The Best 4K Gaming Monitors: OLED Wins

I don’t personally understand the appeal of 4K displays for computers. You have to use scaling in windows, even a 4090 struggles to game at 4K, without even worrying about RT. I think that 1440/1600p displays are best. 100% scaling in Windows, so no scaling issues, you don’t need up scaling or frame gen for great performance. I bought into the 4K hype and bought a G3223Q. I didn’t see a benefit, only downsides, so I went back to my 1440p S2721DGF.
 
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I don’t personally understand the appeal of 4K displays for computers. You have to use scaling in windows, even a 4090 struggles to game at 4K, without even worrying about RT. I think that 1440/1600p displays are best. 100% scaling so no scaling issues, you don’t need up scaling or frame gen for great performance. I bought into the 4K hype and bought a G3223Q. I didn’t see a benefit, only downsides, so I went back to my 1440p S2721DGF.
If you ever read any text on your PC, 4K is an obvious must have. Unless you have impaired vision, that is.
 
I guess I do have impaired vision then. I do plenty of reading of Arstechnica, TechPowerUp and TechSpot each day and didn’t notice what you mean on the 4K.
I guess you do then. To me it's clearly visible (even, annoying) to go back to 1080p, or even 1440p. Letters are so much more pixelated.

Or maybe you're on W-OLED which they say is much worse with text. Or you sit far, far away from your monitor. Dunno.
 
If you ever read any text on your PC, 4K is an obvious must have. Unless you have impaired vision, that is.

100%. Text is the primary reason for 4K displays, especially a 27" and even a 32" 4K. Which is my problem with these OLEDs as they don't use RGB stripe panels so you're compromising text clarity for optimum gaming.
 
I guess you do then. To me it's clearly visible (even, annoying) to go back to 1080p, or even 1440p. Letters are so much more pixelated.

Or maybe you're on W-OLED which they say is much worse with text. Or you sit far, far away from your monitor. Dunno.
I did have an AW3423DWF, but I didn’t like the 21:9 aspect ration. Even with QD-OLED and 3440x1440, I didn’t notice any text fringing. Ended up selling it to a friend for 1/2 price. That’s when I got the G3223Q and tried 4K. Never tried WOLED, though I am interested after experiencing the glossy panel on the Alienware.

At work I have some 1920x1200 HP 24” screens and also have no issue with text on them. I wonder if I’m just at the opposite end of the spectrum, compared to people who find text fringing an issue.
 
I don’t personally understand the appeal of 4K displays for computers. You have to use scaling in windows, even a 4090 struggles to game at 4K, without even worrying about RT. I think that 1440/1600p displays are best. 100% scaling in Windows, so no scaling issues, you don’t need up scaling or frame gen for great performance. I bought into the 4K hype and bought a G3223Q. I didn’t see a benefit, only downsides, so I went back to my 1440p S2721DGF.
Did you forget about the ubiquity of upscaling tech these days? You can set DLSS Performance at 4k to internally render at 1080p, which the 4090 can obviously handle even with RT. For reference, that's higher quality than 1440p Quality internal res before you go "but that quality is useless!" Obviously you have tons of options up from there too if you want more clarity.
Also, 1440p still requires 125 to 150% scaling for a 27 inch display at arm's reach with 20/20 vision for comfortable viewing. And btw, if you aren't using upscaling or frame gen at 1440p, you're still missing out.
 
Did you forget about the ubiquity of upscaling tech these days? You can set DLSS Performance at 4k to internally render at 1080p, which the 4090 can obviously handle even with RT. For reference, that's higher quality than 1440p Quality internal res before you go "but that quality is useless!" Obviously you have tons of options up from there too if you want more clarity.
Also, 1440p still requires 125 to 150% scaling for a 27 inch display at arm's reach with 20/20 vision for comfortable viewing. And btw, if you aren't using upscaling or frame gen at 1440p, you're still missing out.

1440p doesn’t require scaling in Windows at a 27" screen size. Currently my 27" 1440p monitor is about 800mm (31 inch) away from my nose and I am using it at 100% scaling. I'm not using frame gen or upscaling at 1440p. I'm more than happy with the performance of my GPU.
 
I don’t personally understand the appeal of 4K displays for computers. You have to use scaling in windows, even a 4090 struggles to game at 4K, without even worrying about RT. I think that 1440/1600p displays are best. 100% scaling in Windows, so no scaling issues, you don’t need up scaling or frame gen for great performance. I bought into the 4K hype and bought a G3223Q. I didn’t see a benefit, only downsides, so I went back to my 1440p S2721DGF.

