Question Which GPU has high resolution GPU upscaling? (or fullscreen blur)

[Dinkydau]

I have a radeon HD 6970. I'm trying to use GPU scaling to upscale lower resolutions to my screen's native resolution of 3280×2016 but it doesn't always work. Upscaling 2560×1440 and lower works. When I try to upscale any larger resolution the setting automatically changes to "centered timings" which means the image does not get upscaled. I tried it it at least 4 different driver versions and with windows 7 and windows 10. I found a forum where someone mentions that the hardware scaler is limited to 3200×1800: https://forums.guru3d.com/threads/gpu-scaling-only-working-on-desktop-not-games.405503/#post-5227846

If that's the problem I need to look for a graphics card with a better scaler, but I don't know how I can tell

The graphics card mentioned in that thread is a "290X" which was released in 2013: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radeon_Rx_200_series . It can't do the upscaling from 2560×1440 or higher.
My laptop from 2012 which has a firepro M4000 GPU is able to upscale 3072 × 1728, tested with Custom resolution utility. Unfortunately I was limited by single link DVI bandwidth so I'm not sure if it can go up to the full 3280×2016, but at least it's higher. Unfortunately that means I can't just buy anything newer than 2012 and be fine. Some cards can do it, then some newer ones can't.

I should mention that I'm trying to do this mostly because I like the blurry appearance of a scaled image. I had been using only CRT monitors up to a few weeks ago. Now I have a TFT monitor and I miss the blur that a CRT adds. Text especially looks softer on a CRT and is easier to look at. LCD is too sharp. I know blur works because I tried it in photoshop and it makes it look better on LCD. I already adjusted ClearType settings in windows but that doesn't make it better. Blur or scaling does.

Does anyone have an idea what would be a good GPU to buy? These are the requirements:

• handle gpu upscaling from resolutions up to 3280×2016 OR have a setting that blurs the entire screen
• high quality upscaling or blur
• It doesn't have to be a gaming GPU.
• acceptable 3D performance for when I do want to play an older game like far cry
• at least one dual link DVI port and one single link DVI port, but 2 times dual link DVI is preferred
• color adjustment features
• support for multiple monitors, something like eyefinity would be great.

 

[nurturedhate]

Have you tried playing around w/ Window's ClearType feature? https://www.windowscentral.com/how-make-text-easier-read-using-cleartype-windows-10

Secondly, and I mean this with all sincerity, go get an eye exam. If you have been using CRTs for this long you are probably at least my age and that means it's time for more regular maintenance.

 

[Stuka87]

We cannot recommend a GPU without first knowing the rest of your system. Specifically, your CPU, motherboard, and power supply.

Also , what model is your display?

 

[Dinkydau]

Have you tried playing around w/ Window's ClearType feature? https://www.windowscentral.com/how-make-text-easier-read-using-cleartype-windows-10

Secondly, and I mean this with all sincerity, go get an eye exam. If you have been using CRTs for this long you are probably at least my age and that means it's time for more regular maintenance.

Yes, I tried some cleartype settings. It doesn't affect text in browsers and some other programs so I would like to have blur regardless.

I don't know why you recommend an eye exam. I'm 26 if that matters.

We cannot recommend a GPU without first knowing the rest of your system. Specifically, your CPU, motherboard, and power supply.

Also , what model is your display?

Okay. The display is Barco mdcc-6130. https://www.barco.com/en/product/coronis-fusion-6mp-dl-mdcc-6130
It's a radiology display with 2 × dual link DVI input. It's intended to be used with a Barco branded graphics card (with an AMD chip) with their own drivers that automatically configure eyefinity for you, making it look like 2 displays to the computer and 1 normal display to the user. It can be used with any other graphics card that has DVI output, though.

