What scaling setting should I use? Display or GPU?

Discussion in 'Videocards - NVIDIA GeForce Drivers Section' started by jarablue, May 18, 2011.

  1. jarablue

    jarablue Member Guru

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    Should I use the GPU scaling or use my displays scaling? And should I choose aspect ratio or full screen? Thanks a lot!

    :)
     
  2. RagDoll_Effect

    RagDoll_Effect Ancient Guru

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    I would leave it on Display, because the compatibility will be tuned to the actual display... also, aspect ratio aswell...

    regards,
    RagDoll.
     
  3. ErebusGR

    ErebusGR Member

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    I tried both and saw no difference. *shrug*
     
  4. RagDoll_Effect

    RagDoll_Effect Ancient Guru

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    Yes, that is how it works, usually you'll see no difference at most resolutions, but on some rez and displays, there is scaling difference, that's why it's called scaling to a particular spec...
     

  5. Mufflore

    Mufflore Ancient Guru

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    As stated, either should work fine if the display has decent scaling.
    I have come across problems with using the display for scaling, in that sometimes it just doesnt do any scaling at all.
    Its possible that the driver wasnt sending the correct information but as its working fine now, I cant verify.

    3DM11 did this to me at first.
    The free version runs at 720p and remained at 720p unscaled on both my LCD and Plasma TV (didnt try GPU scaling as I couldnt be asked at the time).
    Since using more recent drivers, its now fine using display scaling.
    I dont know whether the change of driver made the difference or if it was the settings being reset by a new driver install.
     
  6. wasteomind

    wasteomind Guest

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    As stated above it depends on what you are using it for.

    For instance, when I used my old 24inch Dell monitor, I used display scaling because the monitor had many built in resolutions and had settings on it to fill the screen without stretching the picture. I absolutlely hate images that are stretched out of proportion.

    I now use a 40 inch Samsung LCD TV for my monitor, and it is missing a few useful resolutions, like 1680x1050. Also whenever it switches to a 4:3 resolution like 1600x1200, 1280x1024, or some older games that use 640x480 I would have to use the TV remote to constantly switch the aspect ratio because the gpu scaling in the drivers was broken. Even some newer games like World of Goo is designed for 800x600 resolution. The constant switching and stretching was driving me nuts.

    The monitor itself doesn't have any scaling features or options, only aspect correction, which could sometimes lead to images being squashed or stretched even when they are in the correct aspect.

    So I now use gpu scaling with aspect ratio correction so I don't have to fuss with the TV remote and constantly switching settings.

    Very nice feature now that it is fixed.

    So if all your programs use your native monitor resolution with no problem then this feature won't matter to you. If you play older games, or some new ones that use lower resolutions, then gpu scaling is for you if your monitor doesn't support it without stretching.

    One way to check if your scaling is working correctly, if you have a widescreen monitor and have 3d mark vantage. Vantage performance test runs at 1280x1024 I believe, so the image should look like a square in the middle of your screen with black bars on the sides. If the image is stretched to fit the full widescreen, it is not scaling to maintain aspect ratio correctly.

    EDIT also, you've posted in the Nvidia driver section, but your profile states you have a ATI card. Is this for a different system or did you forget to update your profile?
     
    Last edited: May 18, 2011
  7. IKnowJack

    IKnowJack Guest

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    on my samsung P2270H there is a slight difference in scaling, its more noticable on lower resolutions..eg scaling a 640x480 to 1920x1080..the lcds built in scaling makes things a little more blury than doing the scaling on the nvidia card.

    i think there would have to be some sort of trade off with scaling on the card...
    if the card is doing the scaling..its constantly pumping out pixels to the full res of the screen..eg 1920x1080 instead of just sending 640x480 to the screen..(it may only scale it up in the last pass..but.)
    wouldnt this cause additional load on the GPU? even if only small!
     
  8. Darkstar2

    Darkstar2 Guest

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    LCDs were meant to be used in their native resolution in the first place. This is the absolute best method of displaying an image. Whenever possible always use native resolution. I too have some older games and surprisingly all the ones that I have allow me to set the resolution to my monitors native (1920x1080( with 16:9 / 4:3 options as you want to make sure you have the correct aspect ratio for that particular game.

