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Using lower resolution than optimal: issues?

Question asked by Brian Mears on Jun 22, 2016
Latest reply on Oct 17, 2016 by Jeff Holliday

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I just bought a Precision M3800 workstation with the 3200 x 1800 (4K HD) resolution. It's nice but causes all sorts of scaling issues in SolidWorks & other programs - to the point that it's unusable. I turned down the resolution to 1920 x 1080, and now everythings just a slight bit fuzzy, but usable. Are there any performance or other issues running the graphics card at less than optimal resolution? I have to decide between keeping this computer & using it at this lower resolution, or returning it for something different with a lower optimal resolution.

Any input is appreciated. Thank you,

Brian

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Scott Ellery Jun 23, 2016 4:36 PM
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Hi Brian ,

there should not be an performance issues at running at a lower than native resolution, that said what version of SolidWorks are you running? if you are not on 2016 I strongly recommend you upgrade as the interface has been customized to work with 4K resolutions.
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Jeff Holliday Jun 23, 2016 4:41 PM
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As Scott stated, SW2016 changed the icons from raster pictures to vector graphics to allow for improved scaling in high res monitors.
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- Core Viimeinen @ Jeff Holliday on Oct 16, 2016 7:32 PM
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  Hello Jeff, I just wanted to say "Thank You" for pointing out that SW2015 uses Rastor graphics, while SW2016 uses Vectors graphics. Would you mind sharing how you learned this detail, and how others could come to that same conclusion? I ask because I am new to CAD, and graphic nomenclature in general.
  
  Your comment lead me to learn about the difference between Rastor and Vector graphics because I too had problems getting my 3200 x 1800 (optimal) resolution display [on my Dell XPS 13 (9350) w/ Touch Screen] to cooperate w/ SW2015. While your comment makes me want to upgrade to SW2016 to solve this challenge, my employer uses SW2015, so I continued looking for a solution w/ SW2015. My research taught me that my graphics card is not certified by Solidworks, but I pressed on anyway.
  
  After Toying w/ Windows 10 [various resolution settings at the same ratio {1.7} as 3200 x 1800] and SW2015 Display Settings, my best solution was to keep the optimal resolution of 3200 x 1800 via Windows 10, and change the SW2015 Display Settings via Options --> Button Size [Optimize for Touch Screen] and Options --> Use Operating System Scale. Though far from ideal, this made the scaling issues "usable".
  
  Hope this helps anyone that has 3200 x 1800, but is not in a position to upgrade to SW2016 for whatever reason.
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  - Jeff Holliday @ Core Viimeinen on Oct 17, 2016 8:42 AM
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    I'm not sure when I learned the difference between raster/vector images. A photo is raster-based because when you enlarge it, the edges begin getting jagged as the space between the "dots" get larger. A vector image uses math-based definitions to adjust for the differences and attempt to smooth them.
    
    The change in the icons for 2016 was mentioned at one of the 2016 Launch events that I attended.
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Brian Mears Jun 23, 2016 9:17 PM
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I'm using 2015 - should've mentioned that. I know 2016 resolved this & at first I thought I'd deal with the issues in 2015 & resolve them when we upgrade to 2017 in a few months. But, so many other programs are still an issue. Draftsight 2016, SW Explorer, GIMP, all a mess. If there's no performance issue or risk, I'll just run at 1900 x 1080 until the software world catches up.

Thanks!
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