What does colour depth in CCC do?

[Lazmarr]

I have a setting for colour depth in CCC (Catalyst Control Centre) but not sure what it does and what to change it to, options are 8bpc, 10bpc and 12bpc?

[NeatSquidYT]

CCC?

[Lazmarr]

CCC?

Catalyst Control Centre

[Guest Generallee]

I have a setting for colour depth in CCC (Catalyst Control Centre) but not sure what it does and what to change it to, options are 8bpc, 10bpc and 12bpc?

 

I believe it's for professionals ie photographers or designers, who work with 10 bit monitors

 

You should leave it a 8bit

[Lazmarr]

I believe it's for professionals ie photographers or designers, who work with 10 bit monitors

 

You should leave it a 8bit

it was set at 10 bit and my tv mp pc is connected to says 10bit or 12bit depending on what I choose?

[Guest Generallee]

it was set at 10 bit and my tv mp pc is connected to says 10bit or 12bit depending on what I choose?

 

That's odd, i thought only professional monitors support 10bit color depth

 

Well, just leave it as it is, neither media nor gaming actually benefits from 10bit color depth

[Lazmarr]

That's odd, i thought only professional monitors support 10bit color depth

 

Well, just leave it as it is, neither media nor gaming actually benefits from 10bit color depth

It won't damage my TV if I put it on 12bit right?

[Guest Generallee]

It won't damage my TV if I put it on 12bit right?

 

I've never used these settings so i can't tell you if it will, what i can advise you is just to leave it as it was

[IreMinMon]

The "bits" (8, 10, 12) means basically how precisely colour is calculated. Analog sensors like human eyes are able to notice infinite number of colours, within the gamut of visible spectrum of course (electro-magnetic waves within approximate frequency range of 400-790 THz). Digital peripherals like monitors, are, on the other hand, only able to output finite number of colours, usually calculated (by your GPU) as a mixture of colour RED, GREEN and BLUE or as a mixture of CYAN, YELLOW and MAGENTA.

To regulate colour of the mixture display will output different level of each colour. I believe that for, let's say colour pink, an RGB monitor will output a high level of red, small level of blue, and even smaller level of green. Each pixel has individual backlight of each colour - each pixel can regulate the amount of red/green/blue it outputs. These are also not infinite. There is a highest level of (let's say) red colour pixel can output and there is the lowest level of (let's say) red colour pixel can output.

In digital data interfaces, with 8-bit colour calibration data sent from gpu to your monitor for specific pixel looks like this:

Red:     00101110      (which means 46 in decimal)

Green: 01110101      (which means 117 in decimal)
Blue     10000101      (which means 133 in decimal)

Each number contains level of each colour specific pixel should output.

8-bit colour calibration allows for 256 levels of each colour, resulting in 16.8 million colours total (256 levels of red * 256 levels of green * 256 levels of blue). Level 0 is usually the lowest level of illumination, 255 is usually the highest.

With 10-bit colour calibration however allows for 1024 levels of each colour, resulting in 1.07 BILLION colours total (1024 levels of red * 1024 levels of green * 1024 levels of blue). Level 0 is usually the lowest and level 1023 is usually the highest.

10-bit data:

Red: 0100101110          (302 in decimal)

Green: 0001100101       (101 in decimal)

Blue: 0110111010          (442 in decimal)

USEFUL FACTS / CONCLUSION:

 

1. More bits does not neccassarily mean higher levels of red/green/blue, it only means the differences between colours are tighter.

2. Higher-bit data requires both more bandwidth and more computing power. While interfaces with enough bandwidth are usually provided with the monitor, your in-game frame-rates will be smaller with 10-bit colour calibration.

3. Yes, you don't need more than eight. Pretty much only professionals editing photo/video will know how to make use of this. In gaming, with the speed environment changes you won't be able to tell the difference between levels 486 and 487 of red colour. You probably couldn't tell the difference between levels 107 and 108 on 8-bit calibration already.

4. I don't know how much games actually support 10-bit colour calibration. If the game doesn't support it, your frame-rates will be the same as with 8-bit monitor (only 256 levels will be calculated by the GPU).