Question Do I need a different GPU to support 4K monitor?

[MalcolmKK]

Hi All,
I have an old GPU Sapphire Vapor-X AMD Radeon R9 270X 2GB GDDR5
I am looking to buy a 4k monitor.
Do I need to upgrade my GPU to support it?
Currently I have 4 monitors plugged in: 3 in HD resolution and 1 monitor in QHD 2560x1440

Just so you know I don't use it for gaming, only for work but nothing very GPU intensive. I am not a designer, CAD or use Photoshop.
I have an AMD Radeon RX 590 8GB GPU in my gaming rig that collects dust.
I could swap them over. Perhaps it's a good idea as the newer GPUs are more energy efficient, less heat and electricity used.
Please advise.

 

[Lutfij]

Make and models of all your monitors? As for your GPU, the architecture can only handle anything above 1600p, on the HDMI and DP connectors, using this as a reference;
https://www.msi.com/Graphics-Card/R9-270X-GAMING-2G/Specification
but the refresh rate won't be 60Hz at 4K resolution.

Yes the RX590 would be a better prospect if you're thinking of 4K at 60Hz. I would however be wary of your PSU in your build if it's as old as the R9 270x.

 

[Eximo]

The swap is wise.

A single 4K panel is equivalent to 4 1080p panels, you may not have the capability to drive all those at once. 5 is actually a very atypical number for a consumer GPU 3-4 is typical. I am surprised 4 works with the 270X. I recall needing an active adapter for one of the outputs to work. But that is likely card dependent.

Unless you are plugging some into an integrated chip from the CPU, then whatever that supports, plus the GPU support would be the maximum monitors supported.

Still a single monitor at higher resolution is still less of a headache than 4 monitors. Each monitor requires a clock pulse (sync/pixel) which is why there are display limits on most cards, even many with 4 ports can only use 3 at once.

 

[MalcolmKK]

Make and models of all your monitors? As for your GPU, the architecture can only handle anything above 1600p, on the HDMI and DP connectors, using this as a reference;
https://www.msi.com/Graphics-Card/R9-270X-GAMING-2G/Specification
but the refresh rate won't be 60Hz at 4K resolution.

Yes the RX590 would be a better prospect if you're thinking of 4K at 60Hz. I would however be wary of your PSU in your build if it's as old as the R9 270x.

3 out of 4 are BenQ monitors
BenQ EW2440L LED - 27 August 2015
BenQ EW2775ZH 27 - 23 May 2017
BenQ EW2780Q 27 - 20 January 2021
4th one is some Asus that is similar in spec to BenQ EW2775ZH.
The old BenQ EW2440L LED is going to be replaced with BenQ EW3270U

This system is much newer with a decent PSU so it should be fine.
Actually the only ancient item in it is this GPU but it holds up!

 

[MalcolmKK]

The swap is wise.

A single 4K panel is equivalent to 4 1080p panels, you may not have the capability to drive all those at once. 5 is actually a very atypical number for a consumer GPU 3-4 is typical. I am surprised 4 works with the 270X. I recall needing an active adapter for one of the outputs to work. But that is likely card dependent.

Unless you are plugging some into an integrated chip from the CPU, then whatever that supports, plus the GPU support would be the maximum monitors supported.

Still a single monitor at higher resolution is still less of a headache than 4 monitors. Each monitor requires a clock pulse (sync/pixel) which is why there are display limits on most cards, even many with 4 ports can only use 3 at once.

Yes, you are right two monitors are DVI, 1x is on HDMI and 4th one is HDMI plugged into HDMI to DisplayPort(I believe) adapter.

The AMD CPU (Ryzen 9 5950X) I have does not have integrated graphics so unfortunately I cannot use the video output(s) on the motherboard.

I think I eventually make all 4 Benq with Low Blue Light technology as the Asus has low blue light tech but it's different and stands out of the other 3. The temperature is different and I cannot make it as warm as the Benq ones.

 

[Glenwing]

The swap is wise.

A single 4K panel is equivalent to 4 1080p panels, you may not have the capability to drive all those at once. 5 is actually a very atypical number for a consumer GPU 3-4 is typical. I am surprised 4 works with the 270X. I recall needing an active adapter for one of the outputs to work. But that is likely card dependent.

Unless you are plugging some into an integrated chip from the CPU, then whatever that supports, plus the GPU support would be the maximum monitors supported.

Still a single monitor at higher resolution is still less of a headache than 4 monitors. Each monitor requires a clock pulse (sync/pixel) which is why there are display limits on most cards, even many with 4 ports can only use 3 at once.

AMD cards have supported 6 monitors for a long time, since Radeon HD 6000 series I believe. The only limitation was maximum 2 monitors on "legacy" connections (DVI/HDMI/VGA), the rest had to be on DisplayPort or active adapters from DisplayPort.

Although I think you could actually get more than 2 on DVI/HDMI if they used the exact same timing parameters; most commonly, by being the exact same model and set to the same settings, which is likely what's happened here, otherwise the R9 270X would be limited to 2 on DVI/HDMI.

Anyway, by the RX 590 this limitation was gone. I tested 5 monitors all through DVI/HDMI and passive adapters on my RX 480 back in the day (should be able to do all 6 that way, but my card did not have that many ports. But I did test 6 monitors by using DisplayPort daisy chain to 2 of them).

 

[Eximo]

Yes, I do recall a gaming friend needing an active DVI adapter for a triple monitor setup with a 270X, that must have been it.

Good to know and I like that AMD has done it that way. Always bugged me that Nvidia cards almost never listed supported number of displays since it was often on a per card basis. That and they liked to keep the high display count to the Quadro series.

 

[Glenwing]

I should note for the record also that AMD dropped from 6 down to 4 maximum for the RX 5000 cards a few years ago. Then RX 6000 went up to at least 5, not sure if 6 worked. For current 7000 series I haven't looked into it.

For NVIDIA it was 2 max up to the GTX 500 series, then moved up to 4 for 600 series onward, been that way ever since on GeForce. But at least, no weird limitations on which interfaces you need to use.