KVR Audio

Juljan · Post by **Juljan** » Wed Feb 10, 2016 12:17 pm

Hey,

I would like to run Pro Tools and Fl Studio on a 4k screen. For this I need a new graphics card which can handle both programs in 60 fps fluently.
Are there any suggestions therefore?
Thank you.

Best regards,
Juljan

UltraJv · Post by **UltraJv** » Wed Feb 10, 2016 2:28 pm

Don't do it. Plug ins will be impossible to read.

"The moment when I opened my VST's I was really shocked. Everything was so tiny...
Switched back to non Hi-DPI-Mode - everything's properly scaled but pretty blurry and unsharp, also the VST's..."

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 8#p6213338

Juljan · Post by **Juljan** » Wed Feb 10, 2016 6:14 pm

Nevertheless, I would like to know what graphics card is recommended for my question.

UltraJv · Post by **UltraJv** » Wed Feb 10, 2016 6:31 pm

Well there were a few threads about this :

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=454465

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=446006

Bottom line seems to be GTX 750

HM · Post by HM » Thu Feb 11, 2016 8:42 pm

Been through the same, yes buttomline GTX750,.. (thoug HD4600 will do it under pressure)

In my case I got an offer on GTX950 Strix for the same price ,.. so grabed that

More or less only the phillips 40" monitor is up to the 4K resolution and decent price, less than 40" is to small

But if you don't believe it just go ahead and get something smaller

PapaLazarou · Post by **PapaLazarou** » Thu Feb 11, 2016 8:57 pm

There are UHD (4K) laptops available now but I wonder about the usability of them. I mean, Windows itself (at least modern versions like 10) can handle high DPI displays, and scale it's interface accordingly, but not all programs play so nicely.

I've used a newer Macbook Pro with a high DPI (but not quite 4K) display, and it handles them well in OS X 10, but if I bootcamp into Windows 8.1, it is a lot more hit and miss, with some programs working OK, others having microscopic icons and menu's etc.

Meffy · Post by **Meffy** » Thu Feb 11, 2016 9:02 pm

I've got a GTX 750 and a Samsung U28E590. I run quad HD. With that combination at that resolution the maximum refresh rate is 30 Hz, not 60.

FWIW, I quite enjoy the smaller GUIs. I can fit a synth and several effects on screen at once without crowding. Since I'm far-sighted I wear weak (1.25 diopter) but high-quality reading glasses for intensive work.

aMUSEd · Post by **aMUSEd** » Thu Feb 11, 2016 9:04 pm

Are there any 4 K monitors that can switch between 4 k for UltraHD movies and games, and regular 1080p for everything else?

kmonkey · Post by **kmonkey** » Thu Feb 11, 2016 9:15 pm

Meffy wrote:I've got a GTX 750 and a Samsung U28E590. I run quad HD. With that combination at that resolution the maximum refresh rate is 30 Hz, not 60.

FWIW, I quite enjoy the smaller GUIs. I can fit a synth and several effects on screen at once without crowding. Since I'm far-sighted I wear weak (1.25 diopter) but high-quality reading glasses for intensive work.

No you are wrong(if i understand you correctly if not then i apologize). I run 4k as well. And i have 60hz. You have to have display port v1.2 both on vga card and on monitor to be able to run at 60hz.

HDMI doesn't have enough of bandtwidth.

Btw i enjoy it as well.

Cheers.

Meffy · Post by **Meffy** » Thu Feb 11, 2016 11:47 pm

That's why I said the combination is limited to 30 Hz. There's no DisplayPort output on my Windows display card, and my 2012 Mac's video won't handle the display's full resolution. Such is life.

The only time 30 Hz is annoying is when playing action video games. I can live with that. More pixels is more important to me than refresh rate.

P.S.: The monitor's HDMI 1.2 connections would handle 60 Hz at full resolution if I had a display card capable of outputting it. Too expensive, can't do it.

