Upgrading to a 4k TV? 48" vs 55"

[regis9 4,014]

Hello, I currently run a 32" 2k monitor and am considering an upgrade to a 4k tv.  I primarily use my it for gaming/leisure, not work or anything remotely productive 🙂

I do a lot of flight simming (obviously) but also driving/racing sims, train sims, and some other games occasionally.

If I can ever get my hands on a PS5 I may buy one of those for sports games etc that aren't available on PC so having a monitor dedicated to gaming means I can play whatever without battling the family for TV time.

I came across a PC Gamer article that listed this monitor (48") as it's top pick for PC gaming:

https://www.amazon.ca/LG-OLED48CX-UHD-Smart-OLED/dp/B083XNJWNJ/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=LG%2BOLED48CX&qid=1614646422&sr=8-1&th=1

Interestingly, Amazon has a 55" version of the same monitor for the same price:

https://www.amazon.ca/LG-OLED48CX-UHD-Smart-OLED/dp/B0829RYP8V/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=LG%2BOLED48CX&qid=1614646422&sr=8-1&th=1

My questions are:

1) Can anyone provide input on going from 2k to 4k in MSFS (and a bit of P3D) performance wise?  I have a 2080ti so I'm thinking if anything it's likely under utilized in 2k.

2) My basic brain says the 55" one is bigger than the 48" one at the same price therefore I should buy it.  But is 55" getting up toward too much screen?  I'd be mounting it on the wall behind my desk, so my viewing distances would range from about 42" at the closest (sitting at my keyboard) to about 66" (using my simracing rig).  Flight simming could be anywhere from 42" (flying in my joystick side stick configuration) to 58-60" when using a yoke.  Mounting the TV on my wall will result in it being about 10" further back than my current 32" monitor which is on my desk.

3) Finally, any general thoughts on the specs of the TV or my plan to do this upgrade generally would be appreciated.  There's a typo in the refresh rate in the specs, it is in fact 120hz not 600!

Thanks!

Edited March 2, 2021 by regis9

[CaptainNick 575]

Go bigger if you are sitting that far away from it. I went 55” 4K and sit about 28-36” away. It seemed massive at first but it is awesome in sim use. Terrible for doing non sim games as it is just too big that close. Ie no shooters etc.

I went from a 1080p monitor to 4K, using my 2070 super...mostly high settings but I do have my scaler back to 80% gives me framerates in the 40’s with most of the msfs planes. P3D I have it pretty stable at 60 with mid sliders. Probably could go higher but I also like the steady 60 as I use track ir and find less than 60 it’s just not as smooth.

It is the rare occasion when you say “I wish I got a smaller tv/monitor”, generally it’s always the opposite “gee I should have gone with the slightly bigger...”

Any tv you look at needs low input lag in pc mode and supports chroma 4:4:4 in that mode/input. 60hz. You don’t want 120hz in most tv’s unless it supports a true 120hz input like gaming monitors. 120hz in most tv’s will do a flashing black light or frame interpolation not actually displaying a 120hz frame rate from the pc. It is still pretty rare for tv’s to accept120hz or greater input signals and those that do tend to cost a lot more.

Edited March 2, 2021 by CaptainNick

[FreeBird(Josh) 314]

As Captin Nick says go bigger sitting that far away. I have a 43" and sit 3 feet away. My next 4k tv will be a 4k monitor as big as I can afford. Your performance  will be less with 4k so you will have to lower settings and set render scaling down to 80. My 1080 ti works well but you will be better off with your 2080ti and will get better performance. 

[regis9 4,014]

Thanks guys, Amazon conveniently suggested a wall mount that can move the T from 2.8" to 16" away from the wall so that would certainly bring it closer to me than I had originally measured (I was measuring to the wall).

The reviews I have found confirm it supports chroma 4:4:4 on PC mode (60hz) and the input lag I could find was  ~11ms at 4K and ~7ms at 1440p and 1080p in the Game mode.

The stuff I'm starting to read about burn-in with OLED is becoming concerning though, especially in sims where there are typically static items for a long period of time.  Might need to start looking at other options (savings some $$ in the process too).

