Problems with Windows 10 DPI scaling and possible fixes.
Problems with Windows 10 DPI scaling and possible fixes.
Hey everyone, so a while back I purchased a 1440p ultra-wide monitor and ran into an issue similar to what I faced before. It seems that when Windows text and interface scaling is set to 125%, the display becomes very blurry. On my laptop, adjusting the scale factor to 124% or 126 helped, but now using my old 1080p screen as a secondary display causes the UI to zoom excessively because the same settings apply everywhere. I tried several fixes: manually tweaking high DPI for each app, using a middle scale of around 112%, and even getting another 1440p monitor. I borrowed one from a friend to test, but buying another was too costly.
Possible solution I found: In the NVIDIA Control Panel under Manage 3D settings, I discovered the DSR option—Dynamic Super Resolution. Setting it to 1.78x made Windows perceive my second monitor as running at 1440p. I also adjusted the Smoothness setting to 27% (33% felt too blurry). After that, I was able to apply a custom scale factor of 124%, which resolved the blur and improved UI clarity.
In Windows Display Settings, I noticed the rearrange displays option now shows both monitors as equal in size instead of a small and large box, giving a smoother transition between them.
Update: On April 23, 2021, I installed XPExplorer - Windows 10 DPI Fix and enabled Windows 8.1 DPI Scaling. Now everything looks sharp at 125%, and the DPI Scale is set to 125%. This worked well with the DSR setting, giving me the correct icon sizes, no blurry text, and proper scaling. If you have a better method or alternative, please let me know—I’m still looking for a solid fix.
Pictures of the problem and solutions are attached.
Hello, you're right about the scaling problem occurring when you don't use a whole number multiplier. On your 1080p laptop, setting it to 125% resolved the issue, though some dialogs remained blurry. Try logging out and back in after changing the display settings; this often helps with clarity.
The issue arises when 125% or highly uneven values cause blurry effects. The fix would be to reduce scaling to an even number, though this leads to extreme UI zooming on multiple displays, making it impractical for my needs. EDIT: Added a picture illustrating the size problem. The main concern is avoiding forcing 124% onto the second screen.