Which 4k monitor to choose?

You guys are absolutely right, a 960 could probably be enough, but quite frankly, I'd much rather get the 4GB VRAM, and the 960s don't come with that (which may change shortly, but another story as such). I don't mind spending the extra $100 or so for that.

As far as compatibility goes, I've actually tested that at a buddy's house. He has a 970 in his main PC as well and we got 3 samsung 28" 4K monitors from Best Buy (and returned them subsequently) to test with. The card was fine with three 4K displays at 60Hz.

As far as monitor sizes go, I'm still struggling. I may just have to get one 27" and one 32" to tinker with first and return the one that doesn't make the cut, and order two more of the other.
 
kapone said:
You guys are absolutely right, a 960 could probably be enough, but quite frankly, I'd much rather get the 4GB VRAM, and the 960s don't come with that (which may change shortly, but another story as such). I don't mind spending the extra $100 or so for that.

As far as compatibility goes, I've actually tested that at a buddy's house. He has a 970 in his main PC as well and we got 3 samsung 28" 4K monitors from Best Buy (and returned them subsequently) to test with. The card was fine with three 4K displays at 60Hz.

As far as monitor sizes go, I'm still struggling. I may just have to get one 27" and one 32" to tinker with first and return the one that doesn't make the cut, and order two more of the other.
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Some 4GB GTX960 cards have already been announced if not been made available at retail already. One such example:

http://www.evga.com/articles/00914/EVGA-GeForce-GTX-960-4GB/

http://www.techpowerup.com/210596/zotac-unveils-a-pair-of-4-gb-geforce-gtx-960-graphics-cards.html

Not that it really matters either way. A GTX970 is obviously fine too but be advised that the 4GB of onboard RAM that you covet may not function as expected given the well known issue outlined with these cards.

If you had access to three Samsung 28" 4K monitors then you should already have some idea of whether or not such hardware is suitable for your needs.
 
Personally I'm looking to get a single 50" seiki pro monitor. 40" if it's prohibitively expensive.
 
Octavean said:
If you had access to three Samsung 28" 4K monitors then you should already have some idea of whether or not such hardware is suitable for your needs.
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You're quite right. When I played with those monitors at his house, I "thought" I'd be ok with using that sized 4K display with no scaling in Windows, however, I did not get as much time with them as I'd have liked. In addition, when we played with them, they were setup sub-optimally since we're basically testing the video card, not the monitors.

I'd have loved to get one or more of those "on my desk" and played with them for a day or two to see how they'd work out. I guess, that's what I'll have to do, just order some to test with, in my layout, on my desk.
 
kapone said:
You're quite right. When I played with those monitors at his house, I "thought" I'd be ok with using that sized 4K display with no scaling in Windows, however, I did not get as much time with them as I'd have liked. In addition, when we played with them, they were setup sub-optimally since we're basically testing the video card, not the monitors.

I'd have loved to get one or more of those "on my desk" and played with them for a day or two to see how they'd work out. I guess, that's what I'll have to do, just order some to test with, in my layout, on my desk.
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It's probably best to test with whichever model of monitor you are interested in anyway. While likely insignificant a 28" 4K TN monitor (Samsung) is slightly bigger then a 27" 4K IPS monitor.
 
Octavean said:
My Wife is a developer / programmer and can really benefit from even a single 4K monitor but it must be 32" in size at least. For 5K, such a monitor would probably have to be at least 40" as the new minimum. A 27" 2560x144 monitor is fine but not ideal. I would actually describe 2560x1440 a minimum and a 2560x1440 monitor in the 32" or larger range adds nothing of significance,.....in our case.
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Been there, done that. I have used a Seiki 4k as desktop for reading/working. Turned out that the increased desktop area did not compensate for the increased effort of reading such small fonts, and the neck pain was guaranteed after the second week. For us, using the 39" 4K TV as a monitor required new chairs, tables and a monitor arm. More often than not i was going back to 1080p and enjoying the high contrast of the display. Higher resolution is great, but it should not be the priority of a coder/programmer. Ergonomics and contrast are the main points, always.

there are always compromises to be made:
- while 40" 4k have the same PPI of 27" 1440p, truth is one does not sit as close to a 40" display as on sits to a 27" one.
- Using VA panels is a massive upgrade for reading. PERIOD.
-~135 PPi is the minimum most users can read. Most likely the comfortable reading zone is closer to 100 PPI than the industry-wide 110PPI standard implies.

40" 4k> "only" 8 million pixels, hard to go multi monitor, ergonomics issues

32" 4k> possible to multimonitor, but only uses IPS panels, so reading will suffer, a lot.

