GPU Scaling

[JSDNJ]

I am weighing my options between u2414s and u2415s right now (16x9 vs 16x10)

I have a u2412 at home (16x10) that I have been messing with for SC2 and other stuff. The monitor has the same physical with as my previous 16x9 23'' ultrasharp monitor but is of course taller.

So I set the catalyst control center to maintain aspect ratios (there is a bug but a workaround for this)

Anyway, when I go into a game like SC2 set at 16x9 it will play 'fullscreen' but with black bars which effectively looks the same as it did on my old 16x9 monitor (which is what I want do do, because I don't want to lose the wide FOV)

So when moving back to the desktop it will fill the screen again at my native 1920x1200 res (great)

My question is, when viewing content like youtube 1080p at full screen, it doesn't seem to change anything. I am trying to get a better understanding of how GPU scaling works. With my monitor set to 1920x1200 it will scale the 1920x1080 for SC2, but doesn't seem to do anything for youtube or other 1080p content. It looks fine, I am just hoping someone can help educate my on how that all works. Thanks

 

[dragonageinquisition]

When you run an application in fullscreen "exclusive" mode like a game it will run at the fixed aspect ratio that the game uses. Blizzard games are "competitive" so are rendered at a fixed aspect ratio. However some games have a fullscreen windowed mode, which I believe Blizzard games usually do. If you run the application in that mode it will still be 16:9 but will "stretch" the image to fill the screen. You are still only rendering 1080p pixels but the image is being resized to fill the screen via stretching.

Youtube videos do not have exclusive access like a fullscreen game so its essentially running in Windowed mode and can be resized via stretching.

 

[XoR]

YT does not change resolution and use whatever res you have set in desktop unlike games which change resolutions.

 

[JSDNJ]

Thanks for the info. Sounds like I will stick with the 16x10 since it will black car SC2 and look the same as it does on a 16x9 monitor anyway, then get the benefits of 16x10 everywhere else. Best of both worlds.

 

[CrazyRob]

When you run an application in fullscreen "exclusive" mode like a game it will run at the fixed aspect ratio that the game uses. Blizzard games are "competitive" so are rendered at a fixed aspect ratio. However some games have a fullscreen windowed mode, which I believe Blizzard games usually do. If you run the application in that mode it will still be 16:9 but will "stretch" the image to fill the screen. You are still only rendering 1080p pixels but the image is being resized to fill the screen via stretching.

Youtube videos do not have exclusive access like a fullscreen game so its essentially running in Windowed mode and can be resized via stretching.

Just in case others reference this, not all Blizzard titles function as described. For example, Diablo 3 in full screen mode will correctly use pretty much any single monitor resolution, however, changing to windowed full screen will let you scale to whatever your desktop resolution is, which is useful on multi-monitor setups.

That being said, Diablo 3 is not one of their "competitive" titles. Just wanted to point out that how a game scales is really up to the whim of the developer, and will vary from one title to the next.

 

[JSDNJ]

Well I just got my 3 Dell u2415s and I am having trouble now. I cant get catalyst control center to maintain the aspect ratio. Anyone else deal with this?