• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

4K - When will it be mainstream?

TheInspector said:
I wouldn't say 1080p is even mainstream yet. Think about these so called "next-generation" systems that have come into play; yet can barely reach 1080p.
If that's the case then I would say 1080p wouldn't even become mainstream until 2016 at least, meaning the majority (if not all) TV channels / general internet videos and whatever else you can think of under the sun also has to hit 1080p.

Despite other countries that are testing out 5K, 8K and maybe even higher resolutions. 4K probably won't be used by more than 50% of a built-up countries populous by 2020...
Click to expand...

We'll prob do away with with 'resolutions' as we know it by then anyways, full on digital video is next isn't it?
 
Mainstream, 5 years.

But I think next year will see huge growth, I'm planning on the move to 4k next summer, hoping that by then with freesync out the market will have stabilised and I can buy a future proof monitor that will last for years.
 
Last edited:
Considering that 720p and 1080p both became mainstream for TV's long before monitors I think we are in for a long wait, hell 1440p isn't really mainstream yet.
 
ubersonic said:
Considering that 720p and 1080p both became mainstream for TV's long before monitors I think we are in for a long wait, hell 1440p isn't really mainstream yet.
Click to expand...
I bought my Dell 24" 2406WFP 1920x1200 monitor a long time before I bought my 1080p TV....;)

Bought my 1080p plasma on 9-10-2007
 
Last edited:
I don't think 1440p will ever really be mainstream. It'll be like 1680x1050 which was essentially a price/screen size stop-gap between then standard resolutions and the more expensive/less available 1080p. It had some use but within a year or two was completely replaced by 1080p, 1440p is this generation's equivalent. I don't expect it will ever really go anywhere other than a few PC monitors priced below 4k, as 4k monitors become more available at lower prices 1440p will fade into non-existence.

The fact we're seeing 4k phones shows that it will eventually be everywhere as a standard, I dont think it will take longer than a couple of years before the average TV is 4k.
 
Last edited:
Don't think it's got anything to do with the price of 4k monitors, they aren't even that expensive, it's the GPU power required to run them at a decent framerate and dropping down from 120/144hz (for some gamers) that's the issue.

I'm not sure we'll ever see 4k as the most used resolution.
 
bru said:
Just a thought for those thinking. 'we need a single card that is 3 times more powerful so it will be a few more years.' 7970 launched nearly 3 years ago and a 290x still isn't anywhere near as twice as fast, let alone 3 times.
My point being that to have single card performance that is 3 times what we have now is going to take way more than a few years, I mean go back 5 years to the 5870 ( Sept 08) and a 290x still isn't really clearly 3 times faster.

To be 3 times faster than what we have now might even take 7, 8 or even 9, 10 years seeing as performance improvements seem to be slowing down.
Click to expand...

I am just pulling your leg but...

you've not quoted me, but paraphrased what I've said - you've taken the minimum time period "a few" doesn't necessarily mean 3 it can mean more, and I said 2-3 times, and you've taken the top end of that, you've also compared a brand new release from 3 years ago against a product that is due to go EOL within the next few months (released over a year ago itself)

compare the GTX 580 with a GTX 780 - 2.5 years between launches
now this was hard digging up comparative benches, but GTX 580 Crysis Warhead, 41fps, GTX 780 78fps (same source, same bench run, same settings), not quite double but near enough, and in 2.5 years, not 3

:D
 
FrankJH said:
New 4k blue's are on their way forc next Xmas

Personally dont think true 4k gaming will ever be mainstream ( ie without upscaling techniques happening in the background).

You have to think about whether the games companies actually want / need to go to that scale in their maps etc - and for such a small percentage of users it isnt justifiable.

PC gamers are already a tiny percentage of gamers as a whole ( and you wont be gaming in 4k on a console for at least onevor two more generations) - and those with the means to go double / triple SLI plus cpu grunt and the monitor (s) is even less.

Personally think there is a lot more interest in the non4k 32/34 inch ultra wide monitors than the smaller and cheaper 4k monitors. Once 32/34 inch 4k monitors come down to the ~£600-800 mark ( and the gpu power to handle these beasts comes down too) then interest will probably grow significantly, but it will still be a relatively small amount of gamers as a whole
Click to expand...

It's called technical progression. 10 or 15 years ago, how many people do you think were running 1080P or 1440P?.......

Consoles are already at 1080P - the playstation 5 or 6 will most liklely be 4k.
 
Dave2150 said:
It's called technical progression. 10 or 15 years ago, how many people do you think were running 1080P or 1440P?.......

Consoles are already at 1080P - the playstation 5 or 6 will most liklely be 4k.
Click to expand...

If they do get 4k support it will be upscaled 1080p at best unless its an extremely lightweight game.
 
I would say that by 2020 we'll get a card costing £150 that can power 2180p on the equivalent of high settings and get to 60 fps.

Monitor prices have been a real problem for 1440p gaming, and it's taken so long for such screens to be mainstream that 4k screens are not far behind now.

GPU development will focus more on improved 4k performance once there is enough demand for it, but to stimulate demand we need cheaper screens that are suitable for gaming (1ms response times etc) and also cheaper 4k tv with 4k content that won't attract a premium.

Finally I predict 4k/5k will cause a comeback for physical media simply because bandwidth for streaming, downloading or broadcasting just isn't good enough.
 
I would guess a few years at least, main issues being:

-Very demanding on hardware which doesn't appear to be becoming mainstream soon
-No push from consoles for games to be developed at that res (unlike 1080p which has been supported on consoles for ages)
-On screen sizes that can be comfortably used 4k is very high res meaning a lot of faffing about to get desktop scaling right
-General lack of media content unlike 1080p which was driven forward by BD (this will improve but there is no de facto physical platform yet)
-Feels like people are moving a little away from desktop computing

That said the fact it is being adopted by TV manufacturers will make it as likely a target point as anything.

On the PC front the 'mainstream' market always lags a couple of years behind the 'mainstream enthusiast' market, i.e. people like us on this forum will typically be embracing these technological leaps long before the mass market does. To illustrate this, most people here think of 1080p as having been mainstream for a while, yet if you look at Steam hardware survey even now well over half of users have a primary display resolution below that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom