Thursday, October 16th 2014
8K A Great Challenge: NVIDIA and AMD
Even as 4K Ultra HD (3840 x 2160) is beginning to enter the consumer mainstream, with 28-inch displays being priced around $600, and Apple toying with 5K (5120 x 2880), with its next-generation iMac Retina desktops, Japanese display maker Sharp threw a spanner in the works, by unveiling a working prototype of its 8K (7680 x 4320 pixels) display, at the CETAC trade-show, held in Japan.
Two of the industry's biggest graphics processor makers, NVIDIA and AMD, reacted similarly to the development, calling 8K "a great challenge." Currently, neither company has a GPU that can handle the resolution. 8K is four times as many pixels as 4K. Driving an Ultra HD display over DVI needs two TMDS links, and DisplayPort 1.2 and HDMI 2.0 have just enough bandwidth to drive Ultra HD at 60 Hz. To drive 8K, both NVIDIA and AMD believe you would need more than one current-generation GPU, the display should connect to both cards over independent connectors, and somehow treat the single display as four Ultra HD displays. We imagine Sharp demoed its display at a very low refresh rate, to compensate for the bandwidth limitation. After 10 years of Full-HD tyranny, display resolutions are finally beginning to see their normal rate of development. It's time now for GPU developers and display interconnects to keep up.
Source:
Expreview
Two of the industry's biggest graphics processor makers, NVIDIA and AMD, reacted similarly to the development, calling 8K "a great challenge." Currently, neither company has a GPU that can handle the resolution. 8K is four times as many pixels as 4K. Driving an Ultra HD display over DVI needs two TMDS links, and DisplayPort 1.2 and HDMI 2.0 have just enough bandwidth to drive Ultra HD at 60 Hz. To drive 8K, both NVIDIA and AMD believe you would need more than one current-generation GPU, the display should connect to both cards over independent connectors, and somehow treat the single display as four Ultra HD displays. We imagine Sharp demoed its display at a very low refresh rate, to compensate for the bandwidth limitation. After 10 years of Full-HD tyranny, display resolutions are finally beginning to see their normal rate of development. It's time now for GPU developers and display interconnects to keep up.
93 Comments on 8K A Great Challenge: NVIDIA and AMD
A producer at the BBC actually wanted to skip 4k and have us go directly to 8k, because 8k was "retina" for large screens. No more FSAA required. I believe the same producer was behind the BBC/NHK SHV broadcast of the 2012 London Olympics.
SHV = 8k video + 22.2 audio
I'm not certain we can increase 1440/1600 AND continue to foster 1080p.
Either way it's good we're talking about it.
4k should become a norm pretty soon. 8k will take 4k's place (wow factor) in a year or two, IMO.
The way technology moves, I DO think 4k will become a norm. Already, so many GPU's support 4k.
There's a massive difference between it being supported and it being viable. Hardware has supported Ray Tracing and Voxels for decades now, but it's only in recent years it has been usable and even then in very niche scenarios.
Edit: Please stop exaggerating. 2xGTX 980=1100$. 2xGTX 970= 700$.
You can pay a LOT more by making this two steps and buying two monitors to get to 4K or you can just realize TV resolutions drive the monitor market and buy 4K now. Asus makes a great 60Hz 4K monitor that plays well at lower resolutions until your GPU(s) catch up to 4K. Some may see the difference between 60Hz and higher frequencies (the only reason to buy 1440 instead of 4K), I cannot.
As for 8K - probably not a desktop resolution for a long time. 4K is noticeably better on a 30 inch monitor at 2 ft than 1080P or even 1440. From 4K to 5K and above is not noticeable. Perhaps larger monitors or full 360 view headsets will be the norm in the distant future and 8K will be needed.
Rich boys toys? Why are you here if you are not willing to prioritize your computing power?
BTW, two 290X with mild OC pushed 4K quite nicely.
We went through much of the same issues moving from great quality CRT's to LCD displays, I had a tough time justifying a LCD for use when I had a nice CRT that had great color, scaling without artifacts, view angle, and 85Hz refresh rate without ghosting.
www.tomshardware.com/reviews/asus-pb287q-4k-monitor,3832.html
I still go back to 1080P for Counterstrike so I get a constant 60 Hz, but all other games I play at 4K.