What Is GPU Scaling? (Answered)

Many of you might have given some thought to the different settings on your graphics card and how they could be beneficial to your system. However, you ought to know what is AMD GPU Scaling and Nvidia GPU Scaling before you toggle some of the settings and nothing is working the way that it should be working.

GPU scaling allows you to adjust the aspect ratio and ensure that it could effectively match the aspect ratio of the various games you are playing. The idea is to accommodate players, who want to play different games, which might have a different aspect ratio than the aspect ratio currently present in the monitor.

The idea of this brief article is to help you understand all the fundamentals of GPU scaling and this should enable you to know whether it is something you will need and would prove to be beneficial to your setup. 

GPU Scaling Explained

Nvidia and AMD graphic cards both have the GPU scaling feature and this works well in games with an aspect ratio of 4:3, which does not include the benefit of ultra-wide support. The GPU scaling system works particularly well for older games and especially when using an emulator to play these older titles.

Since most games are designed with an aspect ratio of 16:9, it is worth noting that you could essentially use the GPU scaling to ensure that you have the optimal resolution for your gaming setup. Essentially, GPU scaling would work to enhance the performance of your game title when you are playing an older game on a newer monitor.

Understanding AMD GPU Scaling Modes

There are three GPU scaling modes that you will need to keep in mind and these would essentially allow you to adjust games and resolutions to meet the needs of what you desire. Here are the three main GPU scaling methods to keep in mind:

  • Maintain Aspect Ratio: This is the most basic feature and works to enable the player to play games with the intended aspect ratio from the developer and would ensure the game is looking natural, instead of stretched out.
  • Scale Image To Full Size: If you choose this setting, it would force the game to match the current aspect ratio of your system and this could make it look bad or have poor quality.
  • Using Centered Trimmings: This method is the traditional method of playing these games. Your game would take up the intended aspect ratio, while the rest of the screen is filled with black.

Wrap-Up

GPU scaling is essentially the concept used to help scale games to the original aspect ratio without having to deal with the downside of stretched-out or distorted images. If you want to play older games, you can easily use GPU scaling to effect this.

This article was last updated on October 31, 2022 .

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By Adam

The Display Blog staff account. We know display.