GPU upscaling vs 4k TV upscaling

[tono777]

Lately I purchased a 4k tv (Sony X930D) and a video card (GTX 960). I watch a lot of 480p/720p/1080p videos on my desktop computer. Should I connect the pc and the tv as 1080p so the TV upscales the videos to 4k ? Or should I connect the pc and the tv as 4k so the video card upscales the videoes to 4k ? I'd like to know which can provide a better picture quality.

 

[madmatt30]

There won't be any difference , if the max your watching is 1080p then leave the PC resolution at 1080p 60htz mate.
Setting it to 4k will drop refresh rate to 30htz & make your desktop & icons ridiculously small & unusable.

 

[J_man86]

There absolutely will be a difference. If you have a good, name brand TV, the upscaler on the TV will be much better than that of the video card (at least currently, hopefully video cards will improve on this in the future). On no-name TVs, the video card upscaler will be a bit better. I've witnessed this myself with multiple 4k displays. The quality of TV brand makes all the difference. You should be just fine with Sony. As for another answer suggesting that setting your output to 4k will restrict your refresh rate to 30hz, that is not correct. HDMI 2.0 made 4k 60hz a standard for the interface and both your video card and TV are HDMI 2.0 compliant. Also, don't worry about your desktop/icons at 4k, you can use the Windows scaler to make the UI whatever size you want.