Running a lower resolution letterboxed on a 3440x1440 ultrawide 21:9 with a GTX970 for better performance

[AndiLiddell]

I've just upgraded to a single GTX970, but I've hit a number of questions regarding performance at higher resolutions and ways to sacrifice resolution for performance.

I was about to upgrade my monitors too. After having used dual monitor setups for a decade, I can't live without the extra real estate this gives, as I do a lot of video editing, Photoshop, Programming, Unity work and general development.

I also play a decent amount of games (not hardcore or competitive) and have been really impressed with the GTX970 handling ultra settings on most of the stuff I've tried so far on my current 1680x1050 samsung.

The question I have (eventually) is if I buy a 34" ultrawide 21:9 @ 3440x1440 (AOC U3477PQU 34") and my GTX970 struggles to push that many pixels at a high/ultra setting (which I imagine it will), is there a way using either nvidia custom resolutions or the OSD of the monitor to just run the game at 1080p (or a smaller 21:9 res) and have it display in the centre of the screen, un-stretched or re-sampled with big black bars around the sides so my card can handle it?

Basically I really want the 34" ultrawide for the benefits it will bring me to development productivity (and the simplicity of one monitor on the desk), but don't want my gaming experience to suffer because of the huge resolution, so I just want to use part of it for gaming.

I understand I could run most games in a window with a black desktop background and hide my icons, but I think the window edges and microsoft window styling would ruin the experience.

Any thoughts or experience of this setup with a GTX970 would be very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance, Andi.

 

[Suzuki@1473780084@1473780163]

Yes, monitors have menus for scaling. On my HP monitor it's called Custom Scaling, and from there I just choose Fill to Screen, or Fill to Aspect ratio.

What's your FPS in the games you play, in 1680x1050. There's an easy way to calculate the frame difference, but need to know your average or min and max.

 

[madmatt30]

That monitor supports both its default wqhd res & also 2560x1080.

That will be an available ultra wide screen res in nvida settings when you use the screen.

The 970 does very very well at that res - it'll still push ultra in the majority of titles.

 

[AndiLiddell]

@madmat30 that's great news on the lower 2560x1080, I'm assuming it will stretch that resolution across the panel and effectively lower the Pixel density? Have you had first hand experience of this monitor and can recommend buying?

@suzuki I wonder if in 2560x1080 mode you can render 1:1 and have it float in the middle of the panel? I'd be interested in the maths to calculate FPS, I havent really had a chance to cature fps in the games yet. I know I can always turn down detail and FX, but would be good to know roughly.

Cheers everyone, any further advice is most appreciated!

 

[madmatt30]

^ seen the lg34um45 in action - the aoc is the same monitor in different casing for £100/$150 less.

It supports an awful lot of different resolutions with no messing about

The native resolutions you're likely to use

1080p - will automatically display full scre . with black bars left & right of screen as its a 16:9 res

2560x1080 - native 21:9 resolution so automatic full screen scaling with 3:2 pixel ratio (this if used on desktop & general apps will give a slight fuzziness to small text) - in gaming which is the only likely scenario you will use it for you will not notice this at all.



3440x1440 - pretty much pin sharp for anything - as you've said the 970 won't cope well for gaming at this res though - total pixel count is incredibly close to 4k resution.

For those 3 resolutions above you will not have to touch monitor settings.
Simply enter nvidia control panel ,change screen res to each one in order temporarily & make sure the image is scaled correctly.

Once this is done you'll be able to select resolution in game menus/settings to whatever resolution & use full screen mode.

Be aware,not every game supports 21:9 resolutions in which case you will be stuck at 1080p with black bars.

For some reason it doesn't support a standard 16:9 1440p resolution (2560x1440) which in all honesty I would have expected it to - its quite capable hardware wise of doing that res with 1:1 pixel mapping & black sidebars.

You could likely (99.9999% certainty) set a custom res in nvidia control panel should you want to.

How goods the panel bearing in mind I only used it for a few hours ??

Answer - about as good as it gets imo.
Id be utterly tempted myself if I could warrant the expenditure at the moment.

Edit :-

2560x1080= 2764800 pixel count
1440p standard = 3686400 pixel count
1080p standard = 2073600 pixel count

Compared to 1440p the pixel count of 2560x1080 is around 75%.

Essentially if you take a 1440p benchmark of a current title with a 970 at ultra settings you'll gain 20% fps at the ultra wide res of 2560x1080.

Compared to standard 1080p you'll lose around the same 20%.

The 970 is entirely capable of high settings 60fps at least though be assured of that.

If you have the 970 already set a DSR resolution up of 1440p & try a few games with it - you'll see how it perform at that resolution then.

 

[AndiLiddell]

@madmatt30 Thanks SO much for your very detailed answers, you're to be commended on being the most helpful forum poster I've ever encountered! Really appreciate all of the advice.

I think I will go with the AOC U3477PQU 34" , found it for just under £500 in a couple of places, so that's next months pay packet spent .

Ill come back and let you know how I get on once I've had a play around.

Anyone else with Tips, experiences or advice is most welcome , it will be a few weeks before I can purchase it.

Thanks Again
Andi

 

[madmatt30]

If you're still around mate ,I have found a way to enable a custom set 21:9 2560x1080 resolution & run it on a 1080p 16:9 screen ;-)

Its essentially setting your own DSR resolution totally scaled by the gpu.

You have to disable the built in nvidia DSR completely & it obviously runs with big black borders top & bottom but runs fullscreen & will give you a good indication of fps & what games look & play like at this res.

Once this is set you can put your desktop back to your native res & the custom res becomes available in any 21:9 supported game.

I've just had a quick blast at dirt rally & project cars using this & although its not as sharp as my native 1080p the fov is amazing - in project cars dashboard view I can see out of both side windows & the wing mirrors - irregardless of the black borders on my 16:9 screen I'll be using it for all racing games that support 21:9 from now on.