FAQ
I can't get the AMDDownsamplingGui utility to run.
You need 'Java'. Download it from here:
http://java.com/en/
I can't get my display to work with anything higher than 2560x1440 or 2560x1600.
For most display devices this may not be possible. A list containing display devices that can go higher with confirmed maximum resolutions can be found at the top of this page. (Thanks to WhiteLighting for spotting these.)
I can not change the tick box 'hide modes that this monitor can not display' as it is greyed out in advanced display properties.
You can try one of the custom monitor inf files posted in the guide. This has worked for most. (Thanks to teleguy for spotting these.)
After changing the display resolution for my HDMI display most colours are darker or otherwise not correct.
The display may have switched to RGB limited when using a custom resolution. Changing to 'non standard' in the HDMI options should make the display run at full RGB. (Thanks to Derko1 for pointing this out.)
For some reason this is only allowing me to add the new resolution to the right monitor, not my middle (primary) one. Any ideas?
Apply it for each monitor by making the one you are using the primary and disabling the second; then apply the new settings from the single enabled display. This is what I had to do to get it to wok for my HDTV while my LCD was connected. There might be another way to do this by altering the display Index number at the top of the utility, I did not however try this.
Does the downsampling still work if I choose the custom resolution in windows and in-game?
It should work fine whether you use the custom resolution from windows and games or only in games. I would recommend just using it in games as the much higher resolution will probably make it difficult to navigate the desktop.
Will using this utility result in increased cpu usage for heavily cpu bound games like Skyrim?
Actually, running at a higher 'display' resolution should have very little effect on cpu usage or, more likely, reduce it slightly. Display resolution is not directly linked to CPU usage. Instead, a higher or lower display resolution increases or reduces GPU usage, respectively. All other things being equal, a higher GPU load means less data required from the CPU and therefore lower CPU usage.
In the specific case of Skyrim, the shadows, A.I, water and other physics are CPU based so the CPU is indeed quite important, however running the game at a higher resolution will not change the number of calculations for any of these as the CPU based (internal) shadow resolution does not change, neither will the water/physics calculations increase with resolution. What will change is that the GPU will be busier rendering everything at a higher resolution and therefore will refer to the CPU for data less often.
How much performance will I lose when using downsampling?
This will depend entirely on the game in question. In most cases the performance impact will be proportional to the increase in resolution or total number of pixels, however graphics card memory may also need to be considered. Overall this method should provide image quality comparable to full screen antialiasing but with far less compatibility issues and in many cases higher performance. The downside is that in some cases game menus may become harder to read, fortunately many games (for e.g. Arma 2) allow you to increase the size of the UI and in some it auto-adjusts (for e.g. Need for Speed: The Run).
