definite upgrade, so I don't have any regrets. The black bars in some games were just motivation for the upgrade.
 
bad idea in cs, as their heads become smaller and farther away.

I thought this was the case, but when I tried it, it wasn't a problem at all. Maybe I'm a freak, but I'm already good at the game, so it didn't affect me at all. Just like how some people try to make heads larger by putting it in 4:3, I think it's just in people's heads.

could you use a higher 21:9 ratio that isn't 800 x 1920?

Would that be worse? Can't say I know a whole lot about resolutions

Not for 21:9, but you could probably scale it to something like 1920x810+ and get more to the sides, but not getting as much peripheral view.
 

Hopeford

Member
I love doing this. I don't think the performance gains are that noticeable, but I still enjoy the aspect ratio and I haven't gotten around to getting an actual 21:9 monitor yet so this works.
 
could you use a higher 21:9 ratio that isn't 800 x 1920?

Would that be worse? Can't say I know a whole lot about resolutions

The goal is to keep the horizontal res the same so no stretching occurs, so 1920 if you have a 1920x1080 monitor or 2560 if you have a 2560x1440 monitor
 

Tagg9

Member
That's ridiculous to waste screen real estate like that.

It's akin to playing retro games on a 65" TV at the original resolution (eg. 320x240 when the TV resolution is 4K, taking up 1/12th of the screen).
 

Iced

Member
This is interesting. I'll give it a try tonight!

that's what I used to do with some games on my old gpu when dropping settings weren't improving the framerate much, it was an alternative to going sub hd-stretched, although the annoying thing was that not all games support the res/aspect ratio

This would be my concern as well. OP, can you comment on any games not working well with the custom ratio?
 

Rell

Member
Everyone gets so weird about letterboxing and towerboxing and I don't get it. You only notice it for like ten minutes.

Maintaining aspect ratio is priority number one (regardless of your choice of aspect ratio).

Does everyone also hate true theatrical aspect ratios(1.85:1, 2.39:1, etc) on 16:9 wide screen TVs because they're letterboxed?
 
I never understand people who have a problem with black bars. A good aspect ratio is what's important. Not that the aspect ratio of specific content doesn't need your whole screen. Do y'all get this perplexed when people like Blu-Ray and the aesthetic those have at their ratio?


Nearly all games are designed around a 16:9 aspect ratio... This is not the same as movies which are designed around theaters/imax and then "cut" or boxed to fit.
 

RS4-

Member
could you use a higher 21:9 ratio that isn't 800 x 1920?

Would that be worse? Can't say I know a whole lot about resolutions

Depends on your monitor if the custom resolution holds when you create one in the nvidia/amd control panel.

I think I used to be able to run 2560x1440 outside a game, then play Dota 2 at 2560x1080.
 
I don't understand why people have to be so harsh about stating that they don't like it.

This is an option for those who would like to try 21:9 without the warping effect of just raising the FOV.

It's also something that is accessible in that if you don't have the best hardware you can still try it without having to spend tons of cash on 21:9.

This is obviously not for resolution snobs but a possible solution or cool thing to try for those who aren't.

Good grief guys, it's not like this is going to become the standard or anything. I sometimes wonder if ya'll go around all day being openly harsh and defensive at literally everything in life that you don't prefer if you see that others do... Not everyone needs to like the same things you do. Good grief.
 

TronLight

Everybody is Mikkelsexual
21:9 is the superior ratio, 16:9 it's the 30fps of aspect ratios.

Sucks that 21:9 display are so expensive. :( This is a decent workaround, I've done it before.
 
Good grief guys, it's not like this is going to become the standard or anything. I sometimes wonder if ya'll go around all day being openly harsh and defensive at literally everything in life that you don't prefer if you see that others do... Not everyone needs to like the same things you do. Good grief.

Thanks for this. You stated it better than I could have. I'm just trying to help the community and give options and how to do it...

=(

Jesus, that view sure adds more stuff to the screen... PC Being pay to win confirmed ��


Yup...if anything it's just great to try and see if you like it. It gives me so much more info on the screen it's great.

downsides of letterboxing:

-game wasn't designed for that aspect ratio
-IPS or TN glow in a dimly lit room or less than bright and colorful game
-moving monitor closer blocks sound from your speakers
-moving monitor closer doesn't give you room for ergonomic keyboard usage
-moving monitor closer means you need to wear glasses

if none of those are an issue, I'm all for it

I have a 24 inch monitor and it's not too small looking. I use headphones too. However, a lot of people have bigger 1080p monitors, so size will even be less of an issue.
 

orborborb

Member
downsides of letterboxing:

-game wasn't designed for that aspect ratio
-IPS or TN glow in a dimly lit room or less than bright and colorful game
-moving monitor closer blocks sound from your speakers
-moving monitor closer doesn't give you room for ergonomic keyboard and mouse usage
-moving monitor closer means you need to wear glasses

if none of those are an issue, I'm all for it

edit: 810p is plenty for current detail levels in most games unless they've got a lot of UI text or you're standing still looking at things alot
 
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