I had one of the first 32" monitors and it was a 1080p. Things just looked smudged. I've been using my 32" 4k for a few years now. Scaling is set to 200%. Apple has been doing this forever. Their screens are much higher resolution than what you can set the screen to in display settings. Things like text look much clearer/sharper.
 
You guys are obviously biased depending on what you use your pc for. But then again, what you bought the pc and peripherals for is obviously what you use them for.
 
I don’t personally understand the appeal of 4K displays for computers. You have to use scaling in windows, even a 4090 struggles to game at 4K, without even worrying about RT. I think that 1440/1600p displays are best. 100% scaling in Windows, so no scaling issues, you don’t need up scaling or frame gen for great performance. I bought into the 4K hype and bought a G3223Q. I didn’t see a benefit, only downsides, so I went back to my 1440p S2721DGF.

40"+. Using a 40" 4K VA Panel is great for everything but viewing angle and motion clarity (it's 60Hz). 100% scaling in Windows is perfect. Concerned about dropping to 32" 4K for the same reasons as you, but if okay with 120Hz, there's the LG 42" OLEDs, and a 45" 5120x2160 @165Hz OLED on the horizon.
 
Great article! Exactly the breakdown I was looking for. I was comparing all these exact same monitors on my own to upgrade from Neo G8..I think I'll choose the new Alienware.
 
Seriously G7 best 4K LCD, pull the other one it yodels.

1000R curved 16:9 with VA panel that has smearing and mediocre backlight control? Not even close.

Not a single serious gamer uses VA panel for this reason. VA is too slow and refresh rate don't matter. 240 Hz on VA still looks like a smearing mess because pixel response times on VA is all over the place. Especially bright to dark changes and vice versa are dirt slow on VA.

And color shift is insane on VA too, which is why Samsung insists on using a curve. Scrolling while text on a black background on VA = Looks horrible. Smearing all over.

VA might be fine if you are a casual gamer. Any serious gamer that plays fast paced titles will avoid it like the plague.

The only reason why VA became popular is because its as cheap as TN to make and deliver better quality at first glance, however sucks for fast paced gaming because of smearing and dirt slow pixel response times.
 
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1000R curved 16:9 with VA panel that has smearing and mediocre backlight control? Not even close.

Not a single serious gamer uses VA panel for this reason. VA is too slow and refresh rate don't matter. 240 Hz on VA still looks like a smearing mess because pixel response times on VA is all over the place. Especially bright to dark changes and vice versa are dirt slow on VA.

And color shift is insane on VA too, which is why Samsung insists on using a curve. Scrolling while text on a black background on VA = Looks horrible. Smearing all over.

VA might be fine if you are a casual gamer. Any serious gamer that plays fast paced titles will avoid it like the plague.

The only reason why VA became popular is because its as cheap as TN to make and deliver better quality at first glance, however sucks for fast paced gaming because of smearing and dirt slow pixel response times.

Have you read a review about the Samsung G7 he's referring to? Like the review published on this site you're posting on? It's pretty easy to assume you haven't as the G7 doesn't have the dark transition smearing that other VA monitors have. Samsung knows how to design a VA panel and drive it properly:

2020-07-16-image-p_1100.webp


Your generalizations are inaccurate, again.
 
Have you read a review about the Samsung G7 he's referring to? Like the review published on this site you're posting on? It's pretty easy to assume you haven't as the G7 doesn't have the dark transition smearing that other VA monitors have. Samsung knows how to design a VA panel and drive it properly:

2020-07-16-image-p_1100.webp


Your generalizations are inaccurate, again.

Those numbers are not even great. Once again, link me proof that JUST A SINGLE PRO GAMER uses a VA panel. They don't, because its a smearing mess. I have tried ALL THE MONITORS you speak about and many more. Pretty much all new OLEDs as well.

VA is slow as dirt compared to the fastest OLED, TN and even IPS panels.

Samsung curves even 16:9 VA panels because color shift is insane and viewing angles are trash. Nothing new. Also, G7 has terrible local dimming just like any other LCD panel.

You can ramble all day how good your VA panel is, but it won't change facts - its not suited for fast paced gaming, because no VA panel is. Tested and tried. Motion clarity is a mess.

Why did you link the 165 Hz image tho? ;)

Here's 240 Hz:

 
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