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Gaming at 2160p is just too expensive still, imo. You gotta pay more for your monitor, GPU and PSU. Then if you want side monitors that match in resolution, you

Gaming at 2160p is just too expensive still, imo. You gotta pay more for your monitor, GPU and PSU. Then if you want side monitors that match in resolution, you're paying more for those as well. You say PC gamers at the start of your comment and gaming PC enthusiasts at the end. These groups are not the same and I'd say the latter is largely doing ultrawide, 4k monitor or even 4k TV. According to steam, 56% are on 1080p, 20% on 1440p and 4% on 2160p. So gamers as a whole are still settled on 1080p, actually. Not everyone is rich.

semi-extrinsic 2y ago
I'm still using a 50" 1080p (plasma!) television in my living room. It's close to 15 years old now. I've seen newer and bigger TVs many times at my friends house, but it's just not better enough that I can be bothered to upgrade.
- dmonitor 2y ago
  Doesn't plasma have deep blacks and color reproduction similar to OLED? They're still very good displays, and being 15 years old means it probably pre-dates the SmartTV era.
  - semi-extrinsic 2y ago
    Yes exactly, the color is really good and it's just a stupid monitor that has an old basic Chromecast and a Nintendo Switch plugged in. It does have HDMI-CEC, so I haven't even used the remote control in several years.
- pbronez 2y ago
  Classic Plasma TVs are no joke. I’ve got a 720p Plasma TV that still gets the job done. If you’re ok with the resolution, then the only downside is significant power consumption and lack of HDR support.
philistine 2y ago
> You say PC gamers at the start of your comment and gaming PC enthusiasts at the end. These groups are not the same Prove to me those aren't synonyms.
- Novosell 2y ago
  Prove to me they are.
dmonitor 2y ago
The major drawback for PC gaming at 4k that I never see mentioned is how much heat the panels generate. Many of them generate so much heat that rely on active cooling! I bought a pair of high refresh 4k displays and combined with the PC, they raised my room to an uncomfortable temperature. I returned them for other reasons (hard to justify not returning them when I got laid off a week after purchasing them), but I've since made note of the wattage when scouting monitors.
- robotnikman 2y ago
  >hard to justify not returning them when I got laid off a week after purchasing them Ouch, had something similar happen to me before when I bought a VR headset and had to return it. Wishing you the best on your job search!
  - dmonitor 2y ago
    That was earlier this year. I found a new job with a pay raise so it turned out alright. Still miss my old team though.. we've been scattered like straws in the wind.
evantbyrne 2y ago
Not rich. Well within reach for Americans with expendable income. Mid range 16" macbook pros are in the same price ballpark as 4k gaming rigs. Or put another way costs less than a vacation for two to a popular destination.
archagon 2y ago
I don’t think that’s true anymore. I routinely find 4K/27” monitors for under $100 on Craigslist, and a 3080-equivalent is still good enough to play most games on med-high settings at 4K and ~90Hz, especially if DLSS is available.
- Novosell 2y ago
  Your hypothetical person has a 3080 but needs to crawl craigslist for a sub-100$ monitor? U guess those people exist, but idk why you'd bother with a 3080 to then buy a low refreh rate, high input latency, probably TN, low color accuracy craigslist runoff. Could just get a 3060 and a nice 1440p monitor.
  - archagon 2y ago
    3080-equivalent performance can be had for a few hundred bucks these days, no?
singhrac 2y ago
I recently recently upgraded my main monitor from 1440p x 144hz to 4K x 144hz (with lots of caveats) and I agree with your assessment. If I had not made significant compromises, it would have cost at least $500 to get a decent monitor, which most people are not willing to spend. Even with this monitor, I'm barely able to run it with my (expensive, though older) graphics card, and the screen alarmingly flashes whenever I change any settings. It's stable, but this is not a simple plug-and-play configuration (mine requires two DP cables and fiddling with the menu + NVIDIA control panel).
- hooli_gan 2y ago
  Why do you need two DP cables? Is there not enough bandwidth in a single one? I use a 4k@60 display, which is the maximum my cheap Anker USB-C Hub can manage.
  - ThatPlayer 2y ago
    If you're on an Nvidia 4000 series DisplayPort is limited to 1.4, ~26 Gigabit/s. https://linustechtips.com/topic/729232-guide-to-display-cables-adapters-v2/?section=calc&H=3840&V=2160&F=144&bpc=10 https://linustechtips.com/topic/729232-guide-to-display-cabl... is a calculator for bandwidth 4K@144 HDR is ~40 Gigabit/s. You can do better with compression, but I find Nvidia cards have an issue with compression enabled.
    - ziml77 2y ago
      Interesting. I've been running my 4K monitor at 240Hz with HDR enabled for months and haven't had any issues with Display Stream Compression on my 4080.
      - ThatPlayer 2y ago
        For me it's a small issue with full screen (including borderless iirc) games causing the display to black out for a few seconds. I don't think it's an issue until you notice. I only noticed because I toggle HDR for some games and at 1440p240hz, the difference is just enough to not need DSC

semi-extrinsic 2y ago

I'm still using a 50" 1080p (plasma!) television in my living room. It's close to 15 years old now. I've seen newer and bigger TVs many times at my friends house, but it's just not better enough that I can be bothered to upgrade.

