4K Gaming?

[Arvaos]

Why hasn't 4K gaming become as popular on PC? Only 1.84% play at 4K according to the Steam survey.

https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Software-Survey-Welcome-to-Steam

[L1qu1dator]

Because money don't grow on trees.

[Jusaboi]

It is not necessary

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

1. Still not as cheap as other lower res monitors.

2. The amount of users with capable PCs is still low.

3. Don't forget the massive amounts of cafe PCs that get surveyed. Most of them are 1080 with few exceptions that supply higher tier PCs at a premium.

[Spawn of Totoro]

Cost of displays and lack of 4k content are two factors. Required hardware to reach 4k, especially if you want over 60fps is another.

[Arvaos]

Publicado originalmente por Spawn of Totoro:

Cost of displays and lack of 4k content are two factors. Required hardware to reach 4k, especially if you want over 60fps is another.

Most games can be played at 4K, even old games and many look great.

Also, many games now have a resolution scale for better performance.

[Rio]

Consoles use fake 4k last I heard. Mosaic, checkerboard, or whatever the xbox guys branded it.

[Spawn of Totoro]

Publicado originalmente por Rōnin 浪人:

Publicado originalmente por Spawn of Totoro:

Cost of displays and lack of 4k content are two factors. Required hardware to reach 4k, especially if you want over 60fps is another.

Most games can be played at 4K, even old games and many look great.

Also, many games now have a resolution scale for better performance.

Resolution scaling is not the same as native 4k and that is what most games use (that were made before 4k was available).

4k scaling has a blurriness to it as the system has to add more to the image to fill the pixels.

Newer games now have 4k content and some older ones get a DLC for it, but most are still not true 4k games.

Scaling degrades graphics in order to keep a steady FPS going. That defeats the reason for buying a 4k display to begin with.

[gugnihr]

4K tv / monitors cost a lot of money and this feature is not particularly intreresting (imo)
1080p is more than fine, even 720p is good enough for me.
It is a waste of money for me.

Honestly I care about 1080p mostly for photos and video, for gaming 720p would already be perfectly fine for me.

[Arvaos]

Publicado originalmente por Spawn of Totoro:

Publicado originalmente por Rōnin 浪人:

Most games can be played at 4K, even old games and many look great.

Also, many games now have a resolution scale for better performance.

Resolution scaling is not the same as native 4k and that is what most games use (that were made before 4k was available).

4k scaling has a blurriness to it as the system has to add more to the image to fill the pixels.

Newer games now have 4k content and some older ones get a DLC for it, but most are still not true 4k games.

Scaling degrades graphics in order to keep a steady FPS going. That defeats the reason for buying a 4k display to begin with.

I agree for PC games but some games have greater optimization than others, Devil May Cry 5 runs at 4K and 60FPS on budget specifications.

I have my PS4 Pro and Xbox One X next to my 4K monitor and there is a lot of difference, even at checkerboard 4K on the PS4 Pro.

Horizon Zero Dawn looks phenomenal on a 4K monitor or television and I can't say there are many PC games that match the graphics without ReShade.

[AbedsBrother]

Cost. True 4k gaming is expensive if you want 60fps on even the lowest settings. You're looking at something like an RTX 2060 or RX 5700 for that, which are around $350 - 450 or so. Problem is, no one spends $400 on a gpu to play at the lowest settings. So turn some things up, but now you need more powah. Which pushes you into the $500 gpu market. And if you want to play at true 4k with all the settings turned up, the RTX 2080Ti is it, and that's anywhere from $1000 - $1200. That's not even getting into the rest of the PC build, which needn't be "killer," but will still cost a chunk of change.

That's great if you have the $$$ to spend, but the truth is most people don't. That's why a quarter of the Steam userbase has either a GTX 1060 or a GTX 1050Ti: solid mainstream performers, but lower-midrange at best.

[SMIFFY]

Too expensive and graphics cards still aren't quite good enough to make it a worthwhile purchase. 1080 and 2K are good enough, I'll take a consistent high frame rate over a high resolution.

[Spawn of Totoro]

Publicado originalmente por Rōnin 浪人:

I agree for PC games but some games have greater optimization than others, Devil May Cry 5 runs at 4K and 60FPS on budget specifications.

