Is it normal to play games at a lower resolution on a 4k monitor?

I received a 16:9 3840x2160 (4k) monitor from my dad on early December, because my old 4:3 1280x1024 monitor started to act weird.

I was very excited to have more space on my screen, which I very much needed. However, I saw a considerable performance drop playing many games at this resolution.

At this point I felt really guilty, since my parents have probably saved up a lot of money to buy this, yet they didn't realise that my specs aren't as up to date as the monitor itself is.

So I've settled with playing these games at a lower resolution for the time being. It will still take time to get used to, but at least they now run much smoother.

Have you guys had any similar experiences before, or also deliberately scaled down your resolution for performance boosts? I'd love to hear your opinion.

Voting Results
73% Normal
Based on 11 votes (8 yes)
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Comments ( 4 )
  • Shackleford96

    Did you have sex with the monitor afterwards? I feel like there's something missing here...

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  • Boojum

    Are your really parents likely to notice that you're using a lower resolution than the monitor can handle?

    If they do spot this, then they should also be tech-aware enough to understand that your video card can't cope well with 4K.

    I see no reason to feel guilty. You're using the new monitor and clearly grateful to have it. If your parents bought you a sports car that was capable of cruising at 180mph, would you feel guilty about driving slower when that was appropriate?

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  • IrishPotato

    I used to bottleneck the shit out of my computer when my girlfriend bought me a 1080. Felt kind of bad since it didn't really improve in performance at all, but since then I've updated my rig and I can fully enjoy her present.

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  • SKDM007

    monitors do not equal graphics, i could have a 8k monitor but if my graphics card is intel pentium then i cant possible play at a high res unless im comfortable with 2 fps so its fine, i do suggest getting a better graphics card though

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