4K - When will it be mainstream?

[Dirk Diggler]

Regardless of what Ubisoft's psy-ops division are currently attempting, I don't think consolers will settle for 30fps much longer. So a £300 console doing 4K60 would have to be heavily subsidized if you have to spend that much on one component in the PC to get the same.

Right now we have consoles that can output 1080p@60fps and they cost around £300... which is roughly the same as a GTX970. Stepping to 4k should cost roughly the same if it's too be considered mainstream.

Of course consoles are subsidised, they always will be. The real money is made on apps and games, so subsidising the hardware is cost efficient in the long run.

 

[Orangey]

Sony make a profit on the PS4.

And about that 1080p60... no we don't.

 

[Bonjour]

I'm not sure the 'mainstream' run games on ultra settings.

 

[MrMarvelous]

Not for a few years yet. If i'd be upgrading to a 4K monitor i'd want to make sure that my hardware will be up to the task of running on such a resolution comfortably. Will propably invest once they're 4K 120Hz which won't be for a good few years yet I think.

 

[Dirk Diggler]

I'm not sure the 'mainstream' run games on ultra settings.

Fair point.

 

[ScoTTyBEEE]

It will be mainstream when 4k is the minimum spec you can buy.

 

[NirK]

Right now we have consoles that can output 1080p@60fps and they cost around £300... which is roughly the same as a GTX970. Stepping to 4k should cost roughly the same if it's too be considered mainstream.

Of course consoles are subsidised, they always will be. The real money is made on apps and games, so subsidising the hardware is cost efficient in the long run.

How many games on PS4 actually run at 1080p 60fps? Most are less than 1080p or capped at 30fps.

 

[Legend]

The question as to when 4K will become mainstream has approximately the same answer as when we'll all be going to work in driver-less cars. Actually, the latter will come first. In fact, flying cars will come first. Scratch that, the flying cars fad will have come and gone and we'll all have our own personal jet packs... and we'll be having far too much fun zooming around the skies to worry about 4K, pfft!

 

[Orangey]

It will be mainstream when 4k is the minimum spec you can buy.

Right now you can still buy 1368x760.

 

[hedgey]

monitor prices are irrelevant. GPU's cant cope with 4k yet. the price/perf isnt there yet and wont get there anytime soon without a serious lowering of price for whats required for 4k (dual GPU on one card to avoid SLI issues)

 

[Final8y]

monitor prices are irrelevant. GPU's cant cope with 4k yet. the price/perf isnt there yet and wont get there anytime soon without a serious lowering of price for whats required for 4k (dual GPU on one card to avoid SLI issues)

Dual GPU on one card is still SLI/CF.

 

[Yaayuh!]

There is absolutely zero chance of PS5 having 4K. They will be picking the chips in a year or two's time...

If the PS5 is likely to be released in around 3-4 years time, i think it's safe to say that it'll be able to play back 4K Blu-rays at least, it just makes sense for Sony.
I would hazard a guess it'll be able to output 4K, but scale up.

monitor prices are irrelevant. GPU's cant cope with 4k yet. the price/perf isnt there yet and wont get there anytime soon without a serious lowering of price for whats required for 4k (dual GPU on one card to avoid SLI issues)

Dual GPU on one card is still SLI/CF.

Indeed it is, but what i think he's getting at is that the GTX690 has proved that it has far less issues than the traditional SLi setup. Probably due to the PLX chip.

 

[Final8y]

Indeed it is, but what i think he's getting at is that the GTX690 has proved that it has far less issues than the traditional SLi setup. Probably due to the PLX chip.

The PLX chip does not fix any issues besides if the motherboard does not support SLI/CF.

 

[Yaayuh!]

The PLX chip does not fix any issues besides if the motherboard does not support SLI/CF.

Then it must be something else. Black magic maybe.

 

[Calin Banc]

Right now we have consoles that can output 1080p@60fps

No, they can't. Even 1080p@30FPS is too much.

 

[ubersonic]

monitor prices are irrelevant. GPU's cant cope with 4k yet.

Monitors are always ahead of GPU's, I remember buying a second Voodoo 2 for SLI so I could run Quake at a stonking 1024x768

 

[MorgothPl]

It will be mainstream, when an upper mainstream card like 970 will be able to pull 60 FPS. At least that's when I get 4K screen

 

[Kaapstad]

It will be mainstream, when an upper mainstream card like 970 will be able to pull 60 FPS. At least that's when I get 4K screen

I can think of a few games where a 970 can not pull 60 fps @1080p now unless you turn the settings down.

I think people are using the wrong definition of mainstream, I would define it as when the majority of people are using 4K regardless of what is needed to max it out. If we are honest most people can not max out Crysis 3 @1080p for example and get 60 fps.

 

[FrankJH]

If the PS5 is likely to be released in around 3-4 years time, i think it's safe to say that it'll be able to play back 4K Blu-rays at least, it just makes sense for Sony.
I would hazard a guess it'll be able to output 4K, but scale up.
.

I wuold agree with this, but it depends on how "big" 4k is , especially 4k blu's which we really wont know for a few years (as they wont be released until approx next Christmas anyway)

 

[Woodsta888]

I thought movies filmed in 35mm is actually 4k. They just havent been digitised and remastered in 4k yet. The true resolution of 35mm film negative is 4k so it's been around for a while. It's just the medium for playback for the masses hasn't been.