2.5k QHD vs. 4k UHD monitors

[TB_RIO]

I see a lot of post around here complaining about glitchy UI with 4K screens.

My question is whether it's worth upgrading to a 27" 4k screen over a 27" 2560x1440 resolution.

I'm on a standard HD monitor at the moment, but I've worked on a QHD  monitor in max before and liked the experience. My company is willing to get me an upgrade, so naturally I'mm looking at 4K screens, but I'm under the impression that you need to upscale the logos/text to make them legible. Does that not kind of defeat the point of those extra pixels? I guess it gives finer detail when working in post production and rendering.

Your experiences / opinions would be appreciated.

[DanielCantin]

Hi @TB_RIO 

One consideration if you are planning on using 3ds Max simultaneously on multiple monitors is the monitor scaling, for example if you want to use both this new monitor and your old HD monitor on your system, and plan on having 3ds Max Main App on one monitor and other 3ds Max dialog on the other monitor, both monitor should have the same scaling at the moment.

If you plan to have only one monitor or keep 3ds Max only on one monitor, this should not be a concern and I would say that 3ds Max work fine at either 100% or the recommended 150% scaling on a 4K monitor.

Another consideration would be the version of 3ds Max you are using, support for 4k and HDMI screens started with 3ds Max 2017, there might be workaround for earlier versions.

I suggest that you specify your 3ds Max Version, your system specs and your Windows version as it might help giving you recommendations.

[senorpablo · Accepted solution]

I wouldn't do it. I recently got a 4k monitor at the office and it's been an awful experience. Very few programs are 4k ready and there is little practical benefit if they are. It does look nice and crisp when it works, but that's been the exception, not the rule.

2560 x 1600 or 2560 x 1440 is about the ideal practical resolution. I've had zero issues with it and would go back to it in an instant.

Max 2019, and even a fairly recent version of Photoshop just don't work correctly. Photoshop, for example, doesn't respect Windows scaling at all, and only offers their own internal option for 200% or nothing, which puts you right back to full HD. 

I reported a 4k scaling issue here on the forum for Max 2019 UV texture co-ordinates text boxes, including a screenshot, and the response I got was: looks fine for me. The official solution is to turn on Windows compatibility scaling, which makes all of Max blurry. I don't see Autodesk getting 4k working perhaps ever. They've been toying around for 5+ years on it. It's just not, or never has been, a priority.

[TB_RIO]

Thanks, that's exactly the position I'm in actually, I'll be retaining one HD monitor for additional dialogues and admin tasks. I am on 2019 but didn't consider that scaling settings can't be different on each monitor.

I guess I'm probably better off sticking to one or two QHD monitors then, my boss will be happy about this as they're roughly half the price.

[dgorsman]

Progress is being made on 4K support, however usable scaling is limited to around 125% or so.  And the area problems mixing high resolution displays e.g. laptop display plus an external monitor. 

I would suggest 4K monitors are only a requirement at the moment if you are actually creating and working on 4K content.

[TB_RIO]

I've gone for a BenQ PD3200Q. QHD seems a safer bet, and is considerably cheaper than UHD. I'll be slightly down on overall pixel count until I can snaffle another monitor (mine are going elsewhere) I think the space will be more useful and the colour should be a load more accurate.

Cheers for your thoughts