The rest of the system:
motherboard: asrock x99 extreme4
cpu: intel xeon e5-4667 v3 (16 cores, overclocked to 2,93 GHz using the bios hack from another thread at this forum)
power supply: corsair ax 750

 

[nurturedhate]

I don't know why you recommend an eye exam. I'm 26 if that matters.

You are looking for a software solution to introduce softness for text due to eye strain, being 26 would seem to make scheduling an routine eye checkup all the more pertinent (consideration to everything happening on earth atm) especially if you haven't had one since middle school like most people. Apologies if I offended, that was not the intent.

Edit: Looking at that monitor, do you have this issue with other screens you use?

 

[Dinkydau]

Okay, I understand.

I don´t know if I have this specific problem with other screens. In general I dislike most flat monitors. At work I use an LG flat monitor. It´s okay to use as long as there is enough light. When it gets dark outside it already starts to hurt my eyes a little even with the lights on in the office. I also have an old dell monitor that looks bad and a laptop screen that looks bad and I don't use them normally. I don´t know what it is exactly that makes them look bad. It's not just quality of colors. It's also the experience. I always notice the difference when I'm in stores as well. All monitors look bad to me except for apple monitors. My CRT monitors (sony fw900) are a pleasure to look at. It's kinda like with mechanical keyboards. Typing on a normal keyboard is just a way to provide necessary input to the computer, but using the right mechanical keyboard suddenly makes typing a pleasure. I feel the same about Neapolitan pizza. Normal pizza is good food, but Neapolitan pizza is an amazing experience to eat.

I expected to use the CRT monitors until no longer possible and then search for a second hand apple monitor. But then I got into a situation where someone was selling this Barco monitor and I had to decide quickly whether I'd buy it or not. I did it because of the high resolution and the colors seemed pretty realistic. Now that I have it I know what it truly looks like for day to day use. The colors are great indeed, but... the viewing angle is just barely acceptable and text is too sharp. I was comparing with a CRT monitor when I noticed the differences: CRTs automatically blur everything a little and have less contrast. I mimicked the effect by using photoshop to blur some screenshots with text in them and adjusted brightness and contrast with the monitor settings and the GPU settings. With those adjustments and the blur applied, I like how the screenshots look.

Blur doesn't just solve the eye strain problem; it makes the barco monitor look even better than the CRTs. Most importantly: I get that same feeling of pleasure when using it. That's what I have never experienced with any other flat screen before. It reminds me a little of how apple displays look like in the stores, but I haven't used an apple display for more than a few minutes or outside of a store, so I'm not sure. If only the viewing angle was better... that's an unfixable problem. So I will buy something better when I get the chance but I expect to use the mdcc-6130 for at least a few years. I used the sony fw900's from 2012 - 2020.

Sorry, I don't know if I should have said so much, but this is all the relevant information I have in response to your question.

 

[Stuka87]

Its curious that you say the view angle as bad, as this monitor is advertised as having IPS display, which typically have near perfect view angles. Are you sure it doesn't have a privacy filter on the screen? These are common in doctors offices and purposely make the view angle super bad.

Back to the video card bit, your system should support most any newer card. The problem will be that this morning requires dual-link DVI, which is basically a dead standard these days. But, still plenty of last gen cards that have them.

Here is one such card: https://www.newegg.com/sapphire-radeon-rx-550-100414p4gl/p/N82E16814202287

If you actually need two dual link DVI ports, thats a bit tougher to find. You have super cheap ones that wont run 4K, and expensive ones that are big gaming cards.

 

[DeathReborn]

Gigabyte make a 1060 3GB with 2x DL-DVI ports, it's not a cheap card new though. Model is: GV-N1060WF2OC-3GD - Newegg New: https://www.newegg.com/gigabyte-geforce-gtx-1060-gv-n1060wf2oc-3gd/p/N82E16814125906

 

[Dinkydau]

Thanks. How new does the card have to be to have upscaling for my resolution?

 

[nurturedhate]

Have you tried looking at a high refresh rate ips panel and does it have the same effect on your eyes?

