Hello all,

I am looking to get a nice new monitor for my workstation, probably an IPS or PLS one.

My question to anyone who has experience with an ultra-high res display is do you find a big advantage in having all of the extra space afforded with a 2560 x 1440 display in Max 2012 (and Composite for that matter)?

I know it would be great for viewing massive renders and image editing etc, but for detailed modeling and animation in the viewport would it add a new level of clarity and precision to my workflow?

I also need to know what kind of performance hit I would get in the viewport in Max at this high res compared to regular 1080p. Is nitrous even designed to handle this kind of resolution?

I currently have a GTX 580 3GB graphics card that works really well right now, but is it realistic to expect it can handle Max @ 2560 x 1440?

I greatly appreciate any help!

I know that 1440p is aprox 1.7 times 1080p so if you do the maths you would need almost twice the GPU power to achieve the same level of performance, right?...Well I don’t think its that simple, perhaps not as taxing on the system - I don’t know.

Just need to know if the upgrade would cripple my system before I buy.  That’s all.

Any help would be nice.

Thanks,

Tristan.

I would highly recommend running high-resolution like this for 3ds max. For the last couple of years, I’ve been using a 30” 2560x1600 monitor (the Dell 3008wfp) and I honestly think it was the biggest productivity improvement I’ve had since my first dual CPU workstation. Having all that space means you can have more toolbars visible without causing issues and it has meant for me that I spend a lot less time zooming/panning in my scene. For example, I usually keep the command panel expanded out to two columns. It just feels a lot better for me in general. I would absolutely hate to go back now!

Now performance-wise, I can’t quantify it with hard numbers. I got a new GPU at the same time as the monitor, so I never did a before/after on viewport speed. However, I’ve never felt that the high resolution had a detrimental effect. I’m sure rendering the extra pixels slows the viewport framerate a bit, but it’s more than fast enough and Nitrous seems to handle it quite well. I would say that the productivity improvement from the resolution way more than offsets and slow-down in viewport performance.

I will also note that you have a faster video card than I do as well. I’m running a GTX 560 Ti 448 currently, up from a GTX 280. The 280 was fine under almost all my scenes and the 560 is even better. So your 580 3GB should be very nice. . . Also, you can always run the 3ds max window at less than maximized and regain some performance if you have any issues in a particular scene.

If you have the desk space and you can get a good deal on a 27” or 30” monitor, I don’t think you’d regret it. One caveat: If you are planning to go from two smaller monitors to one larger one, you will probably find that you still want to keep the 2nd monitor. I have a 20” 1600x1200 in portrait mode running alongside my 30” and I find that to be a good setup. I have another identical 20” on the other side hooked up to another PC, but when I get an additional GPU, I plan to run all 3 monitors on my main computer. You can never have too much RAM or screen-space!

Wow.  Thankyou for your most informed response, Enigma!

I cannot tell you how relieved I am to hear positive first hand experience on the issue.  I currently have an older 27” TN panel and while I thought the size was great at first, things tend to get a little cluttered so the Samsung I plan to buy will be a much welcomed improvement. 

Sounds like my GPU should be able to handle the extra pixels fine, that’s the only thing really that was holding me back.

I’ll probably just use the single screen as 2 x 27” is a bit big for my desktop.

Will report back with my impressions of the new display after I give it a good run.

Thanks again!

Tristan.

Picked up my Samsung PLS today.  Just awesome.  The vibrancy and depth of the colour is great and the first thing that hit me was how clear everything looks.  I was expecting a bit of eye strain when reading the smaller text but it’s actually easier on the eye than my old 1080p LCD. 

Also none of the terrible backlight bleed that others had experienced with this display.  And the extra space in my apps is definately a big plus.  The portrait mode is also nice.

I definately recommend an upgrade such as this to anyone who wants to improve productivity in your design workflow. 

Oh yeah, Skyrim looks awesome in 1440p too!