Do older graphics cards (ie Radeon 7970) support 4K playback?

[mossi]

Hi all

I apologise if this sounds like a stupid question but I was wondering this.. I have an older graphics card, a GV-R797OC-3GD (Gigabyte HD 7970 OC)
According to the specs link it says that it supports the following resolutions:
Digital max resolution 2560 x 1600
Analog max resolution 2048 x 1536
http://www.gigabyte.us/Graphics-Card/GV-R797OC-3GD#sp

So if I were to buy a 4K display (whether that is a TV or a monitor) would I be able to get 4K playback on that display with the old card? Or is it not possible to produce such a resolution being limited by the interface and/or chipset?

I can see that newer cards support 4K/8K that might not be necessarily as powerful (like a new Radeon RX 550 for example).

Is that due to a newer version of HDMI/displayport or due to specialised hardware missing?

Thank you

 

[AlternativeFactsForPresident]

You can't get a 4k playback if your gpu doesn't support it, it is due to "Specialised" hardware missing
Hope this answers your question

 

[atljsf]

if the monitor has hdmi, you need to get hdmi on 4k on that gpu

if it is old, sometimes the exact resolution is not available

you will need to try it for yourself

 

[jaslion]

Hi all

I apologise if this sounds like a stupid question but I was wondering this.. I have an older graphics card, a GV-R797OC-3GD (Gigabyte HD 7970 OC)
According to the specs link it says that it supports the following resolutions:
Digital max resolution 2560 x 1600
Analog max resolution 2048 x 1536
http://www.gigabyte.us/Graphics-Card/GV-R797OC-3GD#sp

So if I were to buy a 4K display (whether that is a TV or a monitor) would I be able to get 4K playback on that display with the old card? Or is it not possible to produce such a resolution being limited by the interface and/or chipset?

I can see that newer cards support 4K/8K that might not be necessarily as powerful (like a new Radeon RX 550 for example).

Is that due to a newer version of HDMI/displayport or due to specialised hardware missing?

Thank you

The displayports can do 4k at 30 or 60hz. Depending on the card (not sure about this gigabyte contradicting information) it can do 4k 30hz over hdmi.

 

[k1114]

You can't get a 4k playback if your gpu doesn't support it, it is due to "Specialised" hardware missing
Hope this answers your question

This is completely wrong. There is no special hardware needed for 4k or any res besides a port that has enough bandwidth and the gpu's dp and hdmi does.

The displayports can do 4k at 30 or 60hz. Depending on the card (not sure about this gigabyte contradicting information) it can do 4k 30hz over hdmi.

Dp can do 4k/60. Hdmi 4k/30. The reason the specs don't state 4k was because the card is older than 4k displays and they don't update. Gpu released in 2012, 4k wasn't common enough til 2015. I've noticed amd and nvidia tend to update their pages for some things but I've never seen manufacturers update any of their pages. http://www.amd.com/en-us/products/graphics/desktop/7000/7900

 

[mossi]

So basically we're not sure and it's going to be trial and error?

Do you think Gigabyte would give a definitive answer to this if I emailed them?

 

[atljsf]

olg gpus should be able to output that resolution if the driver and the port on the gpu allows it

in older gpus is a hit and miss, no, we are not sure

it should work at least at 1440p

 

[k1114]

I'm sure it will do 4k.There is no hit or miss for this capability. Being old means nothing. The driver doesn't limit res.

 

[atljsf]

i used to believe that, old gpus proved me wrong

not all gpus and monitors are the same

hdmi smoothers alot of the problems so probably will work but 100% guaranteed? no 99% guaranteed probably

 

[k1114]

Even without official support, you could always run in a custom res. 7970 is not that old to have to worry about. Now maybe if we were talking about hdmi/dp on a 5000 series then I'd have to start to wonder about support issues.

 

[dontlistentome]

I can see that newer cards support 4K/8K that might not be necessarily as powerful (like a new Radeon RX 550 for example).

Is that due to a newer version of HDMI/displayport or due to specialised hardware missing?

Thank you

Even the RX 550 has the hardware encode/decode capabilities and display port and HDMI outputs that support the latest standards for 4k. This is of course for non gaming purposes. So while a 7970 is far superior to the 550 in gaming, it is far inferior to the 550 for 4k video. Plus the 7970 is not a 4k gaming card. So in effect the 7970 is not really desirable for 4k purposes of any type.

 

[mossi]

I wasn't thinking of the 7970 for gaming, more for 4K videos, like Netflix etc
So the 7970 combined with the FX-8320 should be able to handle 4K video playback?

I know it's not meant for 4K gaming but that's not an issue currently.

 

[GogoTraining]

Do you think Gigabyte would give a definitive answer to this if I emailed them?

 

[k1114]

Not having hevc support like a new gpu doesn't make it far inferior for video. It's not the only codec that can do 4k. Netflix does use hevc for 4k but I don't know about other places. It will just be cpu decoding for that and the fx can do that fine.

The gigabyte person will most likely not help because most support are minimally trained and/or can only tell you what's on their site. The drivers don't limits the ports' bandwidth so there's no point anyways. It's going to output 4k.

 

[mossi]

Well I emailed Gigabyte yesterday to see what they say.. I hope they don't come back with a generic answer of the sort 'check the spec sheet we aint got a clue' like you say. There's always hope! Thank you all for your answers!