 

[Dinkydau]

Its curious that you say the view angle as bad, as this monitor is advertised as having IPS display, which typically have near perfect view angles. Are you sure it doesn't have a privacy filter on the screen? These are common in doctors offices and purposely make the view angle super bad.

I forgot to reply to this. Good idea, I've seen such a thing once, but it's not like that. I can read text from almost any angle. When I look at the screen from a normal position the colors in the corners are off (too dark and too much blue). When I look straight at the pixels in the corners the colors are correct. It's interesting that the website says it has a "perfect" view from almost any angle, because I can find NO angle at which every pixel looks right. Maybe it was good at the time?The monitor settings indicate that it's 8 years old.

Have you tried looking at a high refresh rate ips panel and does it have the same effect on your eyes?

That shouldn't matter for static images like text, right? This type of screen doesn't flicker like CRTs. I don't have high refresh rate displays. What I can do is switch between 35 and 50 hz on the monitor. I can't tell the difference with static images. (btw, it can handle 60 hz by manipulating the EDID using custom resolution utility but for some reason I can't get that to work anymore right now).

 

[Mr Evil]

There are other things you could try, instead of upscaling:

1. Virtual Super Resolution: This lets you set a desktop resolution bigger than your monitor's resolution, then it's down-scaled to fit. It makes everything look soft, as it's effectively a form of anti-aliasing. I'm not sure if you can set a resolution >3280 wide on a 280X though (newer AMD cards can).
2. Windows DPI scaling: Increases the size of fonts and other UI elements. The effect of this varies per app, depending on whether they support it or not. Apps that support DPI scaling will have really smooth text; apps that don't support it will have blurry text.

 

[Dinkydau]

There are other things you could try, instead of upscaling:

1. Virtual Super Resolution: This lets you set a desktop resolution bigger than your monitor's resolution, then it's down-scaled to fit. It makes everything look soft, as it's effectively a form of anti-aliasing. I'm not sure if you can set a resolution >3280 wide on a 280X though (newer AMD cards can).
2. Windows DPI scaling: Increases the size of fonts and other UI elements. The effect of this varies per app, depending on whether they support it or not. Apps that support DPI scaling will have really smooth text; apps that don't support it will have blurry text.

Thanks. Because of your first idea I bought a second hand gtx 680 which has the nvidia equivalent of virtual super resolution. It works. The GPU is downscaling 3282×2017 to 3280×2016 which gives the blurry effect that I was after.

More details, also for future reference:

It works in windows 10 with driver 352.64. With windows 7 I can't get downscaling to work when the monitor is connected with 1 cable. It appears downscaling TO a resolution higher than 2560×1600 is not possible. I don't understand why. Luckily downscaling works in combination with surround (the nvidia equivalent of eyefinity). I already wanted to connect the monitor with 2 cables because then it can achieve a higher refresh rate. The GPU sees the monitor as two monitors with a resolution of 1640×2016. It has no problem downscaling 1641×2017 to 1640×2016 for 2 monitors that together form one surround monitor.

AMD eyefinity can't be combined with their gpu upscaling so that's something nvidia does better. I'm still disappointed by both companies' drivers. It's difficult to get configurations like this working. There are unexpected limits on resolutions with no error messages explaining why something doesn't work. When I got the idea of using upscaling I didn't expect it to require so much research and installing drivers versions and trying different operating systems to use a normal feature of the graphics cards.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I didn't expect it to require so much research and installing drivers versions and trying different operating systems to use a normal feature of the graphics cards.

Well, TBH, your needs are fairly niche, and most GPU vendors dont exhaustively test all "fringe" features of their drivers. Sometimes, they let bugs and mis- and missing- features languish for a few driver versions, or even maybe a years worth of drivers. (Nothing specific comes to mind, but I know that there have been sorts of issues in the past, a lot with CFX and SLI profiles, etc.)