How bad will 1080p resolution look on a 4k monitor?

[tahnik]

Hi, I was wondering how bad will a 1080p resolution look on 4K?

Because If I get a cheap graphics card now to play on 1080p and do all my works on 4k maybe later I will buy a high end GPU.

Thanks

 

[blazorthon]

4K is roughly four times 1080p, usually exactly (depending on exact resolution, 3840x2160 is common), so it should look excellent because there's no stretching.

 

[tahnik]

4K is roughly four times 1080p, usually exactly (depending on exact resolution, 3840x2160 is common), so it should look excellent because there's no stretching.

Sorry I think you misunderstood my question. 1080p resolution on 4k will stretch out isn't it?

 

[blazorthon]

Every pixel on 1080p equals four pixels in a square on 4k. There is no stretching necessary. A 4k display can work in 1080p perfectly if the 4k display is 3840x2160 (notice it is exactly double both sides of 1920x1080).

 

[martinch]

As blazorthon said, it's a factor of 2 scaling in each axis, so there shouldn't be any interpolation (and therefore artefacts) necessary. Dependent upon the physical size of the monitor (24-27"), you may find that the pixels are sufficiently small you can't see them anyway ...