Question 27-28 inch monitor - Can you tell difference in 4K over 1440P for gaming

[Wolverine2349]

Would like to know people's thoughts. I sit about 1.5 to 3 feet from monitor



Would 4K at that size be noticeably better image quality over 1440P.



I have a GeForce RTX 4090 with a Core i9 13900K and 32GB DDR5 RAM I am about to put to work. Would it be able to keep up easily at 4K put out 90 to 120 FPS with all settings maxed out including using MSAA or SMAA 2X, 4X or even 8X in latest AAA games?



Would 1440P it be way overkill and give me 150 to 200 FPS or even more which is unnecessary unless you play like the most ESPorts competitive games which I generally do not?



I already have a 1440P but wondering if it is worth at that screen size of 27-28 inch upgrading to 4K 144Hz monitor to put to use with an RTX 4090 like is the image quality going to be noticeably better at 27-28 inch screen size?



https://www.thetechtoys.com/best-monitor-for-rtx-4090/#:~:text=If you want the smoothest,but comparatively gives low FPS.



They seem to suggest even with RTX 4090 which many feel is overkill for anything but 4K (Heck some even say 3090/3090 Ti were, but we all know it was not for 1440P unless you were ok with like 50-60 FPS maxed out in games or did not turn all setting to ultra in games)



Though it doe seem 90 to 120 FPS is clearly smoother and much so even for non super competitive online player games over 50 to 70 FPS, is 150 to 200 FPS or more going to give better experience in games like Read Dead Redemption, Cyber Punk and such single player?



Not concerned about small font at 100% display in Windows desktop and word as I will just make it bigger using Windows display settings anyways.

 

[aigomorla]

Would 4K at that size be noticeably better image quality over 1440P.

no...
at 4k things get a LOT smaller... because you have more pixels being displayed.
Font text becomes tiny without scaling, images also become smaller, as more FOV is displayed.
Overall i found it the worst experience i had using a 4k monitor at 24-27inches.
You should not consider a 4k monitor unless your looking at minimum 32inchs as things will get very difficult for you without scaling.

To be honest currently the best 4k monitor you can buy is a Samsung Neo G8 @ 32inchs.
Its a 1180 zone FALD mini LED monitor, which is almost as good as a OLED without any chance of burn in.
There is an ASUS MicroLED monitor but that costs over 3000 dollars, and i hear not so great reviews.
But FALD monitors offer superior HDR over OLEDs. OLEDS offer superior color and blacks for content.
So its a mix of what exactly you want.

I do not recommend a OLED unless you absolutely know what your getting into as a primary monitor, as desktop icons and taskbars will wreck your monitor with burn in over long periods of time.
Although LG OLED monitors (not TV) offer a lot of burn in protection, like screen shifting and turn off when inactive, as well as a more aggressive autodimming, they are still prone to burn in.

If your getting a 4090 a 4k monitor should not be an issue.
A 3090Ti should also not be an issue.
A 3070Ti is where you might run into some issues unless its Esport games like Valorant, Overwatch, CS:GO.
Something that doesn't tax a GPU.
If your running something lower, i wouldn't bother with a 4k unless its for productivity reasons, as you'll overtax your videocard leading to a quick heart attack. (no seriously tho you'll have a horrible gaming experience trying to play AAA 4k content on something less then a 3070ti)

In AMD terms... nothing lower then a RX6800XT... with a slight possibility for the 6750XT in esport titles.

Not concerned about small font at 100% display in Windows desktop and word as I will just make it bigger using Windows display settings anyways.

Scaling does not work in gaming unless you decrease resolution in games.
Then again, what was the point in a 4k.
The 4k monitor will make images in the game a LOT smaller because FOV increases to fill the 4k.
So again, unless your looking at 32inches or larger for the 4k i do not recommend a 4k monitor, unless you have the eyes of a hawk.

 

[Wolverine2349]

Scaling does not work in gaming unless you decrease resolution in games.
Then again, what was the point in a 4k.
The 4k monitor will make images in the game a LOT smaller because FOV increases to fill the 4k.
So again, unless your looking at 32inches or larger for the 4k i do not recommend a 4k monitor, unless you have the eyes of a hawk.

Well I have played many games at resolutions 1080P on up and higher resolution up to 4K does not look smaller unlike the Windows desktop and icons when resolution increases.

Now if I go smaller than 1080P, then it looks horrible and of course bigger. Though like no size difference in the games between 1080P and 1440P on similar sized monitors.

