Surround & 4k Scaling Dilemma

[a1337cookie]

Hello, I have a bit of a dilemma here that I hope I can get some advice for. I was running triple screens, using 1x1440p + 2x1080p monitors. They are all 144hz 27" IPS displays from Gigabyte. I like having a high resolution main monitor, while also having the capability to use Nvidia surround at 5760x1080 for driving games. I needed CRU to make surround work in 120hz, since it was locked to 60hz at first. However, the 1440p center display looked a bit blurry compared to the side ones, clearly because it had to scale down to 1080p.

I just got an LG 4k 144hz panel to replace the 1440p, hoping that when I enabled surround, it could scale down perfectly to 1080p and get a crisp picture. Unfortunately, it was still quite blurry, and it was also locked to 60hz. The trick I used before didn't seem to work this time, I still couldn't select 120hz. But more importantly, I'm wondering if there's a way to make it scale properly, since 4k is exactly twice as wide and high as 1080p. I can deal with 60hz, but the blurriness is really an eyesore on this otherwise gorgeous 4k display.

I also got another 1440p monitor to test whether I could do a 2x1440p + 1x4k setup. I thought maybe if the 4k was only scaling down to 1440p, it might be sharp enough not to matter. However, surround didn't let me choose anything other than 5760x1080 60hz. I tried playing around with some detailed resolutions, but I don't really know what I'm doing, and quickly ran into driver crashes.

There were two other options I was considering: 3x1440p, or 3x1080p + 1x4k. They should both work with surround properly, since I would have 3 of the same monitor. There would be no need for scaling resolution, or manually matching polarity and refresh rate or whatever. However, they each have downsides. 3x1440p means I give up 4k, which I don't want to do. Games and videos in 4k look amazing, it's quite a step up from 1440p. With 3x1080p + 1x4k though, I would have to physically switch the monitors around depending on what I'm doing, which is a big hassle.

My preference would be to stick with 2x1080p + 1x4k, and have it scale properly in surround. Any recommendations on what I should try to achieve that? I'm also wondering if it's possible to scale the 1080p screens up to 4k, and trick surround into 11520x2160. Any other suggestions are also welcome.

[ToastyX]

If the 4k monitor doesn't offer integer scaling, then there's no way to make it scale without blur.

AMD Eyefinity works with mismatched resolutions.

[a1337cookie]

Sounds like integer scaling is exactly what I need. Just read up on it, unfortunately my LG 27GN950-B doesn't have built-in support. My RTX 3070 does support GPU integer scaling, however it can't be enabled in Surround. I think I'll try using windowed mode and spanning the three monitors, see if that works. Even if it does, I still prefer fullscreen, so do you think my other idea of tricking surround into 11520x2160 has any chance of working?

As for Eyefinity, I tried it before with my previous setup. It had more options than Surround, and actually let me choose 120hz without needing CRU, which was cool. It did have its own problems though, had to dig up old catalyst drivers to get the full options. Does it actually let you integer scale as well? I don't have an AMD card anymore, and I intend to stick with Nvidia, but I'm curious if Eyefinity can solve this issue.

[a1337cookie]

Well, guess I'll do a quick update on this, I did find a way to get it working. Basically, I have to span the game across my monitors without using surround. I use GPU integer scaling and set the 4k display to 1080p (drops to 95hz though for some reason). Then I run the game in windowed mode, and set it to the 5760x1080 resolution. I use Simple Runtime Window Editor (SRWE) to resize and position the window to fill all three screens. The tough part is getting the game to actually adjust the size of its viewport, rather than just stretching into a blurry mess. The process is different for different games, but I managed to find ways to do it, however janky it was.

As for how it looks, I definitely prefer it over the blurriness from before, but it's not perfect. Of course, the panels are still different, so the colors and contrast aren't quite the same. The 1080p panels also have a noticeable "screen door effect", whereas the integer scaled 4k does not. This leads to the 4k looking more pixelated, since the pixels have a more defined edge and look more square. Overall though, I'm fine with the result, it's an acceptable compromise.

Now I'm interested to try make the 1080p displays run at 4k using DSR, and make the game run in a 11520x2160 window. Obviously not feasible for certain games, but curious how it might look.