What is the bottleneck to 4k gaming?

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Rob94hawk

2[H]4U
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I have a socket 1150 system but I want to get a 32" 4K monitor that's on sale at Costco.

If I upgrade to a better GPU will that be sufficient with my 4770k & 8GB ram?

Or is the Z87 chipset system not adequate enough?

Currently I'm gaming on a 2560x1440 monitor with a GTX 780.

I have no intentions on building a new system. Thanks.

Oh also, what's the new standard for 4k gaming now? HDMI 2.0?
 
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What zoda said. It should be doable, depending on the game, if 60 fps is all you're after
 
I tested a few games in 4k with my 4670k and a GTX 1080 and was happy with the results. There's no way my old GTX 780 would have kept up.
 
The lack of relatively affordable HDR PC monitors. PC gaming is in a bad place right now where console players have high end televisions and PC users are stuck with less visually impressive monitors.
 
Depends on the game, if it's older the only limitation is the interface chip on the monitor or GPU, e.g. Dp/HDMI. You need HDMI 2.1 (nothing has it) to run 4k/120 at maximum bitrate for best colour/HDR etc.
So with that in mind, currently it's GPU if it's a demanding game, then if you had unlimited GPU power the interface becomes the next issue.
4k is a year and a bit too soon for 120Hz gaming. 60Hz you can do now if you have the pockets for a 2080Ti or okay to reduce some settings on a Vega2/2080.
Even 1080/V64 can do 4k if you reduce settings, same goes for everythign else down the product stack. After waiting for years for this, I'll happily wait another year or two..

TVs with HDMI 2.1 are nearly here so now it's just GPUs to wait on long term...
 
GoldenTiger said:
You're going to want to hop to 16gb of ram, too.
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Agree with this. I highly recommend adding another 8GB to your PC in addition to upgrading the video card. I don't know how easy or hard it is to find DDR3 these days, though. For the video card I recommend at least a GTX 1080 or Vega 64.
 
A 1080 will handle 4K/60 in many/most instances if you're willing to use the resolution slider. It's cheating (a little), but it allows you to dial in your resolution without actually having to have a monitor that will display a dozen different ones.
 
You basically can't have 144hz 4k at the same time unless its a old game like borderlands or csgo. Because almost all New games will have a hard time keeping 60 fps at 4k and 144hz.
 
Comixbooks said:
You basically can't have 144hz 4k at the same time unless its a old game like borderlands or csgo. Because almost all New games will have a hard time keeping 60 fps at 4k and 144hz.
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I spend less than 10% of my gaming time on current AAA titles. Still, not even Doom is going to run at constant 120+ on my 1070 @ 4k.
 
Check your local Craiglist for 1080 deals. Most people are willing to let you see the card running a benchmark/game if you have any doubts.
 
Is that 4k costco monitor more than 60Hz?

What's the refresh rate of current 1440 monitor? If its 100hz+ I'd keep it and game at 1440 with high refresh.

A new RTX2060 hangs with a 1070ti in some case or close to a 1080 in others. Should do 1440 pretty well. Otherwise a use 1080ti would be great for 1440.
 
piscian18 said:
People are unloading them here in FS/FT $300 average for a GTX1080 $500 for a GTX1080ti. I'd sell mine but I'm not on the RTX train, nvidia can eat dicks.
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That's a funny thing to say from someone who's running a Nvidia card. Lol.
 
I play in 4K on my 980 and i7 4790 - which is about the same as the current RX 580, which are very cheap right now.

Nothing current and I’m not opposed to turning down some settings or rage of the FPS dips some. That makes it reasonable for me.

Biggest issue I have isn’t performance, it’s a lot of the older games just can’t handle scaling the UI at all.

I love 4K for text and web stuff. For gaming it’s been a bust though.
 
I play at 4K on my OC'd Vega 64 in some games, and others I'll drop down to 1440P. It varies on the game whether you can play it smoothly at 4K maxed out or not. Some games are smooth at 30+ FPS where others need 60+ to feel really smooth. The good thing is the games that I need to drop to 1440P still looks good when you're gaming on a 28" screen.
 
I've been gaming at 4k for nearly 2 years now. I use a 40" Seiki (see sig) that's a bit out dated now, but nothing compelling enough has come out to get me to spend the money. The downfall is the refresh rate you will be restricted too, the cost of hardware to run it, and the competitive edge in any fast paced game (if that's your thing).

The highest refresh rate supported in games and monitors at 4k is currently 60Hz. There are 120Hz & 144Hz 4k monitors on the horizon, but don't expect them to be affordable or for there to be graphics cards that will even come close to 30fps, let alone 60fps, to arrive with them. These things will come in time, but unfortunately I'm guessing we're still a couple years out before 60fps on said hardware is within the average consumer's price range. All that said, if you're not a twitch shooter aficionado, than 4k @ 60hz is not bad. I play mostly shooters & RPG's, but predominantly single player & co-op. Even if I had the reflexes of yesteryear, I would get trounced against today's 1440p @ 144hz MP players.

As far as hardware goes, a 1080Ti would likely play most things at 4k : 60hz : 60fps, but at High to medium settings with little to no AA. If you want decent AA and Ultra settings, you're probably still looking at SLI. I run 2 980Ti's, 16Gb of DDR and an SSD for games... and games like Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Assassin's Creed Odyssey & the recent Division 2 Alpha run smooth and look great... at High settings with FXAA or minimal AA. I would probably take 1440p @ 144hz if I could get it in anything bigger than 27" (I haven't had anything smaller than 30" in over 10 yrs, I'm not going back), but at 40" I don't know that the resolution would maintain its shine. In fact I'd jump up to a 46" now if I could get 4k HDR & 120Hz with livable frame rates. Nividia and Razer both have large format 4k monitors that they claim will run at 120Hz or higher in the works, but pricing is projected at $3k - $6k. Uh, hell no. HEELLLLL NO!

Lastly, it really depends on what you play. If you like fast paced games, then don't go 4k yet. It is not ready. You will be rage swearing your way down the road of buyer's remorse. If on the other hand you are into slow to average paced games, then 4k gaming is doable with the right setup. I'd recommend 16Gb of ram as already mentioned, a 1080Ti if you can swing it, and either LG's 27" UK650-W or if you want larger, Predator's XB321H. There are more affordable options, but I'll let you do your own Googling, or go to [H]'s own Display forum and read up.

Best of luck. :)
 
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Simply answer. The video card. It's just not powerful enough.

For 4K gaming + HDR + Ultra Settings + 144hz you need .... a hellva video card ... tech that's not even out and won't be out for at least 4 years I'm guessing. We should see a new video card architecture from nVidia coming to market sometime in 2020 ... and again in 2022. I am not even sure the video cards from 2022 will be able to handle 144hz + Ultra Settings + HDR @ 4K ... not with 20% gains here and there. Let's be super nice to nVidia and give them a 50% gain in 2020 .... which will never happen. And then give them another 50% performance gain in 2022 which ... would never ever happen. That takes the RTX 2080 Ti to 2x it's speed .... that's still not enough ... maybe for 100hz or 120hz but you also have to consider games get more complex so there will be push back on that as well.

2022 at the earliest and even then it's going to be sketchy.
 
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