[Ste]

Hi, I recently thought it was about time to replace my cheepo monitor with a new one but after some investigation it became complicated.

 

Wanting to future proof to some extent I started thinking in terms of a 4k monitor but soon came accross a number of complicated considerations after finding out the differences between types and makes.

 

After deciding I needed to save up some more money before buying a monitor I would be happy with, I came upon a delema. I am not what you would call a gamer but I do have games that my son has bought and he may be inclined to get me more in the future. I also use Photoshop a lot.

 

As I have read that my graphics card will not be powerful enough to play games on a 4k monitor, (at least at full resolution) I am unsure what path to take. The name of my GC is- 'Sappphire AMD Radeon R9 280X (3072 MB) 1100MHz GDDR 5 PCI-E'. Physical processor count: 4, Logical processor count: 8, Processor speed: 3512 MHz, Built-in memory: 16282 MB (Win 10).

 

The advice I need relates to my options which seem to be: (1) go to the expense of upgrading the graphics card before buying a 4k monitor, (2) buy a an identical graphics card and link the two (if that would solve the problem)as well as buying a  4k monitor, (3) Buy a 4k monitor and use it at lower resolution for playing games until I save to buy a more powerful GC, (4) Buy a lower resolution monitor.

 

You may think there are more options, I am open to suggestions. As monitors are independent of the computer I am leaning towards option (3) as I may at one point be able to afford a more powerful PC build. Thanks for your thoughts and info.

 

Ste.

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Best Answer

buy the 4k monitor with display port connection (think all have this.), because if i'm not mistaken then the Sappphire AMD Radeon R9 280X (3072 MB) can output the full 4k resolution to it using it's display port output connection. info from here :- https://www.newegg.c...N82E16814202044

 

Max Resolution D-Sub(VGA): 2048x1536

DL-DVI-I: 2500x1600

SL-DVI-D:1920x1200

HDMI 1.4a: 4096x2160

DisplayPort 1.2: 4096x2160

 

yes playing games you may have to reduce the screen resolution to get more frame rates, probably to 1080p which is 1920x1080 for the best gaming experience but that won't be a problem because the monitor will just scale/use the lower resolution at it's full screen size and will still look great.

 

 

should add most 4k monitors aren't really 4k displays which is 4096×2160 pixels but rather 4k ultra hd which is 3840 × 2160 pixels.

Edited by terry1966, 03 May 2017 - 05:32 AM.

[terry1966]

Best Answer

buy the 4k monitor with display port connection (think all have this.), because if i'm not mistaken then the Sappphire AMD Radeon R9 280X (3072 MB) can output the full 4k resolution to it using it's display port output connection. info from here :- https://www.newegg.c...N82E16814202044

 

Max Resolution D-Sub(VGA): 2048x1536

DL-DVI-I: 2500x1600

SL-DVI-D:1920x1200

HDMI 1.4a: 4096x2160

DisplayPort 1.2: 4096x2160

 

yes playing games you may have to reduce the screen resolution to get more frame rates, probably to 1080p which is 1920x1080 for the best gaming experience but that won't be a problem because the monitor will just scale/use the lower resolution at it's full screen size and will still look great.

 

 

should add most 4k monitors aren't really 4k displays which is 4096×2160 pixels but rather 4k ultra hd which is 3840 × 2160 pixels.

Edited by terry1966, 03 May 2017 - 05:32 AM.

[Ste]

Hi Terry, Thanks for clarifying the issue, I just have to decide on a monitor now. I'll leave the GC upgrade for the future. Much appreciated.

 

Ste