 

[aigomorla]

Well I have played many games at resolutions 1080P on up and higher resolution up to 4K does not look smaller unlike the Windows desktop and icons when resolution increases.

That is not possible unless you lowered the resolution settings in the game.
Because as you increase the resolution, the Field of View (FOV) increases.


This is what i mean... imagine fitting 4k in the same window as the 1080p.
That is what i mean about things getting smaller.
This is why if you increase resolution, you also need to increase the area in which its rendered in otherwise your packing 4k, in that 1080p window.

And if your down setting resolution, what was the point in you getting 4k to begin with?
You may as well stayed on 1440p, as sometimes downscaling is horrible, especially on a 4k monitor.

 

[Wolverine2349]

That is not possible unless you lowered the resolution settings in the game.
Because as you increase the resolution, the Field of View (FOV) increases.
View attachment 72458

This is what i mean... imagine fitting 4k in the same window as the 1080p.
That is what i mean about things getting smaller.
This is why if you increase resolution, you also need to increase the area in which its rendered in otherwise your packing 4k, in that 1080p window.

And if your down setting resolution, what was the point in you getting 4k to begin with?
You may as well stayed on 1440p, as sometimes downscaling is horrible, especially on a 4k monitor.

I am talking about on different monitors. LIke on a 27 inch 4K monitor I have seen, the WIndows desktop icons at 10% are tiny. On 1440P 27 inch they are small, but not as small. ON 1080P 24 inch, they look larger.


In games between different monitors native resolutions, the game display does not look near as different. Now field of view I do not know. I am talking more about the menus and main character and nearby objects. The difference in size in a game is not near as noticeable as it is in the Windows desktop and text of web pages and icon sizes and such.

I do not remember the switch from SD TV to HDTV things on HDTV looking much if at all smaller. I remember they looked much sharper and clearer.

 

[aigomorla]

I am talking more about the menus and main character and nearby objects. The difference in size in a game is not near as noticeable

Menu's are setup so they will always take up the same amount of space regardless of resolution and are scaled up.
Characters unless its third person will be scaled up again in menu. But when looking at 3rd person will get smaller unless you zoomed into them which limits the Field of View.

Objects again unless field of view is changed in settings or you are zoom'd in will be smaller because like the picture i showed above, you are essentially trying to shove the 4k image in the 1080p window.
If you do not understand what i am still saying after telling you this, i don't know what else to say to make you understand a 4k monitor will make things a LOT smaller in everything without scaling because you have more pixels being displayed in the same real estate, and downscaling on a 4k on most occasions makes things look bad, because you got more repeat of same pixels to fill in the gaps to make things look larger, then allowing the monitor to run native.

 

[q52]

not sure if it was mentioned but the real benefit you get from 4K is scaling. Just because your 4K monitor has a resolution of 3840x2160 does not mean you actually want the OS to display. I pretty much always configure my Display settings for 2x scaling on my 27" 4K monitor. This makes the OS's UI look a lot nicer, kinda like the retina display on a Mac

when it comes to gaming, if you have the resources you can game at 4K, but in my experience with the games I have tried, running games at 1440p on my 27" 4K is not always too noticeable. Depends somewhat on other aspects of the game's visuals. Stuff like Monster Hunter Rise looks incredible at 4K though so if you are able to, you should try to do 4K gaming if its within reach if only just to see how you like it.

 

[Leeea]

That is not possible unless you lowered the resolution settings in the game.
Because as you increase the resolution, the Field of View (FOV) increases.

Spoiler: hide picture

View attachment 72458

This is what i mean... imagine fitting 4k in the same window as the 1080p.
That is what i mean about things getting smaller.
This is why if you increase resolution, you also need to increase the area in which its rendered in otherwise your packing 4k, in that 1080p window.

And if your down setting resolution, what was the point in you getting 4k to begin with?
You may as well stayed on 1440p, as sometimes downscaling is horrible, especially on a 4k monitor.

Most games keep a constant field of view as resolution changes.

For most games, it is a non-issue in terms of field of view.

 

[Leeea]

Would 4K at that size be noticeably better image quality over 1440P.

It would be better, but noticeably better? ....

Shimmer would be reduced. A lot of the benifits would also be obtained by running super resolution and down scaling to 1440p.

 

[Leeea]

I do not recommend a OLED unless you absolutely know what your getting into as a primary monitor, as desktop icons and taskbars will wreck your monitor with burn in over long periods of time.

This is only partly true. OLED monitors designed to be monitors rather then TVs are more resistant to this.

