2k or 4k Gaming Monitor on GTX 1080

[Azndude263]

If someone could help me out, I would really appreciate it. I just recently finished upgrading my gaming computer and here are some of the important components below. I am a novice thus will probably not overclocking anything anytime soon. With this GTX 1080, I bought an Acer Predator XB321HK 32" 4K gaming monitor (based on the reviews I've read. Everyone says to buy a 32" for 4k). It arrived today and I immediately plugged it in and couldn't read a thing hahahaha. Everything so tiny (my first experience with a 4k, coming from 1080P) so I googled and people say to set scaling to 150%. With 150%, everything is a bit better to read but noticed it's not as sharp as native 4k. Oh yes, this 32" monitor is DEFINITELY huge (coming from a Samsung 24" 1080P monitor)

Ultimately, does scaling this monitor to 150% (2k resolution essentially) affect my gaming experience at all? Well, actually...do you guys think this Zotac GTX 1080 AMP Extreme is enough to game at 4k? Or do you guys think I should return it and get a Acer Predator XB271HK (samething except it's 27") or maybe even a Acer Predator XB271HU (similar but at 2k 27")

Zotac GTX 1080 AMP Extreme
Intel Core i7-6700k
Gigabyte GA-Z170X-UD5
Corsair Vengeance 16gb 3000mhz
Seagate 2tb SSHD (will probably upgrade to SSD later)
XFX TS550 550W Certified Bronze PSU

To sum up, which monitor should I get? I believe these are all pretty much top of the line with Gsync and 144 (except for 4k)

Acer Predator XB321HK 32" 4k G-sync (Currently using)
Acer Predator XB271HK 27" 4k G-sync
Acer Predator XB271HU 27" 1440P G-sync 144 refresh

And if the Zotac GTX 1080 AMP Extreme is enough to game at 4k or I should go to 1440P (I'm coming from a 1080P monitor)

 

[atomicWAR]

set scaling to 200% (ie 4k Is 200% of 1080P pixel wise) . this should help eliminate some of the blurring or bad scaling text associated with 150% scaling. I also use 4K so i know exactly what your dealing with. Some things like steam won't scale well regardless (pixelated) but you can get the majority of apps in windows to look good. some games will still be a problem for text. In such cases i scale back the resolution to 1440P as it is the best of both worlds in regards to text. I hope that helps. I would keep the 4K though as it will quickly become the new gold standard in gaming with xbox scorpio/PS neo around the corner which will encourage devs to make 4k for the masses as it were and it will carry over to PC as always. So i would keep the monitor you have!

 

[Azndude263]

What I am confused about is if I scale to 1440P or even 1080P resolution on a 4k monitor, would the games I play show up as that resolution and the youtube videos be displayed at that resolution also? If that's the case, wouldn't that defeat the purpose of owning a 4K monitor?

 

[atomicWAR]

What I am confused about is if I scale to 1440P or even 1080P resolution on a 4k monitor, would the games I play show up as that resolution and the youtube videos be displayed at that resolution also? If that's the case, wouldn't that defeat the purpose of owning a 4K monitor?

if you set your resolution to 1440P in windows then yes. I would not do that. I would only set the games i need to for functionality via in game settings to 1440P (least thats what i do) leaving your native desktop resolution at 4K (with 200% scaling on so i can read text and what not) so when you watch videos or stream 4K content it is in 4K.

 

[IDProG]

You should've bought a 40" 4K monitor or TV instead. I prefer TV because the TV that I'm going to buy supports 1080p @ 120Hz and I don't really get bothered much by the input lag. With 40", everything would be normal sized.

 

[Azndude263]

Sorry, let me rephrase because I am a complete noob at this. I understand there are actually a couple of ways change the resolution

1. Manually change the screen resolution to 2560 x 1440 or even 1920 x 1080 (which I believe will effectively changes EVERYTHING, including all the games and apps to this resolution). If this is the case, having a 4k monitor is completely counter productive because I won't actually be gaming at 4k but just 2k or 1080P. Say I change the desktop resolution to 2560x1440 and set the game resolution to 4k, would that work?

2. I can keep resolution at 4k but change the scaling to either 150% or 200% for 2k or 1080P scale in order to make things easier to read. This will only affect the windows applications and such for your reading convenience and won't affect your 4k gaming experience.

Am I correct about them or am I completely wrong?

 

[Azndude263]

You should've bought a 40" 4K monitor or TV instead. I prefer TV because the TV that I'm going to buy supports 1080p @ 120Hz and I don't really get bothered much by the input lag. With 40", everything would be normal sized.

Oh man but with 40", I think my neck will be broken because I am using it on a computer desk (sitting relatively close). Heck, I already think this 32" is kinda too big already

 

[atomicWAR]

1. generally yes but if you set a games resolution to 4K it should still be in 4K not the lower desktop resolution.

2. do not use the 150%....it looks horrid, you want 200% so no stretching or weird scaling happens. And yes it won't effect your games...keep in mind not all games do well at 4K. I am currently replaying kingdoms of amular and i have to switch to 1080P when I want to read/choose the quests for example then back to 4K when i want to play. Other games look great like Far Cry Primal and have zero issues.

 

[Azndude263]

1. generally yes but if you set a games resolution to 4K it should still be in 4K not the lower desktop resolution.

2. do not use the 150%....it looks horrid, you want 200% so no stretching or weird scaling happens. And yes it won't effect your games...keep in mind not all games do well at 4K. I am currently replaying kingdoms of amular and i have to switch to 1080P when I want to read/choose the quests for example then back to 4K when i want to play. Other games look great like Far Cry Primal and have zero issues.

So it doesn't really matter if I say manually set screen resolution to 1920 x 1080 or change the scaling to 200% for 1080P resolution? Both will work and won't affect the 4k gaming experience?

 

[atomicWAR]

no it should not but setting the scaling at 4K to 200% doesn't make you resolution 1080P on desktop it only doubles the size of icons/text/etc so they look as clean and crisp as they do at 1080P.

 

[Azndude263]

no it should not but setting the scaling at 4K to 200% doesn't make you resolution 1080P on desktop it only doubles the size of icons/text/etc so they look as clean and crisp as they do at 1080P.

Sorry for asking so many questions but if that is the case. What is the difference between setting the resolution to 1080P and scaling to 200%?

 

[atomicWAR]

if you set the resolution to 4K and set the scaling to 200% the desktop is displaying a native 4K resolution. The icons/text are only blown up twice as big as all. Everthing looks super sharp and crisp. If you set your resolution to 1080P then you 4K panel is down sampled to 1080P and looks not as good as a native 1080P screen would look. So it will be blurrier then if set to 4K with 200% scaling for icons and text. Though in theory both will produce the same size text and icons. One just looks way better then the other is all.