Another tv thread: 4k the new must have or gimmick?

[Kalmado]

During my recent move I was a boner and cracked my 50" LED. I'm not in a rush to buy a new tv, but have poked around and am curious about 4k sets. The one that pops up for an affordable price is the Seiki 50" 4k. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Seiki-Digi...-HDTV/33490006

What I've gathered with this specific set is you can do a firmware upgrade to push the 4k to 60hz. It's also supposed to be true 120hz at 1080p. This set seems to range from as low as $399+tax on a deal to a sale price of $449+tax.

My gpu is a MSI TF OC 770 2gb. At 1080p I can run Skyrim with every graphic mod at the highest setting and get constant 60fps. I can say confidently any game I run on Steam I can play maxed.

My questions are, what's BG's opinion on the 4k sets and what performance could I expect at 4k with my gpu?

[orinthia]

Well, if it's true 4k, you need a ton of video ram to run the display, and the card will have to work much harder to drive what is essentially 4 1080p displays' worth of resolution. I don't know if 2gb is enough for ultra and such at such high res.

If you want it, go for it. Can always just play games at 1080p if 4k is giving you lots of stuttering, and it probably won't look bad. You'll need to SLI/upgrade to get the most out of it for gaming.

[Niya]

I'd say, if it's just for gaming, forget about 4k for now and stick to 1080p. Due to the 4-times higher pixel amount no recent graphics card (well, except such monsters as the titan or that dual-GPU-flagship from AMD) can run demanding games on high settings with acceptable frame rates.
And IMHO it would be a waste to get a 4k display just to keep gaming in 1080p and have to deal with (maybe shitty) upscaling...

[Kalmado]

Regarding the gpu, that's my main concern. I understand colors and what not may be better on a samsung, lg, panasonic, etc. I'm thinking if I can get the use of 4k at $400 for a 50" that would still be a great value. But not at the expense of either running at a crap fps or having to also do a significant gpu upgrade which I can't afford right now.

This may be a good excuse to upgrade the living room tv, which I'm currently using to game on. It's a 50" LG plasma and it's been really great. Microcenter recently had a 55" LG LED for $499. There have also been many deals of lesser brand 50" LEDs for $400 and less. Now it's just choosing the right one...

[Aevis]

Google for 4k gaming benchmarks and you'll see that the only single GPU capable of running recent games (BF4, Metro LL etc.) on High+ settings with decent FPS is the Titan, and not with much buffer left. For a serious 4k gaming rig you're looking at 2 x R9 290x / GTX 780. So yeah, better wait another 2 years. Also from what I could find for that TV, it only has a HDMI 1.4b port, which caps at 30hz for 4K. Addtionally, the upscaler seems to be shit and 720/1080i regular TV source looks accordingly. Expected with that price tag.

My advice is to pick a LED because there are so many quality ones available nowadays at a very good value. I paid 3k for my Philips 42" 7 years ago and now I can get 65" 3D sharper-than-life-with-everything-and-more for not even half of that. Give 4k as mentioned another 1-2 years for the market to catch up with (media material, gaming hardware etc.)

[Gryffes]

My 4k monitors arrived today.

Fuck all the bullshit.
It's INCREDIBLE.

I only have a 280x, not a flagship card. ( 290x/780ti ).
Everything I play ( lol, dark souls 2, l4d2, Assetto corsa ) is hitting 60fps+ ( lols hitting 250fps @4k. lol ). Dark souls 2 is dropping to low 50's in heavy combat, l4d2/asseto dont drop under 60 at all.

tldr. we 4k now.

[RKenshin]

Which monitors did you go for?

[Gryffes]

Got 2 of the new Iiyamas.

[Markwinstanley]

You will definitely regret after 1 0r 2 year. May be at that time there will be far better 4k at good price. Main concern is not money, is quality, extra updated feature and technology. You can buy it right now if you have money to throw away.

[Kalmado]

Well, since this was bumped...I ended up getting this 60" LG Plasma on clearance at Best Buy for $472 out the door. Floor model. So far we love it and it will be my gaming monitor while the basement is getting work done.

I decided before I'd make the jump to a 4k monitor/tv I would invest in a better gpu and that's not going to be for awhile. Cards are coming down in price, but it's just not a priority right this minute.