dmonitor 2y ago
Doesn't plasma have deep blacks and color reproduction similar to OLED? They're still very good displays, and being 15 years old means it probably pre-dates the SmartTV era.
- semi-extrinsic 2y ago
  Yes exactly, the color is really good and it's just a stupid monitor that has an old basic Chromecast and a Nintendo Switch plugged in. It does have HDMI-CEC, so I haven't even used the remote control in several years.
pbronez 2y ago
Classic Plasma TVs are no joke. I’ve got a 720p Plasma TV that still gets the job done. If you’re ok with the resolution, then the only downside is significant power consumption and lack of HDR support.

philistine 2y ago

> You say PC gamers at the start of your comment and gaming PC enthusiasts at the end. These groups are not the same Prove to me those aren't synonyms.

Novosell 2y ago
Prove to me they are.

dmonitor 2y ago

The major drawback for PC gaming at 4k that I never see mentioned is how much heat the panels generate. Many of them generate so much heat that rely on active cooling! I bought a pair of high refresh 4k displays and combined with the PC, they raised my room to an uncomfortable temperature. I returned them for other reasons (hard to justify not returning them when I got laid off a week after purchasing them), but I've since made note of the wattage when scouting monitors.

robotnikman 2y ago
>hard to justify not returning them when I got laid off a week after purchasing them Ouch, had something similar happen to me before when I bought a VR headset and had to return it. Wishing you the best on your job search!
- dmonitor 2y ago
  That was earlier this year. I found a new job with a pay raise so it turned out alright. Still miss my old team though.. we've been scattered like straws in the wind.

evantbyrne 2y ago

Not rich. Well within reach for Americans with expendable income. Mid range 16" macbook pros are in the same price ballpark as 4k gaming rigs. Or put another way costs less than a vacation for two to a popular destination.

archagon 2y ago

I don’t think that’s true anymore. I routinely find 4K/27” monitors for under $100 on Craigslist, and a 3080-equivalent is still good enough to play most games on med-high settings at 4K and ~90Hz, especially if DLSS is available.

Novosell 2y ago
Your hypothetical person has a 3080 but needs to crawl craigslist for a sub-100$ monitor? U guess those people exist, but idk why you'd bother with a 3080 to then buy a low refreh rate, high input latency, probably TN, low color accuracy craigslist runoff. Could just get a 3060 and a nice 1440p monitor.
- archagon 2y ago
  3080-equivalent performance can be had for a few hundred bucks these days, no?

singhrac 2y ago

I recently recently upgraded my main monitor from 1440p x 144hz to 4K x 144hz (with lots of caveats) and I agree with your assessment. If I had not made significant compromises, it would have cost at least $500 to get a decent monitor, which most people are not willing to spend. Even with this monitor, I'm barely able to run it with my (expensive, though older) graphics card, and the screen alarmingly flashes whenever I change any settings. It's stable, but this is not a simple plug-and-play configuration (mine requires two DP cables and fiddling with the menu + NVIDIA control panel).

hooli_gan 2y ago
Why do you need two DP cables? Is there not enough bandwidth in a single one? I use a 4k@60 display, which is the maximum my cheap Anker USB-C Hub can manage.
- ThatPlayer 2y ago
  If you're on an Nvidia 4000 series DisplayPort is limited to 1.4, ~26 Gigabit/s. https://linustechtips.com/topic/729232-guide-to-display-cables-adapters-v2/?section=calc&H=3840&V=2160&F=144&bpc=10 https://linustechtips.com/topic/729232-guide-to-display-cabl... is a calculator for bandwidth 4K@144 HDR is ~40 Gigabit/s. You can do better with compression, but I find Nvidia cards have an issue with compression enabled.
  - ziml77 2y ago
    Interesting. I've been running my 4K monitor at 240Hz with HDR enabled for months and haven't had any issues with Display Stream Compression on my 4080.
    - ThatPlayer 2y ago
      For me it's a small issue with full screen (including borderless iirc) games causing the display to black out for a few seconds. I don't think it's an issue until you notice. I only noticed because I toggle HDR for some games and at 1440p240hz, the difference is just enough to not need DSC