UHD for desktop/move use, but scale down to HD for gaming?

Scougar

Scougar

Scougar

Soldato
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So I am one of those people that really don't want to be spending thousands on gfx cards just to play games at UHD levels at present. What I would like to do is have a UHD desktop but then have the games run in FHD. Now as it's exactly 4x less, it 'should' in theory not look too bad.

Does anyone actually do this, and how does it look? I'm thinking of getting something like the Vizio M43-C1 UHD TV to use as a monitor/TV and will be sitting arms length from the screen for monitor use (I value my eyes, and a 40" screen in FHD res for at that distance is awful for desktop.)
 
I could tell you of some S Korean 39.5"/40" LCD monitors that I know people do this on but that would be against the rules I believe! They aren't TVs they have custom scalers and work quite well even OC up to ~70Hz in that mode.

The Philips OCUK sell probably does this as the same panel is used in at least one of the other LCD monitors I know of but the others have less input lag due to slightly less complicated inputs, features built in the scalers etc.
 
It's not ideal, really you want to play at native resolution anything else doesn't look quite right.
4K -> 1080p probably looks better than 1440p -> 1080p or 4K -> 1440p though.
 
Yes they work quite well like what I said earlier.

21:9 3440x1440 & 2560x1440 also worked very well on mine but were limited to 60 Hz. I have since changed tgo an Acer X34.

Dyling Light @ 2560x1440


Witcher 3 @ 3440x1440
 
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I've had my eye on one of those 40" 4k monitors for a while now but have the same concern. For desktop work it would be great to have all that space yet still have everything visible. It would also look good for photos etc but there's no way my single 980Ti will manage 4k60 in games so having 1080p games run at 4 pixels for every 1 seemed like a good compromise if you sit at normal TV viewing distances.

I've not been able to test on a 4k screen but the same principle should apply to 720p on a 1440p display.

I tried both monitor scaling and nVidia scaling and both seemed to apply some kind of filtering resulting in a blurry image. I was using a 1440p Hazro I bought from here a few years back. Back when I tried I had an old 32" 720p native telly kicking around and 720p looked sharper on that than it did on the monitor. It was obvious that the monitor wasn't doubling up - nor was the graphics driver.

I can understand monitor manufacturers blindly applying the same algorithm for non-native content but the fact that the graphics card manufacturers are equally as lazy is a bit annoying.

I believe Panasonic do some 4k tellys that have a 4x scaling option but I couldn't tell you which models. Also they'd be HDMI only of course being TVs.
 
Just my experience but when using multi windows on the 39.5" I could end up with 4 1920 x 1080 windows. Great, but I'm staring at the corner of each window and the contents are spread to the far edges :)

I've since found that two windows side by side on a curved UW 34" works best for me as the edges don't feel quite so far away.
 
Problem with those cheaper 4K UHD TVs is they don't have DP 1.2 which is need for Chroma 4:4:4 + HDCP @60Hz

So you can loose detail in the signal which can mean softness to text etc. when connected to a PC.

The TV feature also quite often add to the input lag. So just be wary of a what appears to be a baregain and find actual feedback from PC users.

Unless of course you just want a cheap 4K UHD TV!
 
primary use would be as a monitor tbh, and I definitely want 4:4:4 if I can get it (via HDMI 2.0), as I don't want soft text and edges to things, I like the pin sharp.

Very tempted as it's now $259!

EDIT: I went and reserved one just in case. I have two days to decide.

EDIT2: And if I get this, I'll be needed that DP to HDMI 2.0 adapter!
 
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I know that monitor is cheap and we're not really supposed to discuss other competitors on here but have a look for the AMH 409U or MicroBoard B420 or my current fav...

https://teksyndicate.com/videos/microboard-4k-40-monitor-sexy-all-metal-display

For PC dedicated large 4K UHD DP 1.2 60Hz monitors.

I have an AMH 399U which was superseded by the A409U.

:) just checked the price on the BM400 and due to cult status and short supply the price has gone up from ~$650 to $2000 crazy!
 
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Decided to cancel my order as an initial report from Sceptre is that it only does 4:2:0 at 4k 60hz. This may turn out to be different if there is a pc mode that disables hdcp to free up bandwidth.
 
Scougar said:
So I am one of those people that really don't want to be spending thousands on gfx cards just to play games at UHD levels at present. What I would like to do is have a UHD desktop but then have the games run in FHD. Now as it's exactly 4x less, it 'should' in theory not look too bad.
Click to expand...

This depends upon the physical size of the monitor. Running 1080p on my 28" 4K monitor isn't too bad, but I can detect the 2x2 pixel blocks. I wouldn't want to game at 1080p on any larger monitor at my normal viewing distance.
 
Quartz said:
This depends upon the physical size of the monitor. Running 1080p on my 28" 4K monitor isn't too bad, but I can detect the 2x2 pixel blocks. I wouldn't want to game at 1080p on any larger monitor at my normal viewing distance.
Click to expand...

I am currently using a 40 Inch TV (1080p) and it is uncomfortable to use as a screen. Too much moving around really and the distance it is at. Would be fine if say 5 feet away though.
 
Well... learned something about 4K tv's. Not all TV's are actually the UHD standard and are effectively 3K's (kinda). Some of the cheaper TV's use a white subpixel instead of the full RGB setup, so the white shares a pixel. This brings a whole host of problems.

I am very surprised these UHD tv's are even allowed to be sold as 4K/UHD given that they don't actually show the full colour range across every pixel as they claim.
 
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