Edited March 2, 2021 by regis9

[Ted Striker 338]

I have a 36" deep desk. I originally had a 55" Sony 4k TV on it. It at times seemed too big and at this size I could see the individual pixels. I only had a 43" 1080P Vizio TV in the living room so I replaced it with the 55" Sony 4k and got a 43" 4k LG monitor for the sim desk. The 43" at times seems too small but I can't see the individual pixels on it as the pixel density is higher. As the others have said, I also think a 49" would be perfect for the desk but would get the 55" or larger if you are going to put it on the wall.

Ted

[regis9 4,014]

Thanks, I have a 31” deep desk and part of what is driving this thought of upgrading is that when I’m seated further away from the screen (when using a yoke or at it’s worse when using my sim racing rig) the screen doesn’t fill enough of my view.  When sitting right up against the desk it looks fine to me.

The other thing I’m now thinking about is just buying an adjustable monitor mount so I can bring my current monitor closer to the edge of the desk when I’m sitting further away.  That would be much cheaper of course and would let me retain the performance i get at 2k resolution.  My monitor is otherwise pretty high quality (BENQ PL3200PT) which incidentally I spent nearly CDN$700 on five years ago and could buy a non-OLED 55” TV for about the same money today  🙂

Decisions decisions...but if I do proceed with a TV it sounds like 55” is the way without doubt.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,959]

Just remember. You can have immersion with a big display but it will lack sharpness as the pixels are so spread out.

A smaller display brings sharpness but lacks immersion. I don’t think I’ve seen a post with the perfect combination. Maybe 36-38” 16:9 would be close. Sadly they don’t make them that size either as a monitor or TV. 😟

[regis9 4,014]

Thanks Ray, you’ve hit the nail on the head I think in terms of the trade offs here.

[regis9 4,014]

Thanks for the information everyone, I decided to take the plunge with a 4K 55” tv.  Ultimately I don’t want to deal with managing burn in on an OLED so I bought a Samsung Q80T:

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B084ZSSQ4C?ref=ppx_pt2_mob_b_prod_image
 

Reviews are good and it saved me about $800CDN.

I figure if it turns out I don’t like the new format for my gaming I can always use it to replace my very old 42” 1080p tv in my living room and return to using my monitor.

Next step will be to find the right wall mount, something that allows some side to side movement as my wall studs don’t quite align with my desk.

Edited March 3, 2021 by regis9

[Bob Scott 7,721]

I still remember the day I first fired up my 55" 4K TV with the sim.  I was just stunned.

I don't run anything but the flight sim on it, though...I have a dedicated gaming PC for shooters and the likes running one of my previous 30" 16:10 Dells.

[regis9 4,014]

Thanks, yes as I hummed and hawed about the purchase last night that was the moment I pictured, that first wow moment that would likely make any doubts go away!  I’ll report back next week whenever I get it all set up.

[regis9 4,014]

I’ll add that I think most of what I play will translate well to a large screen, flight sim, racing sims,  American Truck Simulator, train sims.  I do sometimes play strategy/management games like cities skylines, snowtopia, so those ones will be interesting to see how well the big screen suits them.  I suppose worst case I could put my monitor on the desk for those ones.

I figure games like red dead redemption, metro exodus, fallout etc should be ok even if I end up sitting back from the screen and playing with an Xbox controller.

[Fatback 84]

Regis, looking forward to your update. I’m interested in the qled tech too. 

[regis9 4,014]

I got everything set up tonight and went for a quick flight in MSFS.  First impressions?  Wow, just wow.  I regret nothing 😀

Immersion is amazing, I think I'm close to real life size for GA cockpits, and the performance hit doesn't seem too significant so far going from 2k to 4k.  I left it on the Ultra preset, reduce render scaling from 100 to 80, turn on G-synch and my FPS are comparable to what they were in 2k and smooth.  The detail in 4k is just amazing, cockpit instruments completely readable etc.

Going to keep playing around and will report more after I have more time with it, but yeah, initial impressions are very very impressed.

My 8-year old daughter looked at it and said "Daddy, that's not a computer screen, that's a TV!"  🙂Well you're half right!

[Fatback 84]

I've been put off by the risk of burn-in too with the OLED so this sounds like it could be an option. I play some other games like Madden, which should be ok on the bigger screen (!) but not sure how some of the strategy games will work out. At 4k there must be enough detail to pick out some of the smaller things in other games.

Small world. I see you're from YHZ and you have the CP Air logo as your profile picture. I lived in Wellington for 15 years and my dad was a pilot in the RCAF so we had a lot of family friends that became CP Air pilots and my sister was a flight attendant for them. 🙂