    Personally I find that my LCD monitor does a good job scaling. ( I have my sharpness settings increased and a few tweaks) and for games no complaints. Of course you will notice the effects of scaling especially on text and in some cases on games when you have a very bad scaler. 640x480 to 1920x1080 now I don't really advise that :p Remember that the LCD monitors are cheap and their scalers are nothing compared to professional video scalers costing $10,000 or the ones used on high-end LCD TVs. I'd say in general the GPU scalers are better sometimes. If the game has an aspect ratio correction option or ability to control that, it's even better. Just use both and judge for yourself which one works best for you, for your monitor. Most people won't notice anyways with games and high movement, unless your monitor is really bad.
    Whatever option you use, there is a tradeoff in quality, your image will never be as good as native, that's for sure. Some professional scalers process the image, enhance it, etc. the way the image is scaled with GPU or LCD you will notice the loss. Especially on older games, you might not like the way things look, upscaled to your native resolution.

    So to me,
    1) Use native whenever you can.
    2) Try GPU scaling, make sure you can control aspect ratio in your game, otherwise some older games will be stretched sideways when they were intended to be displayed in 4:3.
    3) Try display scaling, (try raising the sharpness control in your monitor's setup) this may HELP sharpen the edges a bit (in my case it helps a lot with some games).
     
  9. SaiBork

    SaiBork Master Guru

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    Really? You randomly find a thread from 05-19-2011, 20:30 and then respond to it?

    But on-topic for me: GPU as my display's scaling often doesn't work properly.
     
  10. CK the Greek

    CK the Greek Maha Guru

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    Lol..it really depends on monitor (too), a good one doesn't need changing to GPU, for TVs or cheap/not good monitors GPU is better.
     

  11. MrBonk

    MrBonk Guest

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    I doubt the display scaling will be any better. Usually it isn't really any better than the ugly bilinear scaling of the GPU. Setting it to No scaling and using the GPU allows you to use a lower resolution at 1:1 scaling on your monitor. Which can be very useful at times.

    Beyond that and custom resolutions,which don't look great, not much else use for it.
     
  12. VAlbomb

    VAlbomb Guest

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    I have vague memories of someone from Nvidia mentioning that the GPU scaling was slower.

    Personally I use Display scaling and you should just let the display do it unless it has really bad scaling, like some 4K monitors who don't do 2x2 scaling.
     
  13. Prophet

    Prophet Master Guru

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    Display scaling should be more responsive. Also don't forget you need to reinstall your driver each time you change that setting. Otherwise you will get some stutters. No clean install, no uninstall/reinstall. Just install it over and have 'clean install' unticked.
     
  14. dr_rus

    dr_rus Ancient Guru

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    You don't need to that at all.
     
  15. GuruKnight

    GuruKnight Guest

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    There isn't really any reason to mess around with display scaling anymore, since the introduction of DSR.
    Now with higher levels of "manual" downsampling or custom resolutions that is another matter.

    And with modern 1440P or 2160P monitors, I really also would recommend just leaving these settings at driver default.
     

  16. SaiBork

    SaiBork Master Guru

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    There is a need if your screen messes it up when a game's default settings start in a lower resolution and therefore either doesn't get displayed or looks all stretched.
     
  17. GuruKnight

    GuruKnight Guest

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    Change the resolution ingame then?
    Either way I never experienced any such problems with either of my 1080P or 1200P monitors or my new 4K Asus PG27AQ.
     
    Last edited: Apr 23, 2016
  18. GanjaStar

    GanjaStar Guest

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    not an issue here ever either on gtx 600 series, 900 series, nor win7/win10.

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    In my experience, older games (dx 9 and older)require gpu scaling and the "override" checkbox ticked, while most newer games will usually work with both display and gpu scaling.

    GPU scaling though is the one you wanna use if display doesn't scale properly.

    Actually DSR in certain games costs more than the exact same custom resolution. Not to mention with custom resolutions you have pixel level control while DSR offers just a few different resolutions.

    Also scaling is very useful for older games that come from the 4:3 era and don't have proper widescreen support or a fan widescreen patch.

    Max payne 1 and 2 without scaling? hello chubby shorty max :)

    well it's only logical. you are using your gpu to compute the scaling. it's a tiny performance hit though, 1-3 % of gpu usage increase at most.
     
    Last edited: Apr 23, 2016
  19. Prophet

    Prophet Master Guru

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    Yes, you have claimed this before, however I and others get stuttering if we don't do this despite your claims.
     
  20. Cyberdyne

    Cyberdyne Guest

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    If jarablue hasn't found his preference in the past 5 years I think it's safe to say there is no hope for him. I'm sure this is all for his benefit and not for the sake of arguing with each other, but jarablue will be OK.
     

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