Going 4k a Year Down the Line.

MurphyBrix · 6 Jun 2019 at 19:27

Hi all

I currently have a 980ti paired with a Dell S2716DG (G-Sync) 1440p. Ive gamed at 1440p for a while now but the 980ti is struggling with newer titles so a new card will probably be my next purchase but i think ill maybe leave that for a year and see where the landscape is with cards then, it'll have to be NVIDIA again with my monitor being g-sync.

Ive quite fancy trying 4k but with the price of the 4k monitors (which include G-Sync and 144mhz) your talking massive money, especially if you were to buy a new card as well.

I see a lot of people that game with TVs and different kind of monitors.

I was just wondering what peoples opinions are of 4k TVs and 4k monitors. Do you gain big advantages with G-Sync because a 4k monitor without G-Sync will be cheaper. Maybe the monitors may come down in money in a years time or they maybe more on the market. For what im seeing with prices now for a 4K monitor with G-Sync and that runs at 144mhz i don't think i could justify the money.

Thanks.

Legend · 6 Jun 2019 at 20:40

I don't get the TV thing... it just makes no sense on PC unless you're very casual gamer and/or just need that larger size for whatever reason. You're restricting yourself to 60Hz and no VRR, which is a big loss. You might as well be on a console. Some TV's do support Freesync now, but they are far from cheap and similarly priced to high end monitors. I'm not sure how well these work with PC either.

I'd see where the landscape is a year from now. We will have more (hopefully affordable) high refresh 4K monitors to choose from, and as you say, faster GPUs. That said, I'm quite certain you'll still be looking at the best part of £3K for a top end GPU and 4K monitor to pair it with.

As and when we have both TV's and GPUs with HDMI 2.1 to choose from, the argument for a TV could be much stronger... but until then, it's a relatively weak one unless your use case REALLY benefits from it (and I'm sure some people will put forward theirs).

ninezerofive · 6 Jun 2019 at 22:30

I game on 4k TV now, mind you I stopped playing competitive games. I got myself couple Dualshock 4 Controller and I am playing everything I missed out on while playing MMO's and FPS games.

Finished AC: Origins, liked it so much that I am gonna go through all previous installments 1-Odyssey

Then is Tomb Raider up on the list, and then the Dark Souls series.

That should keep me occupied for awhile.

Legend · 7 Jun 2019 at 00:39

There's nothing inherently 'wrong' with playing on a TV... it's just you are missing out on high refresh and the smooth experience your current monitor assures you, so I'd say it's a big step back in all areas other than that immersion 'big screen WOW' factor. If you find that's what you want though, then by all means do it. As I say though, you are coming from a G-Sync monitor, so while it's always more obvious with fast twitch games, I think you'd notice the difference in the majority. It certainly won't ever be a smoother gaming experience on a TV, that's for sure. The only reason I can see to do it is the extra screen real estate, but you make numerous compromises for that.

The other factor to consider is PPI... depending how far you are sat from a 40"+ 4K TV, vs your 27" 1440p monitor, even though you're at 4K, it won't look any sharper and may even look worse.

Oh, and there's also latency... most TV's are going to be worse in this regard.

This is all moot if you're not looking to buy today though... just wait and see what's around a year from now and ask again then. There might be some more interesting options available.