The Benefits and Drawbacks of Going 4k

[Drak3]

8 minutes ago, A Random Dude said:

Which programs don't scale at all on Windows 10?

Steam and FireFox are the big ones for me.

[Paul Rudd]

17 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

I don't have any problems on 1080p, but my GPU isn't good for anything higher than 1080p anymore.

@Crunchy Dragon Same here. But I feel like my GPU could at least make an attempt at older games in 4k. You'd think they should run just fine when they don't even use much GPU power playing them in 1080p.

[Paul Rudd]

15 minutes ago, Princess Cadence said:

21:9 ultrawides or nothing.

@Princess Cadence Why? I know nothing about 21:9 ultrawides. Enlighten me.

[xXxAdamxXx]

For a workstation 4K or more is a huge blessing, for gaming i'd prioritize getting a 144hz freesync/g-sync monitor.

[Cookybiscuit]

Not sure how this thread even made it to a second page.

 

If you're poor, buy a 1080p or 1440p monitor, if you aren't, go 4K. 

 

Pretty simple.

[Princess Luna]

1 minute ago, A Random Dude said:

@Princess Cadence Why? I know nothing about 21:9 ultrawides. Enlighten me.

Well the main issue that turns 4k kinda pointless as for now is that Windows scales the UI poorly turning both common 2560x1440p and 4k about the same virtual space and all 4k really has is the higher pixel density.

 

However pixelation with a 27 inch 1440p already is not an issue, images are perfectly crystal clean, 4k makes sense on big screen TVs like 55 inch and such so you keep the quality as still gaining actual space.

 

When you go 21:9 on the other hand even at 2560x1080p you're already gaining actual virtual space keeping the same image quality, it's much better experience all around as well eh... whoever uses it never really goes back to 16:9... if you have a ton of money to burn on a monitor don't think of 4k as the ultimate experience, a 3440x1440p ultrawide is the right place to go personally speaking.

[TheKDub]

1 hour ago, Some Random Member said:

For productivity 4k= good,

But for gaming idk. 

Just run the game at 1080p, it'll scale nicely on a 4K monitor.

[Paul Rudd]

26 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

Steam and FireFox are the big ones for me.

@Drak3 Does this scaling issue happen in 4k for you? Or 1080p? If it's in 1080p, what exactly is the issue? Not sure why I'd ever want to scale Steam on my 1080p monitor. Is the text too small or something? It's small on mine but it's never been an issue. Or maybe it is a reason my eyes have been squinting so much lately. Never thought about scaling it up or down. And doesn't that affect speed in the browser? 

[Paul Rudd]

25 minutes ago, xXxAdamxXx said:

For a workstation 4K or more is a huge blessing, for gaming i'd prioritize getting a 144hz freesync/g-sync monitor.

@xXxAdamxXx I wish I could afford 144Hz g-sync monitors. Those 2 things alone make 1440p and 4k monitor prices skyrocket. Let alone the amount of money you have to then invest into your GPU/CPU.

[Drak3]

2 minutes ago, A Random Dude said:

@Drak3 Does this scaling issue happen in 4k for you? Or 1080p? If it's in 1080p, what exactly is the issue? Not sure why I'd ever want to scale Steam on my 1080p monitor. Is the text too small or something? It's small on mine but it's never been an issue. Or maybe it is a reason my eyes have been squinting so much lately. Never thought about scaling it up or down. And doesn't that affect speed in the browser? 

1440p and up.

 

Text in Steam is too small.

 

Firefox's issue is due to the fact that I run both 1080p and 1440p monitors on my main desktop. It tends to resize itself according to the main monitor (1440p) on reboot.

[Paul Rudd]

20 minutes ago, Cookybiscuit said:

Not sure how this thread even made it to a second page.

 

If you're poor, buy a 1080p or 1440p monitor, if you aren't, go 4K. 

 

Pretty simple.

@Cookybiscuit  Funny profile picture and profile name. While I'm not poor, I'm also not rich. I'm also a person that likes to invest more into things that last much longer. So 4k really interests me the moment getting into it just does present itself. It's not so simple to make the jump when so many people have so many different experiences. I do like the comment about if you're poor, buy a 1080p or 1440p monitor, if you aren't, go 4k. Because as of today, 1440p is actually right there in price to 4k. But all the bells and whistles are never exactly what you're looking for in each of them. At least what I want in them.

