1080p games on a 1440p or 4k monitor?

[Zaku77]

So I am ready to take the plunge and get a G-sync monitor, which I am really excited for! I am waffling between the Asus 1440p and the Acer 4K. I am planning on upgrading to 980 SLI very soon. I know that I'll be good to go for 1440p, but I'm iffier on my 4k performance. The thing is, not all games even support above 1080p, so I really want to know how upscaled games will look on these. I've heard that 1080p games look bad on a 1440 monitor, but good on a 4k. Is that true? If it is, then that's a big point for the 4K. How would 1440 look on the 4k, though? Because I have a better chance of running that well, but I want the monitor to look good with 1080p games. I feel like with either option I'm sacrificing something, and I'm at a complete loss. Any input on how these different resolutions will look on the two displays?

[MegaDave91]

980 SLI is definitely capable of running 4k. As far as game support; most recent games will.

 

In theory, resolutions that are multiples of a lower resolution should still look fine due to the lack of interpolation. It's optimal if the game resolution matches the monitor's resolution though.

 

EDIT: I speak from experience having a 4k monitor myself; my 780s have pleasantly surprised me at 2160p, so expect that much more from 980s.

[Hirad123]

I have a 1440p monitor and I haven't had any game have issues with the resolution. I'm sure the same goes for 4k.

[Zaku77]

I have a 1440p monitor and I haven't had any game have issues with the resolution. I'm sure the same goes for 4k.

 

 

So 1080p games don't look blurry on it?

[TopplesS]

So 1080p games don't look blurry on it?

If you force the game to run 1080p on a 1440p/4K monitor then yes, it will look blurry. However if you run the game at the native monitor resolution then it will look crisp.

[Zeruel]

Hmm, dont forget the ASUS does 144Hz while 4k is still at 60Hz. Would your prefer the smoothness of the Swift or Crisp picture of the 4K. Both will look crisp though if you run the games at the native resolution.

[Hirad123]

So 1080p games don't look blurry on it?

I just read your whole post and I'm kind of confused as to why you want to run 1080p on those monitors. It will look blurry because it's too low of a resolution for all those pixels. If you're getting sli 980's you can run 4k no problem. You won't even have fps issues in games. Leave anti aliasing off because at 4k you won't really need too much of it and you should be fine. If you're really all that worried about frame rate just get a 1440p monitor and max everything out.

[-TesseracT-]

980 SLI is definitely capable of running 4k. As far as game support; most recent games will.

In theory, resolutions that are multiples of a lower resolution should still look fine due to the lack of interpolation. It's optimal if the game resolution matches the monitor's resolution though.

EDIT: I speak from experience having a 4k monitor myself; my 780s have pleasantly surprised me at 2160p, so expect that much more from 980s.

I tested this. I took a 1080p screenshot of a game and scaled it to 1440p, it looked blurry and you lost detail. I tried to scale to 4K and it looked exactly the same.

[Zaku77]

I just read your whole post and I'm kind of confused as to why you want to run 1080p on those monitors. It will look blurry because it's too low of a resolution for all those pixels. If you're getting sli 980's you can run 4k no problem. You won't even have fps issues in games. Leave anti aliasing off because at 4k you won't really need too much of it and you should be fine. If you're really all that worried about frame rate just get a 1440p monitor and max everything out.

 

Because not all games support higher than 1080p resolution. This includes older games and bad ports.

 

Also, thanks for all the comments so far!

[Hirad123]

Because not all games support higher than 1080p resolution. This includes older games and bad ports.

Also, thanks for all the comments so far!

Well, like I said earlier, I play a number of old games and a lot of dark souls which is the worst PC port I have ever played and they all support 1440p and I'm sure they would support 4k. It's basically just a multiplier as stated above, I don't think you'll encounter a game that won't run at your resolution.