Future upgrade thoughts: 120 Hz 4K, HDMI 2.1, 10 GbE

Quartz · 5 Dec 2017 at 15:11

My current rig (see sig) is entirely satisfactory but there are big changes due next year, mainly HDMI 2.1 and 120+ Hz 4K monitors. The former will put an end to the Gsync / Freesync issue as well as HDMI vs Displayport; the latter will make 4K gaming that much better. So I'm expecting to make a full refresh next year. I expect that Nvidia's Volta and AMD's Vega refresh will support HDMI 2.1; Nvidia GPUs already support 4K120. I fear my biggest challenge will be choosing between 4K @ 144 Hz and 5K @ 100 Hz. I'll probably go SLI / XF because a lot of the older games support it.

I also expect to be changing the CPU and motherboard. I'll probably go for a Ryzen or Threadripper build for the extra PCI Express lanes so I can have a 10 Gb ethernet card without crimping the GPU(s).

All this is, of course, subject to change as products emerge.

Any criticisms?

TrueLicht · 7 Dec 2017 at 01:04

Quartz,
I agree with your line of thinking.
I built my PC in 2012 to support 1080p 60Hz gaming. I'll upgrade my PC when I feel there is a significant reason to do so. To me, that would be a PC that can support 4k video at 120Hz.
But, I don't know if all of the pieces will fall into place in 2018. Obviously - as you point out - HDMI 2.1 must be established in the entertainment industry - and, I'm not seeing a lot of announcements to support thinking it is going to be viable within the next year. I hope it does - that would be great.
Otherwise, my 6 year old PC comfortably supports every possible need I can think of and I see no reason to build a new PC.
I enjoy running 4k, 60Hz video on my 6 year old PC using a 49 inch Samsung 8000K HDTV.

Quartz · 7 Dec 2017 at 09:36

TrueLicht said:
Obviously - as you point out - HDMI 2.1 must be established in the entertainment industry - and, I'm not seeing a lot of announcements to support thinking it is going to be viable within the next year.

I'm thinking that video cards and monitors will come first, being premium products, and high-refresh 4K signalling is already here in Displayport 1.4. But if I have to wait an extra year, so be it.

DragonQ · 7 Dec 2017 at 09:42

Why will HDMI 2.1 put an end to "the FreeSync/GSync issue"?

There are a couple of motherboards that already have 5 GbE built-in, I'd expect that number to rise with any new motherboards next year (e.g. Z390 or a potential X470). Quite a lot cheaper than buying a separate card in most cases.

Quartz · 7 Dec 2017 at 09:47

DragonQ said:
Why will HDMI 2.1 put an end to "the FreeSync/GSync issue"?

Because it has variable sync built in.

There are a couple of motherboards that already have 5 GbE built-in, I'd expect that number to rise with any new motherboards next year (e.g. Z390 or a potential X470). Quite a lot cheaper than buying a separate card in most cases.

Good point. Let's hope so.

DragonQ · 7 Dec 2017 at 10:11

Quartz said:
Because it has variable sync built in.

So does DisplayPort 1.2a, it doesn't help with the FreeSync/GSync war since the device needs to support a certain standard too. Hopefully the adoption of HDMI 2.1 will help force nVidia to support Adaptive Sync but by itself I don't see why it'd change anything.