honest opinions - big screen gaming: 1080 vs 4K

[dooom]

So I am looking at big screens around 50+ " again. I wanted to throw a though out to the group to see if I am way off base on this or not.

 

Given the state of visibility and bandit scale-ability, i feel like I am balancing between 4K gaming and good ole' 1080p for the big screens. As I gather, the 4K debate is oft hampered by poor spotting and refresh rates. I am aware of Nvidia's planned 120 Hz 4K solutions but it does not seem to address the issues of spotting air/ground targets. Pretty is not necessarily better IMO.

 

So - now I am looking at 1080p TVs that are claiming 120 Hz refresh. Am i wrong to assume that a 1080p at 120 Hz would not only require less GPU strength but also provide a better solution for spotting? I am currently sitting about 24-36" from my screen. Would a 1080 p monitor just look like trash you think? would it be blurry and annoying or is anyone actually gaming at 50"+ / 120Hz here already... If so; what are your thoughts of it vs 4K?

[Drag80]

with a 50 inch screen u will have to sit alteast 5 to 6 feet away to have optimum vision and pixel density with 1080p. with 4k u can get as close as u want. IMO DCS does not require a very high refresh rate. However, if u play fast action games like first person shooter than refresh rate will matter alot.

[Sideslip]

I'll try to keep this short.

 

TLDR; I'd go with 4K for something of that size. I can't stand less than 100hz anymore, but your options are limited when going big.

 

The more real life FOV you want your screen to take up, the higher the resolution you want. If you are gaming on a 20inch screen, 4K is honestly stupid unless you have your face so close to the screen that if you don't need glasses now, you will soon.

 

At normal viewing distances talking 16:9 only, up to 24 inches 1080p is fine (27 is borderline but reasonable), 24 to 40 inches 1440p is good, 40 inches + you want 4k. Now if we were talking TVs where you are siting across the room, until you hit 50 inches it really makes no difference.

 

As far as performance goes, 4K (meaningless number, it's 8,294,400 pixels or 8MP) is the same number of pixels as 4 X 1080p screens. Most 4k screens top out at 60hz meaning if your GPU could run that it could theoretically also handle 1080p at 240hz or 1440p at 120hz. BUT... that does not mean your CPU can.

 

DCS in particular is very CPU limited in the sense that with 8 logical cores I will at most see 24% usage (typically 12-18%), in other words about 1-1.5 cores normally with the rare 2 cores usage. This means FPS is heavily dependent on instructions per clock (combination of architecture and clock speed). Just because your monitor and GPU can handle 120hz doesn't mean you will ever get it. More likely you will be stuck in the 80fps range with 70% GPU usage. This might change in the future, I know they mentioned Vulkan but what real world gains we will get from that remains to be seen.

 

Also, TVs are notorious for being misleading with refresh rate. Some advertise 120hz or more, but can't accept more than 60hz input. All they do is use interpolation to make additional frames that are a blend between two. Some don't even do that, but instead use a strobe to make motion "look" like 120hz which can actually make it look worse (anything your eye isn't following will look like choppy jumps in your peripheral vision instead of the more realistic blur). Be careful with TV marketing.

 

If you have a choice, make sure to get a gsync or freesync capable display depending on your GPU. The effect of screen tearing is worse the lower the refresh rate, even if you don't see the tear vsync will look much much smoother. BUT... vsync at fps that don't divide the refresh rate evenly (15/30/60/120 etc) will tend to stutter. You will find that the difference a variable refresh rate display makes is well worth it. 55fps with gsync will never feel as good as a steady 120hz, but it feels way better than without. Really on a 120hz screen 90fps would feel worse than 60 if you don't have gsync/freesync,

 

This idea of it being harder to spot targets with higher resolution... well that's a little debatable. This is more an issue that ED has to address at some point (and has been making improvements) regarding lowest LOD models. It used to be terrible, but it has gotten a lot better in the last year with a lot of room for improvement. This should be less of a problem when using a very large screen (like you want to do) that takes up a large amount of real world FOV. So long as the game's FOV is kept to reasonable levels you will actually see everything bigger (than someone on a smaller screen) and thus have an easier time of spotting targets at realistic ranges. I know the distance that the full 3D model is rendered has been increased in the last year and so this idea of hunting for a one pixel spec should be irrelevant.

 

IRL I can spot a 737 at about 4 to 5 miles under normal conditions if the lighting is right (landing light off), unless it's at the absolute perfect angle with the sun, then maybe I'll see it 15 miles out. Looking at the shadowed side against a bright white cloud layer is different. A 737 is a much bigger plane than an F-15 or SU-27, so I think a lot of people just don't realize that it's hard to spot a dark spec 10 miles away against tree/city cluttered terrain. So I really don't think hunting for 1 pixel specs is a good excuse to lower the visual quality for everything else.

 

Also consider what you will be using the screen for. Is this just to play DCS and only DCS, or will you be doing other things with it.

 

So much for keeping it short :doh:

Edited January 22, 2018 by Sideslip

[Barefoot Bandit]

S...So - now I am looking at 1080p TVs that are claiming 120 Hz refresh. ...

 

Hold on there....

 

Be very careful, there is frame rate, and refresh rate. Jus because a screen refreshes pixels at 120Hz, does not mean it can display120FPS. There is no 120 FPS content for TV's - period, and thus, I doubt you'll find a TV capable of 120FPS. 60 FPS, yes.

 

Make sure the refresh rate of the TV (in Hz) is divisible by the frame rate you plan to use.

 

ie - for 60FPS, you'll want a 120Hz screen.

 

 

Z...

[mhe]

Flying on a 4K 40 inch panel now, previously 49inch 1080. I'd never go back, even if you'd pay me. Resolution makes a world of difference. It is not even a comparison.