1080p has been the mainstream PC gaming resolution since the early 2010s.Just as it seemed like we were finally ready to move on to 1440p and 4K monitors, we’ve hit an unexpected wall this year.Rather than fading into obscurity, all signs point to 1080p remaining the dominant resolution now—and likely for years to come.
1080p should have died years ago If you were a gamer in the late 2000s and early 2010s, you probably remember just how massive the switch to 1080p as the mainstream resolution was.With the release of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and the dropping prices of 1080p monitors and TVs, Full HD was quickly forced into the mainstream.By 2012, the resolution already had a 25.6% share on the Steam Hardware Survey, making it the most popular resolution on gaming PCs.
That percentage soared over the next few years.Today, 13 years later, can you guess what percentage of users still game on 1080p on their PCs? 20%, maybe 30%? 52.6%.1440p follows with a 21.3% market share, and 4K sits just under 5%.
Believe it or not, more than half of all Steam gamers still play games at Full HD resolution—over a decade after it first went mainstream.On the one hand, this makes sense.We all rushed to jump to 1080p because it was a massive visual upgrade over our older, smaller monitors that only clocked in at 720p or 900p.
1080p hits that sweet spot where everything looks good enough at a normal viewing distance—you can't clearly see individual pixels, displays around 24 inches are large enough for most gamers, and, most importantly, you don’t need an extremely powerful PC to play games at 1080p.Even with a budget graphics card, you can easily push high frames on a 1080p display to get a smoother experience and a theoretical advantage in online games.Still, despite all these advantages of 1080p, you just can’t argue with the raw numbers and the subjective experience of using a higher resolution.
Displays with a resolution of 1440p—and especially 4K—are noticeably sharper, even as you increase in size, so everything from text and games to movies and web content looks better.I have a 1080p monitor next to my primary 1440p one, and the difference in text and image clarity alone is immediately noticeable.So why is it that, year after year, 1080p continues to dominate on PC, despite all the tech geeks telling everyone to upgrade? Related 1080p is dead, you just don't know it yet Full HD might be running on empty Posts 25 By Sydney Butler 1440p monitors are affordable, but GPU prices are preventing the upgrade As far as resolution goes, monitor prices would seem like the obvious culprit.
However, that hasn’t really been true for years now.You can regularly find high-refresh-rate 1440p monitors on sale for well under $200—I paid more for my 1080p monitor five years ago.Just to give a few examples, the ASRock Phantom Gaming PG27QFT2A is on sale for $155 right now, the Acer Nitro XV272U F3bmiiprx offers a 300Hz refresh rate for only $200, and the LG 27GS60QC-B is a curved monitor with HDR10, perfect for immersive cinematic games.
ASRock Phantom Gaming PG27QFT2A $155 $210 Save $55 Resolution 1440p The ASRock Phantom Gaming 27" QHD 2K 1440p 180Hz IPS monitor delivers a sharp 2560x1440 flat display with 180 Hz refresh rate and 1ms (MPRT) response time, making it a solid choice for competitive gamers.It features FreeSync, DisplayHDR 400, and ergonomic height/swivel/tilt adjustments.Screen Size 27 inches $155 at Newegg Expand Collapse If you want something fancier, there’s the AOC Q27G3XMN with mini-LED for $280.
Even premium OLED monitors, like the Odyssey OLED G50SF, can now be found on sale for just $350.That might sound expensive to some, but for context, I paid more for my IPS LG 27GR83Q-B when I bought it just last year.Unfortunately, while 1440p monitors are cheaper than ever, pretty much the exact opposite is true for graphics cards right now—they're now more expensive than ever, and it's especially bad when it comes to the topic of VRAM.
To play modern AAA games at 1440p, you need around 12GB (or ideally 16GB) of VRAM.This ensures assets like textures don’t spill over into system RAM, which can cause texture pop-in, significantly lower 1% low FPS, and other performance issues.It also helps with ray-tracing.
Of course, this is in addition to needing a more powerful GPU to render enough frames for smooth gameplay in demanding titles.Unfortunately, graphics card prices have soared in recent months due to the ongoing memory shortage.How-To Geek Report: Subscribe and never miss what matters Unlock your tech-savvy potential and master the digital world with How-To Geek.
Subscribe By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.You can unsubscribe anytime.Both NVIDIA and AMD are rumored to be prioritizing 8GB cards for 2026.
This is bad news for anyone looking to upgrade to 1440p, as you don’t want to pair a 1440p monitor with only 8GB of VRAM for demanding games—the resolution bump alone can push you close to max memory capacity without touching any other settings.One could argue that rendering games at 1080p and using DLSS/FSR upscaling to game at 1440p could be a good compromise.However, even at 1080p, game assets are often pushing close to (or even past) the 8GB limit.
Using upscaling only saves a bit of VRAM, and when a game forces you to lower texture quality and rely on more aggressive upscaling, the image quality isn’t much better than native 1080p.1080p could continue to dominate longer than anyone expected While 1440p monitors are cheaper than ever, graphics cards with more than 8GB of VRAM could remain out of reach for many people for the foreseeable future.1080p is easier to run, looks good enough for most users, and monitors are affordable, so all signs point to its continued dominance.
If you are still gaming on a 1080p monitor and cannot afford a card with more than 8GB of VRAM, it makes sense to stick with your current setup until prices come down.Alternatively, you could consider a used graphics card from a generation or two ago that offers more VRAM and move up to 1440p.I ran an RX 6800 XT in my system until a couple of months ago, and it still handles 1440p and even 4K fairly well, thanks to its 16GB of VRAM, even though FSR 4 is not yet available for it.
Related How to Buy a Used Graphics Card Without Getting Scammed A used GPU is a great way to save money on your PC build...as long as you don't get scammed.Posts 1 By Ismar Hrnjicevic
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