At 4K resolution, do we still need AA?

[silapakorn]

So I stumbled upon this review about gaming @4K: http://www.vmodtech.com/en/article/vmodtech-ultimate-gaming-project-4k-battlefield
It's not entirely in English, but you can look at pics and graphs.

They maxed out setting in all games @4K resolution on high-end graphic cards to date. The result is very interesting.

They got 40-50fps at MAX setting (with AA on, of course). So I imagine that IF we turn off the AA, we should be able to get 60fps with no sweats.

So here is my question, do we still need AA at 4K resolution? Since 4K is 4x1080p, so that would equal 4xMSAA, right? I mean, the image quality shouldn't be that much different.

Anyone with 4K monitor, can you show me the screenshots of 4xAA and no AA in-game images?

 

[Durvelle27]

No we do not

 

[Scrizz]

lol that's the same thing they said about 1080p

 

[AsRock]

What you need and what you want are different things lol. So do you need it ?, No.. Do you want it well that's preference.

 

[Mussels]

it entirely depends on the size of the screen.

a 4K 24"? you wont see it

a 46"? you'd see it.



it really comes down to the fact we get used to a certain quality - when i started gaming, 1024x768 was awesome. then 1280x1024, then WIDESCREEEEEEEN blew us away, then 720p did nothing, and 1080p blew us away again... and 1080p with AA held us over until 4k came out.

 

[Solaris17]

lol that's the same thing they said about 1080p

This

 

[AphexDreamer]

There still is no way to downsample on AMD cards with the latest drivers is there?

There is http://blog.metaclassofnil.com/?tag=gedosato but it only works in DX9 games.

And even with some DX9 games it will not work or needs tweaking

 

[Durvelle27]

There still is no way to downsample on AMD cards with the latest drivers is there?

There is http://blog.metaclassofnil.com/?tag=gedosato but it only works in DX9 games.

And even with some DX9 games it will not work or needs tweaking

c
CRu works for me

 

[GhostRyder]

Like already stated it's not so much a need as a want.

Does it make a difference? Yes it does, but I would not call it night and day.

The reality is that it will make a difference but it maybe harder to notice.

 

[AphexDreamer]

c
CRu works for me

Says it won't scale down higher resolution? Does it?

http://www.monitortests.com/forum/Thread-Custom-Resolution-Utility-CRU

 

[natr0n]

Somethings will always have aliasing eventually.

also, OCD makes people look for reasons to use it.

 

[Durvelle27]

Says it won't scale down higher resolution? Does it?

http://www.monitortests.com/forum/Thread-Custom-Resolution-Utility-CRU

It's allows me to run a higher resolution than my monitor actually supports.

 

[RCoon]

it entirely depends on the size of the screen.

This. AA is pointless on a 24" 4K screen. The bigger the screen, the less PPI, the easier jaggies are to see, the more important AA is. That's why smart phone interfaces look so smooth, 1080p on such a high PPI makes everything look vectorised and super smooth.

Imagine taking an image from a 1080p phone screen that's 4.8 inches, then upscaling that image, maintaining the size of the image to a 40 inch 1080p TV. Things are going to get jaggy

 

[Shambles1980]

cru kind of works..
but if you have a 1680x1050 max res monitor. you will be lucky if you get it to 1080p (1920x1080 @60hz)
but the chances are you will be able to get it to 1080i (1920x1080 @30hz Interlaced) thats all good and nice. but to me 60hz 720p is nicer to use than 30hz interlaced 1080i. the 30hz interlaced makes things kind of flicker. and it will take a while for your eyes to get used to (desktop, web pages. txt documents and so on)
Then you will play a game, or a video. and that will be just fine no flickering. But 1st thing you close the game your back to the flickering and have to let your eyes adjust to it.

im forced to use 1080i due to my gpu having rediculous tearing on desktop with 2d clocks in use. funny enough there is no tearing using 30hz interlaced so thats what i have to do untill the bios gets modified.

i dont use cru now, but i was using it to try and set a non interlaced res and refresh rate on multiple monitors that stoped the tearing. never actually found one. but cru does work provided you keep your monitor within a reasonable range that it can work at Which is usually more the refresh rate at the resolution rather than the resolution itself.

