4k monitor scaling for gaming

[Mussels]

Nvidia equivalent, since i just found it

 

[notb]

Is this true if even if you running at half the resolution, like the OP does?

Yes. That's the whole point of integer scaling (big topic in 2019).
Traditional scaling is built around interpolation, so it introduces some blur. Input/output ratio doesn't matter.

 

[Mussels]

Just tested the nvidia scaling option, hotdamn. 720p game setting, monitor reports 1440p

Yes its blurrier than native, but its a LOT clearer than non native res

 

[notb]

Yes its blurrier than native, but its a LOT clearer than non native res

It isn't more blurry (unless you have some issue with integer scaling). It's just less detailed. These are 2 different things.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Just tested the nvidia scaling option, hotdamn. 720p game setting, monitor reports 1440p

Yes its blurrier than native, but its a LOT clearer than non native res

Because GPUs will always scale better than monitors (they literally just sample different data from the memory and send it out) and because, as your picture shows, you're image sharpening too which reasonably compensates for loses from running at a lower resolution and upscaling.

Apparently NVIDIA decided to tie the two features together where AMD has them separate but I'm guessing one of the NVIDIA options is to sharpen without scaling too. In any case, as said before, there's three options here in graphics settings (no matter the vendor) you want to look at it:

GPU Scaling (decouple GPU render resolution from display resolution)
Image Sharpening (counters detail loss from reduced resolution)
Integer Scaling (maybe, depends on game really)

Integer scaling is great in a game like Terraria, Starbound, or Stardew Valley (pixel art). It's not good for a game like Crysis, Far Cry, Surviving Mars, or anything else that attempts to mimic reality.

 

[Mussels]

Can confirm that nvidia scaling works pretty well in 2D and 3D on a 4k monitor with 1080p res

Yes its not as clear as native res, but text was definitely readable and gaming FPS is obviously a world above

 

[ppn]

Of course it is blurry, There is a distance between the pixels, empty dark space, so the pixel will look less bright as well.

The scaling may be perfect but every pixel consists of four pixels with a dark line inbetween.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

That's not how GPU scaling works. Remember what a GPU actually has in its memory: meshes and verticies in 3D space. A GPU running at 4K and 1080p have the same fundamental data; the difference is that 1080p takes ‭2,073,600‬ samples of that data per frame while 4K is going to take ‭‭8,294,400‬ samples. A monitor scaler can't do that. It only has the samples it is given by the GPU and no more. They have to stretch that limited data to fill more pixels...it's not pretty because it starts from a low-information point of view unlike the GPU which starts from an high-information point of view. This is also why image sharpening is low cost, high returns for GPUs: it already knows where all the edges are because it's in the memory.‬

 

[ppn]

In the case of 1080p, it just displays 4 pixels. 4pixels are displaying the same thing, the same pixel. there is no scaling what soever. And you get a Cross pattern that separates them right in the middle. And you perceive that as blurred.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

In the case of 1080p, it just displays 4 pixels. 4pixels are displaying the same thing, the same pixel.

This statement is only true of integer scaling in the GPU. GPUs without integer scaling definitely won't (they work how I described). Monitor behavior depends entirely on how the scalar is designed to work in each model. Some (especially TVs) have really crappy scalers (sloppily approximate pixels); some have great scalers (they basically draw the frame, then resample the drawing before displaying it); some (like CRTs) don't have scalers at all (the pixels were never defined in the first place in the context of the display).

 

[ppn]

4k vs 1080
Forced scaling on the GPU now.

 

[notb]

4k vs 1080
Forced scaling on the GPU now.

That's not integer scaling (clearly).
Not supported by your GPU or wrong settings.

 

[Mussels]

how blurred it looks of course varies depending on the tech in the panel itself, pixels aren't exactly simple or identical between various screen technologies

 

[FordGT90Concept]

4k vs 1080
Forced scaling on the GPU now.

View attachment 143602View attachment 143603

On the left, 4K is able to add detail in between the leaves that 1080p leaves out so it has the appearance of bigger shadows. 4K has a sharper image than 1080p, as expected because more detail makes it through.

That image also makes my point: it's not just making 1 pixel of data cover 4. It's resampling in scaling which makes things blurrier/lose detail but that's inevitable in upscaling.