4k Gaming Review

[Thinkfreely]

So I have seen a lot of this topic, but decided that now that I have experienced 4k gaming personally that I wanted to share my experience, both for those who are curious, on the fence about getting the gear to 4k game, or otherwise just wanted information that wasn't just an opinion from someone who doesn't actually 4k game.

 

So let me start off by saying that for you guys and gals running older rigs, you are my people. I typically do a new build every 3-4 years, and upgrade certain things like ram, or the GPU every 2 years. I am very used to gaming on low settings, or having to make compromises on less then great gear to be able to even run games. I remember actually pushing an older Radeon (don't remember which) so hard the fan and heat block actually melted off the GPU!

Let me also explain what I am not. I am not a PC wizard, or someone who knows everything there is to know about PC components and programs. I would say I have a hell of a lot more knowledge then the average consumer, and I understand how a lot of the basic principles of how things work together inside a computer. But I am always learning more and more, thanks to the great community here and my own time spent researching. But just like Linus, everything I know is mostly self learned or taught.

For the last 5 years however I have made enough money to join the enthusiast realm and right now that is where 4k gaming kind of sits. Now I know there are those doing 4k gaming on things like the RX480, which can give you decent FPS in lower graphically demanding titles. And while I do play those games as well (CSGO and the like) I spend a hell of a lot of the time in games like Fallout 4, Dark Souls 3, Witcher 3, Skyrim SSE, GTA V etc. Big open world type games with demanding graphics and polygon counts that really put your machine through it's paces.

 

What I wanted was a 4k experience where even if I had to compromise on some FPS I could still game at relatively high settings and get 50-60 average FPS. I have gamed at 144hz and while that is also a great experience, the whole point of this was to go 4k. I also wanted to do this on a single GPU, since lets face it the SLI and Crossfire solution is never going in my opinion to the "Best" solution. So lets dive in!

 

First off lets start with listing the components that will dictate the experience.

• GTX 1080 EVGA SC
• i7 6700k overclocked to 4.4ghz
• 16 GB DDR4 3200 GSkill ram
• Mushkin Reactor 1tb SSD

I was able to snag a 4k 27inch Seiki UHD monitor for about $170 on Amazon during a sale. I wasn't able to afford either IPS or G-Sync however. First challenge was calibrating it, and make no mistake I HAD to calibrate it. The stock color settings were terrible. But after about 20 minutes of tinkering I got a color and crisp quality I was seeking, and had to use display port to ensure I got the full 60 hz I needed for 60 FPS gaming. It sits next to a 24 Inch Acer IPS 1080p monitor and and I am happy that I was able to get a very similar color quality by again just spending time calibrating it.

The second challenge was the settings within each game. What I found was that by turning off things like AA or high shadows textures, I was able to keep the rest of the settings on high or in some cases Ultra and still keep again a average 50-60 FPS.

 

I used Nividia's optimizer and found that I rarely had to tweak settings after to get the graphics I wanted while still keeping FPS at least 50 with the exception of Battlefield 1.

 

Here are a few pictures to illustrate.

 

 

I use a TON of mods in Skyrim.

 

Cause why not use a roll cage as a helmet?

 

Only noobs troll noobs in Farron ;D

 

1:30 Clip of mixed ultra/high settings in Battlefield 1 with AA turned off. Was able to get steady 55-60 FPS.

 

 

Personal Conclusion: 4k gaming is a serious treat, and while you can get a pretty get a great experience on a 144hz platform with 2k resolution, I found that I enjoyed the higher graphical experience more. Now I am not a purest in that my games MUST perform 60 fps min to enjoy them. But I was able to get almost all my titles in the 50-60 fps sweet spot, without having to turn down the graphics much, or give up settings that I honestly don't care about, but that's just me.

 

If you have the money, or bought a GTX 1080 I think its worth it to get a 4k monitor and enjoy the experience. Obviously 4k is still new and won't be mainstream affordable for a while. But technology continues to speed up I wouldn't be surprised if 2017 is the year when 4k becomes the standard for most people, and much more affordable.

 

Hopefully you found this review helpful especially if you have been on the fence on buying the required hardware or not. All this from someone who bought, used, and tested 4k gaming, not just another opinion from someone who knows all the technical aspects, but has no actual hands on experience. As always any feedback is appreciated.

[Techicolors]

PSA: don't use imgur to upload those screenshots, as imgur compresses the images. use something like this http://cubeupload.com/ to upload uncompressed 

[Thinkfreely]

9 minutes ago, Technicolors said:

PSA: don't use imgur to upload those screenshots, as imgur compresses the images. use something like this http://cubeupload.com/ to upload uncompressed 

Thank you for the advice, was also concerned with the upload restriction.

[Princess Luna]

I really wish better displays were available here in Brazil already, since none is manufactured in here yet the importation costs are monstrous, the closest thing I managed to get was a LG 29'' 2560x1080p 75hz one, which paired with my gpu is doing a terrific work, I'll only get into 4k here in a couple of years though, do hope the transition not to be too slow where it'll not be an enthusiastic thing only for longer than needed.

[Thinkfreely]

On 1/1/2017 at 1:49 PM, Princess Cadence said:

I really wish better displays were available here in Brazil already, since none is manufactured in here yet the importation costs are monstrous, the closest thing I managed to get was a LG 29'' 2560x1080p 75hz one, which paired with my gpu is doing a terrific work, I'll only get into 4k here in a couple of years though, do hope the transition not to be too slow where it'll not be an enthusiastic thing only for longer than needed.

 

On 1/1/2017 at 1:00 PM, Technicolors said:

PSA: don't use imgur to upload those screenshots, as imgur compresses the images. use something like this http://cubeupload.com/ to upload uncompressed 

Finally got my clip updated to show high/ultra settings with some tinkering was able to get 55-60 FPS at 4k!