But if the user knows what is happening and gets on top of it may become a non-issue. ( lg c2 oled here, complete none issue for me, but others have had issues )

 

[Leeea]

To be honest currently the best 4k monitor you can buy is a Samsung Neo G8 @ 32inchs.

Curved monitors like the Neo series are abominations placed on earth to inflict cruel torture to the unsuspecting ... or at least Leeea.

 

[Leeea]

not sure if it was mentioned but the real benefit you get from 4K is scaling. Just because your 4K monitor has a resolution of 3840x2160 does not mean you actually want the OS to display. I pretty much always configure my Display settings for 2x scaling on my 27" 4K monitor. This makes the OS's UI look a lot nicer, kinda like the retina display on a Mac

when it comes to gaming, if you have the resources you can game at 4K, but in my experience with the games I have tried, running games at 1440p on my 27" 4K is not always too noticeable. Depends somewhat on other aspects of the game's visuals. Stuff like Monster Hunter Rise looks incredible at 4K though so if you are able to, you should try to do 4K gaming if its within reach if only just to see how you like it.

This.

Even with 4k at 42" I have 125% scaling enabled.

 

[igor_kavinski]

4K resolution in games will make the text really small. I absolutely HATE that! Is there a definite way to fix this issue in ALL games with a single Windows setting? The desktop scaling doesn't work for games AFAIK.

 

[serpretetsky]

That is not possible unless you lowered the resolution settings in the game.
Because as you increase the resolution, the Field of View (FOV) increases.
View attachment 72458

This is what i mean... imagine fitting 4k in the same window as the 1080p.
That is what i mean about things getting smaller.
This is why if you increase resolution, you also need to increase the area in which its rendered in otherwise your packing 4k, in that 1080p window.

And if your down setting resolution, what was the point in you getting 4k to begin with?
You may as well stayed on 1440p, as sometimes downscaling is horrible, especially on a 4k monitor.

Generally agreed with LEEEA. I dont know if most games have FOV independent of resolution, but most FPS games I have played generally FOV does not change with resolution. It's either related to the aspect ratio, or there is a separate FOV control in the settings. Perhaps some top-down view games use resolution to calculate fov?

 

[q52]

some games have UI and text scaling settings, but as usual available game options are as diverse as the games themselves

 

[Leeea]

4K resolution in games will make the text really small. I absolutely HATE that! Is there a definite way to fix this issue in ALL games with a single Windows setting? The desktop scaling doesn't work for games AFAIK.

most of the games I play allow UI scaling to be adjusted separately from the resolution.

My big exception is civ 5, which is a rather older title.

 

[aigomorla]

This is only partly true. OLED monitors designed to be monitors rather then TVs are more resistant to this.

OLED monitors have its own issues like auto dimming.
My monitor will also go into screen cleaning constantly without activity every so often.
I honestly think a MiniLED monitor is probably a better route then a OLED, with minimal trade off in blacks, at the benefit of higher HDR and better contrast.

And this is speaking from experience, as although i am very happy with my 48 OLED monitor, its not perfect in a sense that my nano-ips felt when i first got that.

Im actually considering on replacing it with the samsung neo - G7 43inch if they ever come to the US market.

Samsung launches 43-inch Odyssey Neo G7 gaming monitor in Korea

After unveiling the Odyssey Neo G7 gaming monitor earlier this year, Samsung launched its 43-inch version in South Korea today. ...

www.sammobile.com

 

[igor_kavinski]

Im actually considering on replacing it

You can transfer it to your bedroom, to watch Universe/Space videos with the lights turned off

 

[Leeea]

OLED monitors have its own issues like auto dimming.

I was able to turn this off on mine.

My monitor will also go into screen cleaning constantly without activity every so often.

I set mine to turn off after 5 min inactivity. Not sure what to look for in terms of screen cleaning.

I honestly think a MiniLED monitor is probably a better route then a OLED, with minimal trade off in blacks, at the benefit of higher HDR and better contrast.

These are nice units, but they are a compromise. But so is an OLED. Just compromising different things.

And this is speaking from experience, as although i am very happy with my 48 OLED monitor, its not perfect in a sense that my nano-ips felt when i first got that.

My OLED is a lg c2 42.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Not sure what to look for in terms of screen cleaning.

https://www.lg.com/eg_en/tvs/oled-tvs/oled-reliability

That page explains the pixel refresher. Two types. Short one engages after every four hours and simply measures voltages of the pixels. Long one is triggered after accumulating 2000 active hours. It will reset the voltage values based on the pixel degradation.

 

[lopri]

I use a 32" monitor and in-game 4K and 1440p are clearly distinguishable.