 

[vega22]

it entirely depends on the size of the screen.

a 4K 24"? you wont see it

a 46"? you'd see it.

28 inch 1440/1600 you dont need it.
24 inch 1200 you dont need it.

40 inch 1080 you do.
30 inch 720 you do.

i mean come on guys, 1080 is a fucking phone res today...

 

[a_ump]

28 inch 1440/1600 you dont need it.
24 inch 1200 you dont need it.

40 inch 1080 you do.
30 inch 720 you do.

i mean come on guys, 1080 is a fucking phone res today...

Speaking of, so is 2560x1600, or at least the next gen high end smartphones are going quad HD(LG G3). Here's what i'm dying to know. if every high-mainstream to top noch smartphone can have 1080p and even 1600p. why are pc monitors till stagnant? i mean come on, 4.8-5.5" smartphone gets 1600p/1080p yet we can't have 17" 1080p monitors? 22" 1600p monitors? I really don't understand it. and with it becoming so damn common 1600p monitors ought to cost $200 tops.

 

[Champ]

I say no. I went to best buy and saw a 4k 55" with 4k content and it was the sharpest thing I've ever seen. It has to be seen properly in person to understand

 

[Shambles1980]

640x480 for the win !

 

[repman244]

Speaking of, so is 2560x1600, or at least the next gen high end smartphones are going quad HD(LG G3). Here's what i'm dying to know. if every high-mainstream to top noch smartphone can have 1080p and even 1600p. why are pc monitors till stagnant? i mean come on, 4.8-5.5" smartphone gets 1600p/1080p yet we can't have 17" 1080p monitors? 22" 1600p monitors? I really don't understand it. and with it becoming so damn common 1600p monitors ought to cost $200 tops.

Because it's not that easy to make a big screen with high resolution, it's not as simple as making the pixels bigger like people think most of the time.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I haven't used AA since buying a 1200p[1920x1200] screen some years ago. The visual difference is not big but the performance difference is[depending on the card]. And at 3840x2160 you will not see the pixel laddering at all, even with a larger screen[40+]. But you will feel the performance difference at that high res. Try it yourself with a bench marking tool or a game. Run it once with AA at 4x or 8x and then again with AA completely off. If you like it better on and your FPS are playable, then leave it on. If you can't tell the difference, leave it off. AF on the other hand, benefits greatly from high resolution and if your card has the horsepower, max it out.

My current screens are a 1080p and 1440p in expanded desktop config. I NEVER use AA, it's just not needed at such high res and only drags the system down. AF is at 16x. All my games look and play smooth as silk[EVGA GTX770 4GB].

Test it out and figure out what works for you, then stick with it.

 

[tokyoduong]

I've read a few research papers on this before. At 4K, AA is still relevant but not necessary. At 8K, it's not needed for the most part unless you have better than 20/20 eyes.

At the end of the day, I guess it's how close you sit and the size of your screen. But seriously, who buys a bigger monitor/TV just to sit further unless they just have too much room. Whether you need AA at 4k or not is going to totally depend on your eyes, system setup, distance to screen, and size of screen. Don't take anyone's word for it! just try it when it is available to you and see what works best.

 

[Peter1986C]

4K is not a resolution, it is a display mode. Yes, smartphones have a higher resolution because of the large display mode for such relatively small screens but they are not required to do anything meaningful (compared to e.g. workstations).
And things like wires still tend to look weird without AA on my screen (still I leave it off for obvious reasons).

 

[AphexDreamer]

It's allows me to run a higher resolution than my monitor actually supports.

Well my monitor just says resolution not supported. When trying to force a higher resolution.

 

[Durvelle27]

Well my monitor just says resolution not supported. When trying to force a higher resolution.

What connections

 

[AphexDreamer]

What connections

DVI @ 2560x1440