Looks like I’ll be in the den for the winter. Thinking about going to a 4K monitor to fly as well as watch sports and perhaps a movie.
My system is an Asus ROG Strix G15CK (Intel i7-10700KF 8 Core),
32GB RAM, and a NIVIDIA RTX 2070 Super.
My first question, will this system even run 4k quality video?
And secondly, will I lose any performance in the simulator?
I’m nearing 70 and very limited in pc technology, although I did manage to download and run MSFS, in which i take great pride. Only with the help of this forum I would add.
Any advice or comments will be greatly appreciated
When purchasing your monitor also be aware of features, such as the refresh rate and types of video connectors. Beware of the “lower cost” monitors as they may only have 60hz refresh rate, and may not have a display port connector, only an HDMI. In my opinion, if you are laying out the money, you want to ensure you get one with at least 144hz refresh rate and BOTH a display port (preferred connection) and and HDMI port. I’ve had monitors where the display port has failed, but the HDMI can be used in that event (using the HDMI will probably lower your refresh rate back to 60hz, but at least it can still be used)
Last year I was asking myself the same question and in the end decided for a 29" curved 21:9 ultrawide with 2560x1080. So no 4K here but like using two 1280x1080 panels side by side. Limits the impact on performance and resolution-wise it’s more than adequate. Maximum refresh rate is 75hz. I see no advantage in 144hz since MSFS will run at 30 to 60 fps.
For flight sim and watching movies the best is ultrawide 1440p or 1600p. 60hz 4k is not a bad choice if you plan to use your PC for the flight simulator and watching movies, it saves you a lot of money and if you do not play fast games, 120/144hz is pretty useless. In MSFS you will not be able to reach 60 fps and even if you do 60 is more than enough … I doubt you will see much difference above 60 in flight sims. For sure in shooting games and action games, but from your post, it seems like you are not much into gaming.
4k will hit your performance, so I am not sure if 2070S can run it smoothly. Ask yourself (perhaps test in a store) if your eyes can clearly see the difference between 1440 and 4k… if not, then 1440 is a better choice IMHO. In my case, I cannot see that much of a difference. I can clearly see a massive difference between 1080p and 1440p.
I have a 4K monitor and you’ll need good hardware to run it. Upscaling from lower resolution to 4K monitors looks mostly bad, so you need to play in 4K.
One more advantage running 4k monitor ( 3840 x 2160) is that you display more vertical information compared with 1440 ( 2560 x 1440 )
2160- 1440 = 720 meaning 50% more vertical informations…
So you decrease necessity to scroll when needing to display lower cockipt instruments and so on…
Like @Archer374 said, MSFS isn’t a FPS Game, its a simulator, so I’m hitting between 30 and 60 easily. 144hz, is completely unnecessary. You’ve a good spec machine. The other comments about 4k are also equally valid. If you can’t see the difference, then the 1440p will be perfect and have a lower performance impact (but tbh, with those specs the performance impact shouldn’t be huge anyway.) Like others have said, if you can go to a shop and compare (without listing to a sales person) , do so. You’re own opinion is more valid to you. Certainly I wouldn’t get carried away with the number chasers. It doesn’t mean a huge amount.
That is not how it works in the game. You get the same size picture, just better quality but you see exactly the same view in higher resolution in the sim.
Your hardware should work fine. You should use a DisplayPort cable instead of an HDMI cable. I am using an RTX 2060 with a 3440x1440 monitor.
As other commentors said, more pixels typically means lower performance. My preferred way to work around this is to reduce the “Render Scale” slider in General Options > Graphics. With my hardware I use 70% (2408x1008)
edit: Congrats on your progress so far. I agree with @Severeeno that 60hz refresh rate is likely fine, and you can skip spending extra on >60hz refresh rate
Field of view (fov) is probably what you’re referring to. Some games give an option to change fov in the menu, I’m not sure if MSFS does. It’s basically the same function as zooming in or out with a camera, and is independent of screen resolution. However, it is quasi-related to screen shape. For example, a display with the same horizontal resolution but higher vertical resolution would cause the game to show either more image vertically or less horizontally - which I suspect is the source of your confusion. But since just about every monitor these days has standardized around 16:9, it’s not a big issue anymore.
Thank you so much for the information. You are entirely correct. I don’t play shoot em ups. Just the flight sim and occasionally a zip around Forzaland. I will look to the 1440p, (again you are correct about my being able to discern between 1440 and 4k), not be too concerned with the refresh rate, and maybe a larger monitor with the money saved. Very helpful. Thanks again.
One more thing you should also look into is the bigger the monitor, the more visible will be the resolution (larger pixels). If you plan to go over 32" then 4k starts making sense. 32" 1440p is fine for watching and gaming but the pixels become visible if you need to do a lot of reading/working.
I think a sweet spot (price / quality) is 34" ultrawide with 60hz refresh and 1440p (21:9) or 32" 1440p (normal 16:9 aspect ratio) if you do not plan to read a lot of text. If you do then 32" 4k makes sense but it will have around 15-20% hit on your fps compared to 1440p. Something for something.
Those specs will run 4k fine I manage it on just rtx 2070 in msfs you won’t be able to max the settings of course but it will be good enough.
In my opinion unless your gonna be playing shooting games then anything over 60hz is a waste of time you won’t see much benefit if any. At 4k on those specs I doubt there will be many games with all settings turned up that will run much higher than 60fps anyway.
