Hardware Worth switching to 4k?

[Originality]

Intel Skylake integrated graphics can supposedly support 4K graphics on up to 3 monitors at 60fps. No mention of gaming though... But nobody expects anything of Intel graphics.

I've heard 780, 970 and above can all output 4K at playable rates, although SLI has always been recommended for 4K, even now with the 1070 and 1080 claiming a 4-5 times jump in processing power and greater capability of handling 4K and VR markets.

Either way I don't think the technology is quite there yet to reliably make 4K the new standard. 4K monitors are still expensive for what they are, and monster rigs are needed to make it worthwhile. I'll wait another year before I make the jump.

 

[FAST6191]

Do you do CAD, massive spreadsheets, video editing where you want full res video, need detailed parts diagrams or otherwise many things at the same time (programming where you might need a reference, the compiler, the debugger/test program and maybe something else all going at once)?
If so then maybe consider 4K.

For games it is of limited utility unless you are doing something like that. Maybe a few RTS games if you can see further, and the devs did not block that (it is a fairly significant advantage for a lot of things so some devs will maybe allow more detail but not more "squares" visible). Similarly if you favour more mid/long range FPS and space games you could possibly gain something from the extra detail. For something that happens over the ranges of the average COD game then not so much. If you want a guide, chat window and whatever else up while you play then this is why most graphics cards will support more than one screen. I highly suggest a portrait monitor too if you can.

As others said you need a graphics card with some grunt to pull this off. You also have the 30Hz thing to worry about -- older HDMI versions only do 4K at 30Hz, 60Hz needs newer versions of HDMI which many screens and graphics cards will not have. That means you are going to want DVI or displayport to handle such a refresh rate. Edit. Do also check what latency you might expect on the screen too as some of these 4K displays are not the best.

For my money 4K is not a massive jump in quality either, I want it for the things I listed at the start so I hope the tarts of the gaming world buy it all up and drive the prices down for me but it is not necessarily the wave of the future.

I could also link the debate over what 4K actually is (for most it is 4x 1080p screens stacked and beside each other, some in the cinema/cinematography world argue for another though http://www.techradar.com/news/television/ultra-hd-everything-you-need-to-know-about-4k-tv-1048954 .

 

[raystriker]

If its games, your best bet would be to crossfire two RX 480s together. Apparently they outperform a GTX 1080 but we can't say for sure until they're released (June 27th was it?)
Also since no one mentioned this, your CPU will bottleneck the setup most probably.