P.P.S.: Cancel that. Tom's Hardware says its HDMI is limited to 30 Hz.

HM · Post by HM » Fri Feb 12, 2016 5:57 am

I already mentioned GTX 950 strix ,..

I suggest checking it out, it's HDMI 2.0, that means 4K 60Hz, so not DisplayPort only any longer

The semi-passive cooling is also worth a look

http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/as ... iew,6.html

google on

Scotty · Post by **Scotty** » Fri Feb 12, 2016 8:47 am

double post

Scotty · Post by **Scotty** » Fri Feb 12, 2016 8:51 am

I am running two 4K displays using the AMD FirePro w4100 ... the card can drive four - 4k monitors.
The card works well. http://www.amd.com/en-us/products/graph ... ro-3d/4100

Now for the practical in terms of LCD monitor size.... I ran both my Dell 28" 4K monitors at full 4K resolution for about a day or so. Due to the size of the text and some plugins being unreadable on some Cubase windows (the inspector was particularly poorly optimized for high dpi viewing), I had to reduce the monitor resolution on both of 4k monitors to the next lowest available resolution which is 2560 X 1440 (4k is 3840 by 2160) to be usable in Cubase.

In my current setup this is still a fantastic amount of screen real-estate with each monitor providing (2560 X 1440) = 3,686,400 for a total of 7,372,800 pixels given that I have two.

So, apart from being 4k compatible what is also critical is the size of the 4K monitor.

If you are going to use a single 4k monitor it needs to be at least a 40" model sitting at about arms length to provide comfortable viewing at 4K . Any LCD panel that is smaller outputs text that is too tiny to be comfortable to use for any length of time.

The other solution is to get two smaller - 4k monitors (28") and drive then at a lower resolution as described above for just about the same total viewing area.... 7,372,800 pixels (two 28" monitors at 2560 X 1440) vs 8,294,400 (one 40" or larger 4K monitor at 3840 X 2160)

I have tested these exact configuration and I have done so with Cubase and Bitwig which is optimized for high DPI. Bitwig is better but plugins with fixed interfaces are also hard to read at 4k on a smaller 4k Monitor.

I actually prefer the dual 28" setup better than a single 4K monitor. The reason is on a large 4k monitor even though the text is readable and sharp... you have to slide your chair from side to side to be positioned comfortably in front of whatever you are doing on screen toward the edges of the monitor. A curved 4K monitor is better. (I tested this with our family TV which is a Samsung 4k curved model). The dual 28" monitors can be positioned in a shallow "V" configuration on your desk and you can view the entire contents of both screens with minimal shifting of your seat. I have to confess... the curved 55" 4K looked amazing on the desk but I like to occasionally have relations with my wife so I returned the TV to the living room.

Now back to the video card... as it has 4 ports... I drive a third monitor which sits on a monitor arm; it is being driven at 1680 x 1050 =1,764,000 ... so I have in total 7,372,800 + 1,764,000 = 9,136,800 of pixel space. My point in mentioning the pixel counts is just to point out that there are options for expanding your screen re-estate and you may find that two smaller 4k monitors albeit at lower resolution might serve your needs better than 1 larger 4k monitor.

I agree with the others on this thread 30Mhz refresh rate is not a problem for use on a DAW and the cheaper 4k monitors are often limited to that refresh rate. In terms of cost my Dell 28" monitors were $300.00 CND each a year ago December and the w4100 video card with four displayports was $220.00 CND.

I know that this is more information than was being solicited but I have done a lot of testing and this information wasn't readily available when I started to look into 4k for my studio. Hopefully it will be useful for others.

stardustmedia · Post by **stardustmedia** » Fri Feb 12, 2016 10:52 am

I'd love to use two 4k screens... but I'm not willing to spend so much money without being able to test such a setup beforehand with all my software and apps.

@Scotty: Thanks for your detailed report!

4k - which graphics card?