[Paul Rudd]

27 minutes ago, Princess Cadence said:

Well the main issue that turns 4k kinda pointless as for now is that Windows scales the UI poorly turning both common 2560x1440p and 4k about the same virtual space and all 4k really has is the higher pixel density.

 

However pixelation with a 27 inch 1440p already is not an issue, images are perfectly crystal clean, 4k makes sense on big screen TVs like 55 inch and such so you keep the quality as still gaining actual space.

 

When you go 21:9 on the other hand even at 2560x1080p you're already gaining actual virtual space keeping the same image quality, it's much better experience all around as well eh... whoever uses it never really goes back to 16:9... if you have a ton of money to burn on a monitor don't think of 4k as the ultimate experience, a 3440x1440p ultrawide is the right place to go personally speaking.

@Princess Cadence Hey, I'll take kinda pointless over completely pointless any day. I have got to experience this UI scaling I keep hearing about. Those perfectly crystal clean images on a 27" 1440p monitor sound great. As for ultrawides, unless they're the same price as 4k, I'll never even know much about them. Which could be a shame considering what I think they're perfect for(watching movies). Something I do more of than play games. Is watching movies a reason to go ultrawide?

[Paul Rudd]

36 minutes ago, TheKDub said:

Just run the game at 1080p, it'll scale nicely on a 4K monitor.

@TheKDub Now this I believe to be very true. But what about scaling a 4k monitor down to 1440p? Isn't that an issue? Or is it only an issue in certain 4k monitors?

[Paul Rudd]

32 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

1440p and up.

 

Text in Steam is too small.

 

Firefox's issue is due to the fact that I run both 1080p and 1440p monitors on my main desktop. It tends to resize itself according to the main monitor (1440p) on reboot.

@Drak3 Did this Steam update do anything for that? https://www.vg247.com/2018/03/23/steam-high-resolution-dpi-exfat-support/

[TheKDub]

30 minutes ago, A Random Dude said:

@TheKDub Now this I believe to be very true. But what about scaling a 4k monitor down to 1440p? Isn't that an issue? Or is it only an issue in certain 4k monitors?

Since 4K is 1.5x wide/tall as 1440p (whereas it's 2x as wide/tall as 1080p), it'll look a bit off since it can't just make 4 pixels represent 1 pixel. I don't know specifically how monitors handle it, but it just won't come out looking as sharp as a factor of 3840x2160 would.

[Drak3]

19 minutes ago, A Random Dude said:

@Drak3 Did this Steam update do anything for that? https://www.vg247.com/2018/03/23/steam-high-resolution-dpi-exfat-support/

Yes, though I just got it last night.

 

I'm also going to disagree with Candece on 21:9 monitors. Unless your specific use case benefits from wide monitors (and IMO, most don't), they're just a waste of money.

Scaling at 1440p isn't super necessary in Windows with desktop monitors, and Windows' scaling only applies to Windows itself, UWP/Metro apps, and what few apps that use Windows scaling as default. Most programs are either coded for a specific width and height (like older versions of Steam, Photoshop CS6 and older), or have their own scaling (Firefox, Chrome, Edge, IE11, Photoshop CC). The extra resolution does translate into more usable "virtual" space.

 

With 4K, scaling is somewhat necessary, but 200% (which according to some people, effectively cancels out running 4K) scaling is not necessary.

[Cheezdoodlez]

2 hours ago, A Random Dude said:

Ubuntu? Never heard of it. Never even knew there were more OS's than just Windows and Linux on PC. Even though I know there's multiple OS's on tablets. 

Ubuntu is a version of Linux. And there is a very large amount of versions of Linux out in the world. 

 

I'd say gaming on 4K is pretty meh. But for productivity it's great.

 

I often code on my 4K TV with low scaling. The possibility to have alot of files open next to each other is awesome. 

[Arika]

standard gaming = 1080p

ideal gaming = 1440p

productivity = 4k

[Paul Rudd]

6 hours ago, TheKDub said:

Since 4K is 1.5x wide/tall as 1440p (whereas it's 2x as wide/tall as 1080p), it'll look a bit off since it can't just make 4 pixels represent 1 pixel. I don't know specifically how monitors handle it, but it just won't come out looking as sharp as a factor of 3840x2160 would.