I have my PS4 Pro and Xbox One X next to my 4K monitor and there is a lot of difference, even at checkerboard 4K on the PS4 Pro.

Horizon Zero Dawn looks phenomenal on a 4K monitor or television and I can't say there are many PC games that match the graphics without ReShade.

Some, but not enough for everyone to justify going out and buying a 4k gaming monitor when they either have or are getting a 1080p one for 1/4 of the cost.

Yes, there is a difference with a scaled one vs 1080p, but if it is vs native 4k, you see the difference. Doesn't mean people will see it as worth the cost.

HZD looks great at 1080p as well, but vs PC it is still lacking in many areas. Look at HAssassin's Creed Odyssey for example. The field of view, shadows, view distance, ect. A lot of that is actually better then HZD as well.

But you are also focusing on one part of several reasons I stated as to why there is not a large influx of 4k users.

I use a 34" 3440x1440 monitor. There is little benefit for going to a 4k for me as I would lose a few inches of my display. Look at the video cards from the survey as well and you will not see many who have a system that can run a good amount of games at 4k.

It isn't as easy as just upgrading to a 4k monitor. Graphically it does look a bit better then 1080p, but when someone can get a 1080p @ 144hz for $200 or less, 4k still has an up hill battle for market penetration.

[Arvaos]

Publicado originalmente por Spawn of Totoro:

Publicado originalmente por Rōnin 浪人:

I agree for PC games but some games have greater optimization than others, Devil May Cry 5 runs at 4K and 60FPS on budget specifications.

I have my PS4 Pro and Xbox One X next to my 4K monitor and there is a lot of difference, even at checkerboard 4K on the PS4 Pro.

Horizon Zero Dawn looks phenomenal on a 4K monitor or television and I can't say there are many PC games that match the graphics without ReShade.

Some, but not enough for everyone to justify going out and buying a 4k gaming monitor when they either have or are getting a 1080p one for 1/4 of the cost.

Yes, there is a difference with a scaled one vs 1080p, but if it is vs native 4k, you see the difference. Doesn't mean people will see it as worth the cost.

HZD looks great at 1080p as well, but vs PC it is still lacking in many areas. Look at HAssassin's Creed Odyssey for example. The field of view, shadows, view distance, ect. A lot of that is actually better then HZD as well.

But you are also focusing on one part of several reasons I stated as to why there is not a large influx of 4k users.

I use a 34" 3440x1440 monitor. There is little benefit for going to a 4k for me as I would lose a few inches of my display. Look at the video cards from the survey as well and you will not see many who have a system that can run a good amount of games at 4k.

It isn't as easy as just upgrading to a 4k monitor. Graphically it does look a bit better then 1080p, but when someone can get a 1080p @ 144hz for $200 or less, 4k still has an up hill battle for market penetration.

I can see your argument many games also feature an FPS limiter for 30FPS and 60FPS, 30FPS being a compromise but not unplayable for many of the third person games.

[Spawn of Totoro]

Publicado originalmente por Rōnin 浪人:

I can see your argument many games also feature an FPS limiter for 30FPS and 60FPS, 30FPS being a compromise but not unplayable for many of the third person games.

Only console ports have such limits. Made for PC games tend to have unlimited frame rates.

Publicado originalmente por fauxtronic:

It's HDR that makes HDZ look so much more breathtaking anyway. Not 4k. I mean, sure it looks better at 4k than 1080p on screens larger than 32" in size, but that's because you can see the individual pixels easily at 1080p on screens that big.

Agreed. Sadly, not many PC games us HDR. Same for monitors as well. HDR has not become a standard for PC games yet.

My understanding is that is due to different companies pushing for different forms of HDR. Monitor makers don't want to get stuck with a version that games won't use as they would be unable to sell it.

[Arvaos]

Publicado originalmente por Spawn of Totoro:

Publicado originalmente por Rōnin 浪人:

I can see your argument many games also feature an FPS limiter for 30FPS and 60FPS, 30FPS being a compromise but not unplayable for many of the third person games.

Only console ports have such limits. Made for PC games tend to have unlimited frame rates.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey also has an FPS limiter in the settings, it is a feature for people that do not have G-Sync or Freesync.