Question about 27" 4K monitors

[Daybreak]

Hi all,

Looking for some advice here. I got a Surface Pro 4 recently, and the HiDPI text resolution makes text look really good, to the point that I go back to my 27" Dell 2713HM, it looks blurry and well, just not as good looking.


So I was thinking of getting a 4K 27" monitor (can't really go higher due to limited desk space), and narrowed it down to the Dell P2715Q or the Viewsonic XG2700-4K. However, I have a couple of questions for those with experience with 4K monitors (especially at the 27" monitor size) that I would like to find out:

- Does the increased DPI (163 ppi for 27" I think) make a visible difference in clearness, especially on text even with 150% scaling in Windows?

- I do some gaming, however, my card (R290) can't drive 4K for sure. Heck, it can't even drive 2560x1440 quite often... Is it possible to play games at 1080p and upscale to 4K? Any blurness as a result of the scaling?

Thanks for the help!

 

[Red_herring]

150% scaling for me cause fonts to look blury. In terms of pictures, it looks clear to me.

Games wise cannot help you though. Games I play can run smoothly in 4k(not max quality) for me.

You can also look at HP envy 27. It is one of the cheapest 4k IPS panel monitor (not including the Korean brands from qoo10) It does come with AMD freesync.

 

[Daybreak]

Thanks for the info!

So have to run text scaling at 100%? Will that cause text to be damn small?

Also, the HP monitor you referenced is this one?

 

[enenyi]

Hi all,

Looking for some advice here. I got a Surface Pro 4 recently, and the HiDPI text resolution makes text look really good, to the point that I go back to my 27" Dell 2713HM, it looks blurry and well, just not as good looking.


So I was thinking of getting a 4K 27" monitor (can't really go higher due to limited desk space), and narrowed it down to the Dell P2715Q or the Viewsonic XG2700-4K. However, I have a couple of questions for those with experience with 4K monitors (especially at the 27" monitor size) that I would like to find out:

- Does the increased DPI (163 ppi for 27" I think) make a visible difference in clearness, especially on text even with 150% scaling in Windows?

- I do some gaming, however, my card (R290) can't drive 4K for sure. Heck, it can't even drive 2560x1440 quite often... Is it possible to play games at 1080p and upscale to 4K? Any blurness as a result of the scaling?

Thanks for the help!

Me being on P2715Q for 2 years now, i use 150% scaling. At that scaling, Windows 10 desktop looks like wad u would see on a 27" 1440p desktop. Videos, pics and games will be where the 4k differentiates itself from 1440p. These are where my P2715Q shines, other than that I find myself as though using a Dell U2715Q monitor.

But watching videos and playing games at 1080p on a 4k monitor is a bad idea. Tried that before, it feels like watching 480p videos (and running games at 480p) on a 1080p monitor. Its the kind of "not too shabby, but not too good either" feeling. Playing games should at least be 1440p (just crank down the settings) to feel okay on the 4k monitor.

Lastly, about the size. To get a 27" 4k monitor, u need to be sitting at ard 30-60cm away from the monitor. Any further than that, u will be better served with a 32" 4k monitor instead. And Dell P2715Q is not the best 4k monitor at that price range; it just happens to be the oldest and cheapest 4k IPS. There is also the LG 27UD68, or LG 27UD88 4k 27" IPS monitors that u can consider.

 

[enenyi]

Thanks for the info!

So have to run text scaling at 100%? Will that cause text to be damn small?

Also, the HP monitor you referenced is this one?

Trust me, dun try running at 100% scaling. U will regret the miniature words that u have to read to set the scaing back to 150% or higher.

 

[Red_herring]

Thanks for the info!

So have to run text scaling at 100%? Will that cause text to be damn small?

Also, the HP monitor you referenced is this one?

Yes. Text will be too damn small. I couldn't read anything on screen.

Edit: let me clarify, text on websites, on office are OK. Just that for some apps, it just look blury to me. It is not so bad that you cannnot read it but something like having a shadow over it.

Yup. That is the monitor.

Before I forget, there is one drawback about this monitor. The height in not adjustable.

I put it onto a cheap stand to elavate the height.

 

[Daybreak]

Thanks! Didn't measure exactly, but I sit about ~ 70 cm away from the monitor. I would like to go larger, but no choice, my desk space is limited, can't fit a larger monitor.

Also just a clarification when you say looks similar to the 27" 1440p, is the text any sharper? Or still looks exactly the same? If it looks exactly the same, then kinda no point for me to upgrade

Noted on the games though. Kinda weird given that I thought 4K is a straight 2:1 scaling of 1080p, but it seems from some quick research that GPU scaling doesn't do straight scaling for some weird reason.

 

[yusoffb01]

i feel at 27 inch 4k res is a waste of money. higher scaling defeats the purpose of higher resolution.

get a bigger desk and. at least 34 inch

or buy sth else to fulfill your life

 

[enenyi]

Thanks! Didn't measure exactly, but I sit about ~ 70 cm away from the monitor. I would like to go larger, but no choice, my desk space is limited, can't fit a larger monitor.