@TheKDub I just bought me a 4k monitor a few hours ago and downscaling it to 1440p has zero issues. In Rocket League and The First Templar that is. I will be sure to do a lot more testing of other games on a daily basis.

[Paul Rudd]

7 hours ago, Drak3 said:

Yes, though I just got it last night.

 

I'm also going to disagree with Candece on 21:9 monitors. Unless your specific use case benefits from wide monitors (and IMO, most don't), they're just a waste of money.

Scaling at 1440p isn't super necessary in Windows with desktop monitors, and Windows' scaling only applies to Windows itself, UWP/Metro apps, and what few apps that use Windows scaling as default. Most programs are either coded for a specific width and height (like older versions of Steam, Photoshop CS6 and older), or have their own scaling (Firefox, Chrome, Edge, IE11, Photoshop CC). The extra resolution does translate into more usable "virtual" space.

 

With 4K, scaling is somewhat necessary, but 200% (which according to some people, effectively cancels out running 4K) scaling is not necessary.

@Drak3 Glad to hear that fixed the issue on Steam. I just snagged me a 4k monitor a few hours ago and I see what you mean. Steam looks great at 150% scaling and I am loving how things look vertically on this thing on any app. You don't have to scroll down as much anymore. I may try 125% but text is already insanely small. I'm going to look into making text bigger tomorrow probably.

[Paul Rudd]

6 hours ago, Cheezdoodlez said:

Ubuntu is a version of Linux. And there is a very large amount of versions of Linux out in the world. 

 

I'd say gaming on 4K is pretty meh. But for productivity it's great.

 

I often code on my 4K TV with low scaling. The possibility to have alot of files open next to each other is awesome.

@Cheezdoodlez What do you mean 4k is pretty meh? I can't take my eyes off it right now. And what kind of files open next to each other do you speak of? Like folders or something? 

[Paul Rudd]

6 hours ago, Sierra Fox said:

standard gaming = 1080p

ideal gaming = 1440p

productivity = 4k

@Sierra Fox I dunno if I can agree with that now that I made the jump. From a couple of hours after going 4k, it's more like...

 

high definition gaming = 1080p

very high definition gaming = 1440p

ultra high definition gaming and ultra productivity = 4k

[Arika]

14 minutes ago, A Random Dude said:

 

ultra high definition gaming and ultra productivity = 4k

except the investment in hardware to run 4k gaming at decent settings at a constant frame rate is not worth it at the moment. more people are going to get benefit out of 1440p@144 than 4k@60

[TheKDub]

31 minutes ago, A Random Dude said:

@TheKDub I just bought me a 4k monitor a few hours ago and downscaling it to 1440p has zero issues. In Rocket League and The First Templar that is. I will be sure to do a lot more testing of other games on a daily basis.

It's not likely something you'll notice in games aside from maybe in text.

[Paul Rudd]

8 hours ago, Sierra Fox said:

except the investment in hardware to run 4k gaming at decent settings at a constant frame rate is not worth it at the moment. more people are going to get benefit out of 1440p@144 than 4k@60

@Sierra Fox I dunno about that. My hardware is far from the greatest and I just ran GTA 5 at high settings in 4k at a very stable 60 fps with v-sync on. I ran a benchmark with v-sync off and got around 69-89 fps. I downscaled to 1440p and was able to achieve very high settings at a very stable 60 fps with v-sync on. Ran a benchmark with v-sync off and got around 67-77 fps with highs and lows here and there around 49-91 fps. While playing the game in both 1440p and 4k, it's butter smooth. My GPU and CPU are processing nicely the whole time too. I was very worried from the get go of testing GTA 5(from hearing things like not having enough hardware to run the game properly) but I gotta tell ya', the only thing I kept saying to myself from the results were things like "I'm very happy with my purchase" or "I dunno what these people were talking about" or "well I know I'm not taking this thing back for a refund". I can't be any happier with my investment right now. While I'm gaming in 4k it's totally different than gaming in 1080p. I stop and admire every single detail the entire time. I'm enjoying the game again. Before, I wasn't as interested to even turn on the game. And this is just from playing for less than 1 hour last night.