Question Simulate a 4K monitor on a 2K monitor via scrolling NOT scaling?

[Mugsy]

I need to simulate a 4K screen WITHOUT SCALING to test an app I'm working on, but I only have a 2K monitor.

I remember WAY back in my XP days there was a way to set my monitor to a resolution higher than it was capable of, and the screen would scroll around if I tried to move my mouse beyond the edges of my screen.

A Google search only suggests ways to "scale down" a 4K screen to fit a lower rez screen "for gaming". Not what I want. I need an *actual* 4K's worth of screen real-estate.

Does anyone know of a way to do this? TIA

 

[NanoSuit3]

Get a 4K Display Kiddo . . . whatever scrolling is it's been outdated . . . LOL

 

[Eximo]

Huh, don't recall that being a thing, but I imagine it wasn't that common a need.

Certainly a thing when looking at, say, an image file captured in very high resolution or when zooming in with accessibility features (which may be what you remember?) Or when using a web browser with a non-scaling website.

Cheap 4K displays shouldn't be that hard to find, particularly used. Or just find yourself a cheap TV.

 

[Mugsy]

Thx for the replies, but I use a 16:10 2K monitor. No one makes a 16:10 4K monitor.

I'm not giving it up for a 4K monitor with the proportions of a stick of gum. 😎

 

[Eximo]

A few 3:2 displays out there, but they aren't common or cheap.

If you really like 2560x1600, you can run that unscaled on a larger screen if you want.

Or if you really like that aspect ratio take a 4K display and run it at 3456x2160 unscaled. You'll have black bars on the sides.

All depends on how you look at it. A 2160 display is still more vertical real estate than you have now, and if you get a physically larger screen, then it can even be larger in the physical sense. I think you would have to get a 37" 4K display at least, and you would gain pixel density and physical height over a 30" 16:10.

Always 5K pro displays.

 

[Mugsy]

Interesting options, but seems like a lot of fooling around and unnecessary expense just to accommodate a narrower 4K monitor.

My 2K monitor is a 30" display. anything larger won't fit comfortably on my desk (and my old eyes have trouble with super high resolution.)

(I wish they'd just make a 16:10 4K display that doesn't cost a fortune.)

 

[Mugsy]

Huh, don't recall that being a thing, but I imagine it wasn't that common a need.

If you've ever used the built-in "Screen Magnifier" in Windows, it worked a lot like that.

 

[Eximo]

If you've ever used the built-in "Screen Magnifier" in Windows, it worked a lot like that.

That is what I was referring to with accessibility. Magnifier is still a thing.

What he is asking for is rendering Windows at a high resolution and being able to scroll around at 1:1 scaling, kind of the opposite.

 

[Misgar]

Is this app something you're writing yourself, or a commercial program. I'll have to boot up a few XP systems and see if I can find that non-scaling function. I wonder if was also on 2000 or NT4?

I'm running two 24in 16:10 monitors, placed on either side of a 30in 16:10 monitor. I have 30in and 24in 16:10 monitors in other rooms.

My most recent laptop is 3:2.

16:9 is for TV movies.

You could try checking the second hand market for a 4K display. You can pick up some excellent professional screens with plenty of life still left in them.

If your graphics card supports different resolutions on two monitors, you could toggle back and forth between the 2K and 4K screens.

 

[Mugsy]

I do a lot of programming, and developing for a 4K screen on a 2K monitor without reducing everything to microscopic size is the goal.

I found a workaround that others might find useful (for my 2K monitor. Adjust as necessary for lower rez monitors):

nVidia & Radeon cards include a setting called "DSR" (Display Resolution) that lets you resize your screen to simulate a high rez monitor on a low rez one. I don't have a Radeon card, so these instructions are for nVidia:

From the tray, open the nVidia Control Panel.
Click "Manage 3D Settings".
Select "DSR - Factors" and check "2.25x" from the dropdown (based on my 2K monitor.)
Apply & Close

This will add a new higher resolution to Windows' Display Settings. Right-click desktop for "Display Settings" and select your new maximum resolution. Default scale will change to 175% so text remains at the same scale. Set scale to 100% to simulate what a 4K monitor would actually look like on a monitor of the same physical size.

This allows me to "trick" VisualStudio into thinking I have a 4K monitor so I can create/edit 4K apps. 😛