What Minimum Video Card to Run a 49" or 55" OLED 4K TV for Productivity and Occasional 4K Movies?

sschen on 25/04/2023 - 16:17
Last edited 25/04/2023 - 16:17

Guys

I am considering upgrading my current 34" UW monitor (2560 x 1080 only) to a 49" or 55" OLED TV in the near future.

I only have an old 1660 Super video card at the moment, and I understand I need at least a 3000 series nVidia card or a 6000 series AMD card.

The PC will be used mainly for productivity/work, and occasional 4K movies. I don't game at all.

Is either 3060 or 6600 the bare minimum card? Will either of these cards be suitable to watch a 4K movie without stuttering??? I am happy to stretch my budget to either the 3060Ti or 6700XT which I have seen advertised used in the $300-ish mark.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Computing Computer Component Video Card

Comments

  • scrimshaw on 25/04/2023 - 17:06
    +3

    I thought the 1660 Super was capable of 4k 60hz for general desktop display and video playback.

    For gaming (on 4k) you do want something that has about twice the performance and plenty of VRAM — 8GB bare minimum, 12GB recommended, 16GB for future proofing. If gaming is not a concern at all then you don't need to spend any money and just stick with what you have.

    • sschen on 25/04/2023 - 18:09

      I will want 4K 120Hz. Apparently 4K 120 Hz is the native resolution of most current 4K OLED TVs???

      • scrimshaw on 25/04/2023 - 19:20

        The 1660 SUPER has a HDMI version of 2.0b and maxes out at 4k60hz. If you want 4k120hz video card needs to have HDMI 2.1 (so GPU upgrade will be required)

      • Boioioioi on 25/04/2023 - 20:49

        You may want to double check tthat, I am not 100% sure. You may be right, but…

        When I bought my 4K regular LCD TV about 2 years ago, they are all advertised as 120CMR but tthats actually only 60hz. OLEDs may be different though

  • AwesomeAndrew on 25/04/2023 - 17:17
    +5

    You probably don't need to upgrade your GPU to watch movies on your new TV. The 1660 Super supports 8K displays at 120Hz. You shouldn't have any issues with the resolution of the display.

    Your graphics card also supports decoding all common video codecs except AV1. Most streaming services will fallback to an older codec (like VP9, H.265, H.264) if your GPU does not support hardware decode of AV1. If the fallback doesn't work for some reason, the video will be decoded by the CPU and you will see high CPU usage, no GPU video decode usage, and a lot of stuttering when playing the video. If you are using a problematic streaming service (or you have downloaded movies encoded in AV1) you will need a graphics card that supports it. A NVIDIA 3000 series card, any Intel ARC card or AMD 6000 series card or newer will support the AV1 codec.

    Sources:
    https://www.nvidia.com/en-au/geforce/graphics-cards/compare/…
    https://developer.nvidia.com/video-encode-and-decode-gpu-sup…

    • sschen on 25/04/2023 - 18:32

      I keep reading on the internet it is because my card does not have HDMI 2.1. HDMI 2.0b does not support 4K120. I will be buying a 4K OLED TVs (not monitor), as it is cheaper but it won't have a DP port, hence the need to upgrade the GPU to one that has HDMI 2.1??

      • AwesomeAndrew on 25/04/2023 - 20:01
        +3

        Do you really need 4k120 for productivity or watching movies? There is no movie which is released in 120fps, most are 24fps. If you are worried about judder, you can have a look on rtings.com where they test a TVs ability to remove 24fps judder on 60fps inputs. Most good TVs pass this test. If you need 120Hz for another reason, you can buy a DP 1.4 to HDMI 2.1 adapter which is much cheaper than a new graphics card.

      • KaTst3R on 25/04/2023 - 20:52
        +4

        120hz is only useful for gaming.

        Most movies and TV shows are filmed at 24 frames per second. HDMI 2.0 is sufficient for your needs.

      • Zephyrus on 25/04/2023 - 21:20
        +2

        The TV will just run at 4k60, which is fine. Movies are normally filmed at 24Hz, high frame rate in the cinema world is 60Hz.

        Won't notice a difference in productivity.

        • deadpoet on 26/04/2023 - 01:29

          I second this. I recently ugpraded my graphics card so moved from HDMI 2.0 to 2.1 and finally got 4K/120Hz in Windows, and I barely notice any difference for productivity use. For gaming it's a dream though (particularly with the VRR/G-Sync support).

  • bmerigan on 25/04/2023 - 21:32
    +1

    Your existing card will work fine. Maybe not at 120Hz, but I bet you can't tell.

  • sschen on 25/04/2023 - 21:45
    +2

    Thanks guys… sounds like I should save the $$$, and just stick with my current 1660 Super

  • User2049 on 26/04/2023 - 00:29

    You should be able to get an active DisplayPort to HDMI adaptor if you really want 4K 120Hz but they can be a bit expensive.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join