Also just a clarification when you say looks similar to the 27" 1440p, is the text any sharper? Or still looks exactly the same? If it looks exactly the same, then kinda no point for me to upgrade

Noted on the games though. Kinda weird given that I thought 4K is a straight 2:1 scaling of 1080p, but it seems from some quick research that GPU scaling doesn't do straight scaling for some weird reason.

For text, its not because of the monitors' fault. Its just physics. If u sit at a certain distance far away enough, your eyes will resolve a lower resolution image the same way as a higher resolution image. In this case, both the 4k and 1440p displays at 27" resolve to the same in your eyes, so there is no perceivable difference. But when it comes to photos, where your eyes are trained to the pixel areas on the screen to identify features inside the picture, or videos where your eyes have to handle motion, that is where 4k resolution displays have that improvement.

As for games, its the same feel when u watch 480p videos on a 1080p screen, or a 720p video on a 1440p screen. On a 1080p screen, 1 pixel on the screen is mapped to every 1 pixel that the GPU outputs as frames. On 4k screen however, 4 pixels on the screen are showing the same pixel value that the GPU outputs. Especially in games where your brain has to process the images detected by your eyes to form a motion sequence, this results in the noticeable scaling issues no matter the display resolution.

 

[enenyi]

i feel at 27 inch 4k res is a waste of money. higher scaling defeats the purpose of higher resolution.

get a bigger desk and. at least 34 inch

or buy sth else to fulfill your life

For gaming, yes.

For everything else, no.

Photos can be manipulated with grater level of precision (cropping, masking, etc) without having to zoom in too much in Photoshop and other photo editing software.

Video editing is made easier when u can have native 1080p/1440p previews when working with 1080p/1440p video files, and still have room to display timelines and other video editing tools. Or preview 4k video files without having to guess how it will look like when working on 4k videos.

For 3D animation, higher resolution means higher level of precision during editing especially when a lot of vertices and edges are involved.

For spreadsheet and coding, higher resolution means being able to see more lines of code or data at once without scrolling up and down frequently. Workflow can be improved.

 

[lifeishard]

I happened to watch this video last night.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOHe10bF3SA

 

[Rashkae]

I use a 290x and game at 3440x1440 so why shouldn't your 290 game well?

 

[Daybreak]

The 290 doesn't run well at 2560 x 1440 on some of my games (Guild Wars 2, Witcher 3), so I assume it won't do well at 4K I guess. I guess the older or less intensive games that I play should be OK though (Dota 2).

Watching that Youtube video seems to give the impression that text is sharper, which is what I'm really looking for. Most of his problems seem to come from using 2 monitors and being used to 144Hz, which I'm not.

 

[lexmarq]

I am currently using a 27" 4K monitor. I have no experience with 1440p display, but I must say that the clarity of text 27" is good. I have attached a screenshot of my desktop here so you can have an idea how 150% scaling on a 27" 4K screen is like.

Gaming wise, I am using a GTX 1080, and I am able to play GTA V (very high settings) at 60FPS. When using a lower end GPU, you can always play at 1080p resolution. The monitor will scale up accordingly. Since UHD (3840 x 2160) is basically 4 times of full HD (1920 x 1080) in terms of pixels, when you play at 1080p resolution, theoretically, 4pixels should "become" 1 pixel on the 4K monitor.

Regarding the model, there are a few at the moment.

First you got to decide whether you want TN or IPS panel. If gaming is not your priority, I would say IPS is better.

For IPS 4K 27" monitor, there are a few models that I can think of:

1. Dell P2715Q
2. LG 27UD88 (which I am using) or LG27UD68.
3. HP Envy 27"

HP Envy 27" is the cheapest IPS 27" 4K monitor locally at the moment at 699SGD. Both LG27UD88 and HP Envy 27" comes with USB-c port whereby you can use it to charge and output at the same time a thunderbolt 3 compatible device such as the macbook pro.

 

[IcYFl4mEz]

So u all feel 32/34" is better for 4k monitor? U need to sit far away if nt sure giddy

 

[lexmarq]

For me, I don't mind 27" 4k monitor. I felt that 27" display is perfect for me (after using an iMac) and at the same time, I want a high PPI (after getting used to a MBP), so a 27" 4k monitor was just right for me.

 

[Rashkae]

So u all feel 32/34" is better for 4k monitor? U need to sit far away if nt sure giddy

What the hell are you talking about? Have you heard of widespread reports of people getting "giddy" from siting close to a monitor?

 

[mudxblood]

What the hell are you talking about? Have you heard of widespread reports of people getting "giddy" from siting close to a monitor?

Sho mean and scary

 

[lifeishard]

i really don't know which one should be my priority...4k, gsync or 144hz

 

[singupingu]

i really don't know which one should be my priority...4k, gsync or 144hz

Question is how hardcore you game and how particular are you towards display. Personally, I prefer resolution, follow by high refresh rate, lastly gsync. Eye candy > super smooth > premium super smooth. I mainly play rpg like skyrim and fallout, hence the priority sequence above.

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