24" 1440p: not available in the USA yet, only IPS panels. capable of 5 monitors setups.

32" 1440p VAs these are big monitor with impressive contrast and comfortable PPI, but you can at most use 3 at the same time .

24" 1200p VAs They are still on sale and offer all the advantages of 32" 1440p in a smaller size. 16:10 has many desirable qualities for a coder/programmer as well.

PLP setups: 40" + 2x24"; 40" + 2x20"
 
geok1ng said:
Been there, done that. I have used a Seiki 4k as desktop for reading/working. Turned out that the increased desktop area did not compensate for the increased effort of reading such small fonts, and the neck pain was guaranteed after the second week. For us, using the 39" 4K TV as a monitor required new chairs, tables and a monitor arm. More often than not i was going back to 1080p and enjoying the high contrast of the display. Higher resolution is great, but it should not be the priority of a coder/programmer. Ergonomics and contrast are the main points, always.
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I've "been there and done that" as well and with all due respect, my experience on a Seiki 4K 39" is still one I view as being positive. I've experienced none of the ill effects and issues that you have cited.

I'm not trying to discount your assertions, I'm just saying they aren't necessarily universal.
 
More contrast being better for reading came up a few times in this thread and that puzzles me a bit. Always thought that too much contrast between text and background color tires the eyes. EIZO have a "paper mode" that's supposed to be easier on the eyes - it gives the display a yellowish tint and lowers the contrast a lot. Blacks become pretty much gray. Am I missing something?
 
antihero12 said:
More contrast being better for reading came up a few times in this thread and that puzzles me a bit. Always thought that too much contrast between text and background color tires the eyes. EIZO have a "paper mode" that's supposed to be easier on the eyes - it gives the display a yellowish tint and lowers the contrast a lot. Blacks become pretty much gray. Am I missing something?
Click to expand...

EIZO paper mode messes with color temp to give that effect, and one review found it counterproductive. Another found it nothing special.

My 2 cents: too much light tires the eyes and we DO need SOME contrast to read.

IPS panels are worst for reading because their blacks are brighter no matter what one does with their white point.

any panel can be set to 4500k white level, but only VAs can do that with blacks that are below the measuring point of calibrating devices :cool:

let us take a look at 2 competing monitors on this thread:
qnix qx2710

OSDBrightness Luminance Black Point Contrast Ratio
100 / 288.34 / 0.46 / 627
10 / 83.94 / 0.14 / 600

Compare that to the BL3200PT

OSDBrightness Luminance Black Point Contrast Ratio
100 / 283.4 / 0.11 / 2577
10 / 84.3 / 0.03 / 2810

A better IPS panel, like the dell u3415w can behave better, but it is still no match for a high end VA, like the philips 4065c.
 
IPS panels of course have brighter blacks than VA ones, but claiming this affects readability of text on IPS displays seems like a controversial opinion to me
 
Although I’m no expert on the subject, I’m quite sure that contrast ratio of a monitor affects in no way readability of text on it. Human eye is sensitive to contrast. There is a difference if you increase contrast ratio from say 2:1 to 10:1 but a similar 5x increase from 1000:1 to 5000:1 makes practically no difference.

Sharpness of text and its size are most important for reading. If the program used scales well to different resolutions the monitor should have as high ppi as possible, if not then choose a monitor with a pixel pitch in which text looks convenient size for you. Backlight shouldn’t use PWM and screen coating should be to one’s liking but contrast ratio is totally irrelevant.
 
antihero12 said:
IPS panels of course have brighter blacks than VA ones, but claiming this affects readability of text on IPS displays seems like a controversial opinion to me
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Over the years i had in order of reading comfort:
24" 1080p AMVA BL2400PT
25" PVA
22" TN
40" AMVA
30" IPS

YMMV, but my personal experience is that reading requires comfortable pixel size, comfortable brightness level, comfortable contrast and comfortable ergonomics. IPS does not have an advantage over AMVA in any of these metrics.:(

EDIT: for the sake of truth, i correct the above statement: IPS market offer many options between 25" and 31", while VA offers none. So for this size range, IPS does have and ergonomic advantage. I even picked a triple 25" 1440p Dell, for ergonomic reasons
 
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kapone said:
You guys are absolutely right, a 960 could probably be enough, but quite frankly, I'd much rather get the 4GB VRAM, and the 960s don't come with that (which may change shortly, but another story as such). I don't mind spending the extra $100 or so for that.
Click to expand...

Those 4GB GTX 960 cards are available now.
 
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