Question Will Nvidia's integer scaling make playing a game at 1080p on a 4k panel look as sharp as playing it on a 1080p panel?

[SteveGrabowski]

I'm looking at getting a monitor with FreeSync or GSync and would play most of my PC games at 1080p, since my gpu is a GTX 1660 Super and no way I'm doing a gpu upgrade any time soon with what they cost. I was originally going to buy a 2160p panel because I naively figured 1080p on a 2160p panel would look just like if it was a 1080p panel of the same size because 2160p is 4x 1080p, an integer scale. Almost bought a 2160p panel today only to read that 1080p looks like total crap a lot of the time on 2160p because of the monitor's upscaling blurring it. But then I saw Nvidia offers integer scaling in the drivers for Turing and newer. So if I turn this setting on are my 1080p AAA games going to look as sharp as they would on a 1080p panel if I ran them on a 2160p panel of the same size? Would be nice if so since I could then run my PS5 at 2160p on the panel too. Or will 1080p AAA gaming always look like garbage on a 2160p monitor? Nvidia seemed to be marketing it for playing 2D pixel art games and not so much for AAA games so I wonder.

Figured I'd ask in the gpu section since the integer scaling is an option in Nvidia's drivers.

 

[amenx]

how do you put it on the wall if the desk is full of shelves like he said.. (the shelves block the wall my mom has the same issue but since nothing on the shelves are important she placed the monitor in front of the shelfs and just blocked them with a 42" 4k.

I mean for others pondering the same question. It seems a widespread misconception that large displays for PC usage need to be on the desk. Whereas wall mounting can be a more practical option.

 

[killster1]

I mean for others pondering the same question. It seems a widespread misconception that large displays for PC usage need to be on the desk. Whereas wall mounting can be a more practical option.

i like to put my keyboard and mouse on a pile of doughnuts instead of a desk what do you use?

maybe the keyboard and mouse are attached to a arm on the wall that bends down?

 

[amenx]

i like to put my keyboard and mouse on a pile of doughnuts instead of a desk what do you use?

maybe the keyboard and mouse are attached to a arm on the wall that bends down?

Not sure why simple matters seem to confuse you . If you need pics to understand things, here you go. 43" TV mounted a couple inches above desk:

 

[MrTeal]

Yes, now if your desk had a hutch with shelves on it, where would you mount the monitor?

I had a 43" 4k for several years, and while it was great for CAD work a display that large isn't for everyone especially at typical desk distances.

 

[Stuka87]

Yes, now if your desk had a hutch with shelves on it, where would you mount the monitor?

I had a 43" 4k for several years, and while it was great for CAD work a display that large isn't for everyone especially at typical desk distances.

Exactly. You need to be much farther away to use a 43" compared to a 28". I have a 27", and there is no way I would want anything larger. I actually had a 32", and I downsized.

 

[BFG10K]

Integer scaling is point sampling, which means 1080p on 4K looks exactly like 1080p native at the same display size. So it's useful for any game at lower res, not just pixel art.

If it's not filling the screen or doesn't look better than other scaling, it's not working properly. It has to be done at very specific dimensions entirely from the GPU side so the monitor has no opportunity to scale.

 

[amenx]

Exactly. You need to be much farther away to use a 43" compared to a 28". I have a 27", and there is no way I would want anything larger. I actually had a 32", and I downsized.

Not an issue. Wall mounted above desk you can pull the desk out a few inches. When gaming (with controller) you can sit further back. Regular PC work, you use smaller windows, not full screen. So far, 43" is the most practical screen size I've ever used.

 

[amenx]

Integer scaling is point sampling, which means 1080p on 4K looks exactly like 1080p native at the same display size. So it's useful for any game at lower res, not just pixel art.

If it's not filling the screen or doesn't look better than other scaling, it's not working properly. It has to be done at very specific dimensions entirely from the GPU side so the monitor has no opportunity to scale.

'Not working properly' if its not filling the screen? Hmm, I thought that was the way it works. Which is why I tended to avoid integer scaling. It does look OK on high res screens, just the shrunken window is what bugs me. Would be great to find a workaround to that.

