Is our current Dual GPU setups good enough for 4K gaming?

[Actaeon]

As the title states, is our current HW good enough for 4K gaming? I know we are still a bit off for Single GPU but the question is a lot more interesting when discussing Dual GPU Crossfire and SLI setups.

Looking up some 4K benchmarks for Crossfire R9-290Xs, it seems for truly smooth playback (minimum 30fps) we already need to turn down some settings for some games. Some none at all, others disabling AA or lowering quality. Games are just going to get more demanding over time. If these GPUs are having a hard time now, what does the future hold for the current generation high end GPUs? Or does anyone think the HW in current generation of consoles that PC games are often based on will help keep requirements in check for some time? Will future Mantle support help boost performance?

Trying to figure out if now is the right time to upgrade for a 4K setup. The firesale AMD has put on for 290s and 290Xs are amazing and tempting. I think they over reacted on the pricing and 4 free games make it a compelling option. Thank you nVidia!

 

[alcoholbob]

Hardware gets optimized better. Plenty of games today look better than the original Crysis but run way better than it. Battlefield 4 runs like 35-40% faster than the original Crysis at 4K despite being a superior game graphically. I don't think anyone would say Cod Advanced Warfare looks worse than Crysis 1 and hell that game runs like twice as fast as the original Crysis at 4K.

 

[Silverforce11]

Most games run fine maxed if there's no MSAA, by fine I mean smooth 60 fps. Its questionable whether you need MSAA at 4K resolution, it certainly isn't required as it is on 1080p.

 

[Actaeon]

Hardware gets optimized better. Plenty of games today look better than the original Crysis but run way better than it. Battlefield 4 runs like 35-40% faster than the original Crysis at 4K despite being a superior game graphically. I don't think anyone would say Cod Advanced Warfare looks worse than Crysis 1 and hell that game runs like twice as fast as the original Crysis at 4K.

Good point, there are some exceptions as you've pointed out, but isn't the trend that games will generally get more demanding over time? BF4 @ 4K seems pretty stressful as is. I think the HardOCP test had them drop a few settings for smooth playback there.

How will current hardware cope with games like the eventual BF5 at 4k?

Most games run fine maxed if there's no MSAA, by fine I mean smooth 60 fps. Its questionable whether you need MSAA at 4K resolution, it certainly isn't required as it is on 1080p.

Agree you need less AA at higher resolutions and that would likely be one of the first compromises you make. But would you say because we're making compromises with 4k games today, we'd have to make even more compromises for the next generation of games?



Of course I expect games to get more demanding over time and HW to roll into obsolesce, thats the way its been and how it will always be. Just wondering if 4K will be a catalyst that renders current high end GPUs obsolete sooner than normal.

 

[bystander36]

I think people aren't viewing the 4k gaming in the right way. As long as games are being designed with 1080p in mind, the highest settings on 4k will be out of reach for someone who has to turn every setting to max. Of course 4k is a setting too, so technically, the 1080p is also reducing a setting to be able to max out the others.

If 4k becomes the defacto standard resolution, some time into the future, then games will be designed to be played at maxed settings with the current hardware of the time on 4k. But until then, until 1080p is not the target resolution of games, expect 4k to always be out of reach for someone who can't stand to turn down a setting.

In other words, dev's are giving high end settings that are at the limits of what the top in cards can handle at the resolution that is the norm. If 4K was the norm, the highest settings would not be as high as they are.

 

[Silverforce11]

Well you can run MP BF4 at 4K with 4x MSAA with Mantle and its pretty damn smooth with 2x R290.

It's definitely out of reach of a single card, but two, for sure many games are very fast maxed, even with 2x MSAA. Some, you will have to disable MSAA and go with post-AA like SMAA or FXAA if you can put up with the blur. But its a great experience thats relatively cheap since 2x R290s can be had for $500.

A lot of people throw around "max" as if they have to crank up 8x MSAA or use SSAA etc but its all depends on your own limit of IQ demands.

Definitely 4K with no AA or 2x MSAA is a lot better than 1080p with 8x MSAA or 2x SSAA.

 

[Grooveriding]

From my experience using two Titans I would say no. Nothing has really changed since then for performance at 4K. My guess is a pair of 980s would be 10-15% faster and that is nothing that will change the game.

If you're ok with disabling AA (which imo you need as you can still jaggies, at least on a 32" 4K screen) as well as having minimum framerates that drop as low as the mid 20s to mid 30s then you'll be okay with the experience. I don't think anything lower than 50 for minimums is acceptable personally and preferably 60.

I think 4K will be good once we get the real Maxwell flagship with GM200 and AMD releases a new flagship. Those cards in a dual setup should take care of the 4K situation nicely. Games don't seem to be progressing at all in hardware demands, so it should be good.

 

[Silverforce11]

From my experience using two Titans I would say no. Nothing has really changed since then for performance at 4K. My guess is a pair of 980s would be 10-15% faster and that is nothing that will change the game.

A pair of 780ti is already faster than Titans and Maxwell just extends that at 4K due to better performance at that resolution.

Just looking at [H]'s recent 4K review with 980 SLI, you can see its quite viable IF you either a) disable MSAA or b) tone down HDAO.

A pair of R290X is mostly 45fps, with infrequent dips to <40. Tone down AO and it will be 20-25% faster.

Here its very fast, with TressFx on and ultra. SSAO is on Ultra as well. If I were playing it, I'd lower SSAO and enjoy a big performance boost with very minimal IQ loss.

But sure, if you like to use all the features (ie. maxing), then 2 cards are not enough.

But "good enough"? Yes, it is.

 

[Grooveriding]

Even with the settings turned down in those benchmarks the minimums are still terrible. 20-35 as I mentioned earlier. You can definitely game at 4K with the cards around right now, but I wouldn't say it's the greatest experience even with reduced settings.

 

[Silverforce11]

20% faster than those charts is approaching >40fps minimum (CF R290X chokes less at 4k).

 

[Jacky60]

From my experience today's hardware really doesn't allow 4k to shine. I have a 4k monitor gathering dust as I have to turn settings down and even then performance is not what I'd like. I'm hoping some time next year to be able to use the monitor for something (gaming?) as even with two 295x2s gaming is not an enjoyable experience.