The next-generation of monitor technology is upon us, quadrupling the number pixels our monitors can manifest and placing a heavy burden on our beleaguered video cards. What does it take to put together a 4K-ready gaming PC? Let's find out, with a little help from AMD.
I first reached out to AMD about the possibilities of exploring 4K monitor technology in the fall of last year. It had been nearly a decade since I'd laid hands on a system that didn't have an Intel CPU and Nvidia graphics card of some sort in it — I'd been sticking to my comfort zone. But with more and more boutique PC makers turning to AMD's Radeon R9 series of graphics cards and the company's exciting Mantle technology hitting the scene, I felt it was time to see how the other half lived.
The initial idea was for me to try out a pre-built loaner system and monitor. Over the course of several conversations, we decided it would be more exciting to put together a new system from parts — something I'd not done since the last time I'd used a Radeon card, back before Advanced Micro Devices acquired Radeon-maker ATI Technologies in 2006. AMD would supply the bits, I'd pour my blood, sweat and tears into making it a gaming PC, and then they'd take the expensive hardware back. It sounded like fun. Good, clean, somewhat terrifying fun.
Before we get to the building process, let's explore the catalyst (cough) for the entire project — 4K Ultra HD.
What Is 4K Ultra HD? It's really two terms mashed together. 4K is a term for display devices that feature a horizontal resolution around 4,000 pixels. Ultra HD is a resolution of 3,840 by 2,160 pixels, which the television industry has adopted as its 4K standard. Ultra HD doubles the horizontal and vertical pixel density of 1080p, the HD standard we've spent the past decade or so building up to.
In layman's terms, Ultra HD crams four times as many colored dots in the same area as 1080p, making it much harder for the human eye to pick them out as individual dots. The result is a smoother, sharper image, with the ability to display finer details without them getting lost in a sea of tiny dots. The viewer can get closer to the screen without losing clarity.
For television viewers, Ultra HD will allow a larger television to be comfortably viewed in a smaller space. For PC gamers, hunched over their desks with one hand on the keyboard and the other on their trackball (trackballs forever!) or mouse, it means they can nap between sessions with their head against their monitor without worrying about eye strain.
Why Go 4K Now? With the price of Ultra HD monitors still going through the roof, getting in on the ground floor means less chance of being hit by falling debris.
In all honesty, the only reason to make the jump to Ultra HD right now is if you have a substantial amount of cash to burn and a burning desire to stay on the cutting edge. There's not a lot of video content for it out there yet. Plenty of PC games support the resolution, but many aren't optimized for it, leading to issues like a big, beautiful Ultra HD game with tiny, 1080p-scaled menu elements.
It may be too early to spring for an expensive 4K monitor, but that doesn't mean you can't have a PC capable of playing nice with all of those pixels when the time to buy arises.
Do You Need To Build A New PC?If you've got a gaming PC capable of playing most modern-day games at Ultra settings, there's a good chance it'll be able to handle an Ultra HD monitor. How well it handles an Ultra HD monitor will come down to your graphics hardware.
I wouldn't expect frame rates on games this side of Tomb Raider or Bioshock Infinite to rise much above the 30s and 40s on Ultra settings on all but the most advanced graphics cards. That's what I got with the stock Radeon R9 290x AMD provided. It took a second card to get into the 60s and 70s on a regular basis. When all else fails, add another video card.
On the other hand, building a new gaming PC from parts is a really enjoyable way to spend the afternoon, depending on your anxiety level. Time to put together ours.
Gathering The PartsThe techie equivalent of an action movie arsenal assembly sequence (complete with tying a bandana about one's forehead), choosing which components go inside of your new gaming rig is an intensely personal thing. I let AMD do it. I respect the sanctity of the selection process, but I also know myself far too well. Left to my own device selection, I'd still be hemming and hawing over which bits to put in right now, and I started this project late last year. I am not good with tech commitment.
Here's what we initially wound up with.The Monitor — Sharp 32" PN-K321Remember the good old days, when the most expensive component of any PC build was the monitor? Welcome back to the good old days! There are less expensive 4K monitors and televisions than the
$3,000 Sharp PN-K321, but many of them harbor a terrible secret. They advertise a 120Hz refresh rate, but for most of them that only applies to 1080p resolution — at Ultra HD it drops to 30Hz.