 

[BFG10K]

'Not working properly' if its not filling the screen? Hmm, I thought that was the way it works.

Nope, that's 1:1 scaling, which has been around for eternity.

Would be great to find a workaround to that.

There is - integer scaling.

 

[amenx]

Nope, that's 1:1 scaling, which has been around for eternity.


There is - integer scaling.

I'm familiar with the integer scaling in Nvidias CP, but why does it do 1:1 when selected? If on 4k screen and choosing a game set to 1440p, is it supposed to fill the whole screen? Never found it to work for me (even when over-riding the scaling mode set by games and programs). There not like a lot of options to tinker with there.

 

[maddie]

I'm familiar with the integer scaling in Nvidias CP, but why does it do 1:1 when selected? If on 4k screen and choosing a game set to 1440p, is it supposed to fill the whole screen? Never found it to work for me (even when over-riding the scaling mode set by games and programs). There not like a lot of options to tinker with there.

Integer.
Whole numbers.
1, 2, 3, 4, etc.
4K / 2,3,4.
3840, 1920, 1280, 960.

No 1440p.

 

[Stuka87]

Not an issue. Wall mounted above desk you can pull the desk out a few inches. When gaming (with controller) you can sit further back. Regular PC work, you use smaller windows, not full screen. So far, 43" is the most practical screen size I've ever used.

Ok dude. Obviously everybody else is wrong. Everybody should be using a giant TV and move their desks out into the middle of their rooms so that the big TV ends up having the same view size as a 27". I am sure everybody will love having to move their head back and forth to look at different parts of the screen, because neck issues be damned.

 

[amenx]

Integer.
Whole numbers.
1, 2, 3, 4, etc.
4K / 2,3,4.
3840, 1920, 1280, 960.

No 1440p.

Thank you. Tried it and it seems to work fine, just too softened. Things become too big, 1080p isnt meant for closer up large screens. Can see it working well with small 4k screens (24-27"), but then what would be the point when you could just get a 1080p display.

 

[amenx]

Ok dude. Obviously everybody else is wrong. Everybody should be using a giant TV and move their desks out into the middle of their rooms so that the big TV ends up having the same view size as a 27". I am sure everybody will love having to move their head back and forth to look at different parts of the screen, because neck issues be damned.

People have preferences, never said everyone was wrong. You do your argument no good when you feel the need to exaggerate things to make it seem that you have a more valid point, you dont. There are even larger screens designed for desktop usage (49" ultra-wides). And ppl using 48" OLED TVs for desktop and happy with it. My neck is perfectly fine, thank you.

 

[maddie]

Thank you. Tried it and it seems to work fine, just too softened. Things become too big, 1080p isnt meant for closer up large screens. Can see it working well with small 4k screens (24-27"), but then what would be the point when you could just get a 1080p display.

I'm planning on a 32" 4K and using 2:1 integer scaling for gaming, thus no need for a high end GPU.

 

[CP5670]

I use integer scaling for some old games and emulators that run in 640x480. It upscales them to 2560x1920 with a black border on a 4K display. It depends on the game though, some actually look better with the filtering and interpolation from the regular aspect ratio scaling. You can just sit back further from the display when playing such games.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

Ended up buying the Asus VG289Q1A 4k panel and gotta say I'm quite happy with it. The monitor's upscaler is pretty nice, to the point when I played Shadow of the Tomb Raider on it at 1440p I couldn't tell any difference in image quality between just playing 1440p vs rendering 1440p and upscaling to 4k with NIS, though NIS cost me a few frames. Probably would have side by side, but 1440p without any gpu upscaling looks really nice on this, which I was not expecting at all. Having FreeSync is definitely a game changer too, no more having to target 60 fps minimums at 1080p with my 1660S, now I can just target 60 fps avg at 1440p with the card and the game still looks good with the occasional drops into the 40s and 50s that would be annoying stutters playing with VSync on. I was freaking out at first though because youtube looked like total crap, like a 1080p video would look like 480p blown up, but turns out I just needed to update Chrome.

Really like the color on this monitor too. Only does 60 fps, but I don't have the hardware to be pushing 100+ fps anyways.