Display Question

[Zimmerbz 168]

Just curious what most of you are using for a display size.  I am thinking of upgrading from my 34" Ultrawide Dell since it is about 6 years old.  I'd like to go bigger, but I don't know if that will hurt performance at all and not look much better.  I have the space for up to a 49" but can go anywhere between that and 34".  I like the curved look.  Currently I am running 3440x1440 at 60hz but wasn't sure if my hardware could handle bigger and better.  Thanks!

[David Mills 4,774]

The size of your display has no effect on MSFS performance. The resolution you select, however, does affect performance. I personally use a 75" Sony 4K TV for my display. A 4K TV works great with MSFS, even if you set the Render Scale somewhat below 4K as I do. There are generally fewer options for refresh rates on TVs than there are on dedicated monitors. But this issue has never bothered me, since I lock my MSFS fps to my TV refresh rate, which works out to a solid and quite acceptable 30fps.

[Glenn Fitzpatrick 3,799]

If you go to a 4K monitor and run the game at native 4K you would be driving 3840x2160 pixels instead of 3440x1440 so expect an FPS drop if you leave everything else the same.  You probably will lose about 30% but likely can get that back with tweaking.

Edited January 30, 2023 by Glenn Fitzpatrick

[David Mills 4,774]

2 minutes ago, Glenn Fitzpatrick said:

If you go to a 4K monitor you would be driving 3840x2160 pixels

That assumes Render Scaling is set to 100. I set mine to 60, which generates an actual resolution of 2304 x 1296 for better performance.

[Glenn Fitzpatrick 3,799]

Yes 2304 x 1296 is 4K render scaled by 60%.  

If you were previously running 3440x1440 @ 60% you were actually running  at 2304 x 864 after 60% render scale.

[Flic1 998]

I used to have a similar Dell 34 and upgraded a couple years ago to a Samsung 49" Ultrawide curved (5120 x 1440).  Probably the best  thing I have ever bought for simming...it would work great with your 3080ti.  I was running it on a 1080ti up until 6 months ago when I did a new PC build....running a 3080ti now as well.

[Zimmerbz 168]

21 minutes ago, Flic1 said:

I used to have a similar Dell 34 and upgraded a couple years ago to a Samsung 49" Ultrawide curved (5120 x 1440).  Probably the best  thing I have ever bought for simming...it would work great with your 3080ti.  I was running it on a 1080ti up until 6 months ago when I did a new PC build....running a 3080ti now as well.

What type of summing do you do?  I fly the Fenix and wonder how that would look or if it would be a good fit for VFR only. 

[Flic1 998]

10 hours ago, Zimmerbz said:

What type of summing do you do?  I fly the Fenix and wonder how that would look or if it would be a good fit for VFR only.

Mostly the Fenix 320 and PMDG.  Gives a great view of the VC....

[regis9 4,033]

I have a 55” TV at 4K.  It’s awesome.

[Noel 4,554]

14 hours ago, Zimmerbz said:

Just curious what most of you are using for a display size.  I am thinking of upgrading from my 34" Ultrawide Dell since it is about 6 years old.  I'd like to go bigger, but I don't know if that will hurt performance at all and not look much better.  I have the space for up to a 49" but can go anywhere between that and 34".  I like the curved look.  Currently I am running 3440x1440 at 60hz but wasn't sure if my hardware could handle bigger and better.  Thanks!

Hi Zimmer, 

I also had the 34" U3415W, and a 3080Ti.  Right now your CPU and GPU are quite well matched--think about this when you consider the ideas below.  Here are some things to grapple with as you make your decision:

• At the same pixel resolution, the larger the screen, the farther you need to sit away from it to have the same image quality.  An extreme example to make the point:  we have a 65" 4K TV.  With our viewing distance which is about 10 feet, movies in 4K look no better than at 1080p.   If we moved to 4 feet away, we would likely see some improvement in IQ.
• A 4K screen has roughly 35% greater demand on VRAM and GPU utilization, and some degree of that on CPU load as well.
• A 4K screen uses an aspect ratio of 16:9, versus 21:9 for a 3440x1440 resolution display. 
• If your ultimate goal is ultra smooth performance a display featuring true Gsync can add significant value in this regard.  I upgraded my Dell to an LG 34" curved 3440x1440 Gsync Ultimate (has HDR1000 as well, hence their "Ultimate" label) only to get the Gsync capability.   I sit roughly 30" from my display and always will so there is no value to go to a larger display as I would end up moving it farther from my eyes, and there would be no real benefit.

[Waldo Pepper 1,953]

I'm using a 48" LG CX oled hdtv.  I prefer a glossy screen over a matte screen.   Really dislike matte screens.

[bbuckley 133]

1 hour ago, Noel said:

which is about 10 feet, movies in 4K look no better than at 1080p.   If we moved to 4 feet away, we would likely see some improvement in IQ.

Not sure I understand... closer = better IQ? Did you mean 14? Just confused. It's all great info BTW.

[Noel 4,554]

12 hours ago, bbuckley said:

Not sure I understand... closer = better IQ? Did you mean 14? Just confused. It's all great info BTW.

Better Image Quallity.  Put another way, the closer we are to the screen the easier it is to see the difference between a 1080p screen and a 4K screen.   

[bbuckley 133]

7 hours ago, Noel said:

Better Image Quallity.  Put another way, the closer we are to the screen the easier it is to see the difference between a 1080p screen and a 4K screen.   

Oh, ok I think I understand, thanks. I see now that you mean that comparing two 65" TVs, one at 4K and one at 1080p, at 10' you wouldn't notice the difference but at 4' you would likely see that the 4K is better IQ. But comparing two 4K TVs, one 65" and one 40", your viewing distance needs to be farther away for the 65" to get the same IQ. I use a 4K 40" TV and sit with eyepoint ~36". If I went larger, I'd have to move back further.

[odourboy 1,290]

A completely different consideration is if you desire a real life sized field of view from your setup. To achieve this, you need a large screen (55" plus). Based on my magnification settings and distance from my monitor, instruments and objects appear close to their correct real world size in my sim.