The Sharp PN-K321 will run at 60Hz in Ultra HD, though it requires a DisplayPort connection and some menu trickery to make it work.
All-in-all it's a gorgeous, versatile monitor. You can jack it up on its stand, giving the messy-desk gamer plenty of space for empty cans and food wrappers. You can turn it vertical in case you want to hook up your iPhone and play Cut-the-Rope. It swivels. I like a good swivel. No wonder AMD can't wait for me to ship this back.
The one downside is the monitor's 8ms response time. That's going to cause some ghosting, and for many PC gamers would be considered a deal-breaker. I see it as an indication that we've got a long way to go before Ultra HD monitors are both affordable and practical for gaming.
The Enclosure — Corsair Carbide Series 500R Sexy but not obnoxious, convenient and versatile, the Corsair Carbide 500R (in Arctic White) immediately caught my eye as I was browsing cases to replace my ill-fated attempt at being all clever. There's plenty of room inside for hard drives, optical drives and novelty cupholders, and the bays are all tool-less, which made the build a little easier. Plus the 500R was designed specifically to house the CPU water cooling unit I was using — okay, that's the main reason we chose it.
Motherboard — ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2One of the most handsomely rugged motherboards I've handled, the Sabertooth 990 FX is assembled from military grade materials, which means I can touch it without it instantly bursting into flame. The board packs in a lot of nifty features, including the ability to flash the BIOS using nothing but a memory stick and the power supply, and the magical MemOK! button, which somehow resolves memory issues preventing booting via dark ritual.
Processor — AMD FX-9590 4.7GHzNo, you can't have a picture of this, it's just a thin metal square. A very fast thin metal square, with eight CPU cores running at 4.7Ghz base and 5Ghz turbo. I'm feeling like such an old man right now. It runs very hot (hence the next bit) and only runs on a select few motherboards, but it's the fastest thing AMD has going, and it's pretty impressive.
Fun Fact: A week after the motherboard arrived, I sent an email asking when the processor would arrive. "It's mounted on the motherboard," came the reply. Never skip the important opening the box and looking at things step of computer assembly, kids.
CPU Cooler — Corsair Hydro Series H90The FX-9590 needs cooling, and Corsair's H90 provides it. Part of Corsair's Hydro Series of liquid CPU coolers, the R90 was specifically built to be a giant pain in the ass because of its 140mm radiator and fan. It fit the case just fine, but a 120mm would have fit much better. At tames the FX-9590 beast at least, so I'll let it live.
Video Card — AMD Radeon R9 290XBack when I first started this project — before the announcement of the water-cooled R9 295X2— the Radeon 290X was the top of its line, the equivalent of the Nvidia Titan, only much more affordable. It runs a bit hot, but it runs hot without killing itself, which makes all the difference. AMD sent along its reference card, which is what third-party companies take and deck out with much better cooling. It runs games at Ultra HD resolution, which is exactly what I was going for.
Memory - AMD Radeon Gamer Series 16GB DDR3 2133Man, AMD is really into AMD products, aren't they? Fast, reliable, and ready for overclocking once I'm done with this article and can risk screwing stuff up.
Power Supply — Corsair AX 860Powerful enough to handle several video cards, while efficient enough to handle light loads without the fan even running, the AX 860 is a fine power distribution device. It's completely modular, and comes with a set of stealthy black wires, perfect for those of us who are horrible with cable management.
Storage — Samsung 840 Evo 500GB SSDI've been a big fan of Samsung's solid state drives since they've been a going concern, but this probably isn't the direction I would have gone had storage been up to me. For one, 500GB of space just isn't enough for all the games I need to have installed at once, even if I never play them. Is that completely irrational? Yes. Yes it is.
I'd probably have gone with a smaller, 128GB SSD to house system files, and a beefy SATA drive for storage. I could just add a SATA to this system, but then I'd feel bad about wasting 500GB on a Windows install. We'll stick to AMD's plan — for now.
Optical Drive — A Cheap-Ass DVD DriveIt reads DVDs! Might even write them. Who knows?
source:techspot
