4k or not to 4k

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Hi guys.

Thinking of upgrading my system to a GTX 980.

Want to get a new monitor to make the most of it.

Running windows 7 and I hear it can't handle 4k gaming too well. Or at least the texts scaling. Anyway I just wondered if it's worth going 4k yet?

I have an LG W2363D. LCD monitor.

Are there cheaper monitors I can upgrade too that will still give me impressive gaming views?

Cheers.
 
Windows ability (or not) to handle scaling doesn't affect gaming for the most part.

Gaming is a more complicated story in that both personal preference and the technical compatibility of any specific game comes into it. Generally most games work with 4K fine at a technical level but sometimes you might find mouse input less than ideal depending on preferences.

Personally I don't rate the current 4K panels for gaming though most of them have between less than ideal and bad input lag, poor response times for certain pixel transitions i.e. fast white to black and inverse ghosting issues with overdrive. For certain games they do give a jaw dropping experience however.

Depending on personal preferences the ultra wide 21:9 panels might be worth a look.
 
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Thanks Rroff

Like i said i have an OK monitor atm.

I can wait. Dont want to spend hundreds to then buy a 4k in future for hundreds again.

Is it worth upgrading to something half way in the meantime? Or will my LG W2363D give me full use of the new GTX 980's etc?
 
4k is great if you have the horsepower to push it , get a 60hz panel and have the money to back it up , Imo 4k isnt ready for primetime ,

Imo a single 980 whilst will get you playable results at very tweaked settings , there's no chance you'll be able to go balls out on eyecandy and keep fraemrate North of 30fps.

At moment I recommend dual card or dual gpu solutions for that res,
I think you would be better suited to a 2560x1400p monitor as you should be able to have all your eyecandy and framerate or try Gsync
 
So just to clarify. The 980 are the newest. What about the Titan Black cards?

I saw a nice Titan black bundle with a samsung 4K monitor for £1k.

Or for that money I could get a 980 (which I hear is more future proof) with a G-Sync monitor.

What will be better going forward?

I tend to have big upgrades every few years.
 
So just to clarify. The 980 are the newest. What about the Titan Black cards?

I saw a nice Titan black bundle with a samsung 4K monitor for £1k.

Or for that money I could get a 980 (which I hear is more future proof) with a G-Sync monitor.

What will be better going forward?

I tend to have big upgrades every few years.

They were making the point that a single GPU card doesn't exist that will run most games at 60fps (or more to the point consitently 45-50fps which most would deem acceptable) at 4K.

You will absolutely need 2 x 980 cards, ideally 3 for a 100% no hassle full eye candy 4K setup, along with the game having a proper SLI profile, that's virtually all games these days, if not on day 1 then within a few weeks of release.

There is the odd exception though and a few engines that just don't support SLI.

The Titan Black is old tech and doesn't change the answer, you'll be looking at least another 12 months to be realistic where we can say single GPU cards can actually do 4K justice consistently, maybe not even then really.
 
So what about now?

What's a live in between monitor to put me on for the next 12 months until a good 4k panel comes out?

Anyone had a serious look at the G-sync monitors?
 
I am having the same dilemma, having to decide what to get for Elite Dangerous, go 4K on a 28" for better eyecandy or 27" 1440 ? for better frame rates ? Decisions, Decisions ?
 
I am having the same dilemma, having to decide what to get for Elite Dangerous, go 4K on a 28" for better eyecandy or 27" 1440 ? for better frame rates ? Decisions, Decisions ?

ED looks insane on a 4K panel (almost makes up for the poor lag/OD issues) its about the one game where it makes it a hard decision - anything else I'd say go for a 120+Hz panel.
 
Thanks for that, thought about the Acer 4k2k XB280HK + MSI GTX970 when the Acer finally lands. Elite Dangerous has not got a firm release date yet so have some time to make mind up. Can always get a 2nd 970 if it is not quite good enough to run game in oooooh mode..
 
I game at 4K on a single 3 GB 780 Ti. I can max out older games like Borderlands 2; newer games run at lesser settings. A mix of Medium and High in the case of Tomb Raider, for instance. But I'm still using Medium or better settings.
 
did anyone try 1440p before going to 4k ? if so what is the difference.

is a doubling of pixels from 1440p to 4k really that mindblowing when pixels are already hard to identify at 50cm away on a 27"? or would a cherry picked 21:9 3440 x 1440 120hz panel match your gaming expectations equally should it soon exist ( well the 60hz version does obviously)

Also why not hold out for 5k with a 21:9 aspect ratio ? It seems 21:9 is the new defacto gaming standard and 4k 16:9 might not be near as popular, apple are soon to release their 5k model and im sure Dell will have the exact same panel out just a month or two later.
 
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