What games?

Mainly H1Z1, Battlefield and Overwatch but I also saw GTA V, Fallout 4, FIFA, Battlefront and Witcher.

Both the games that are designed for the higher resolution, as well as the games that 'scale up' (can't recall which was which) are amazing. It's a completely different gaming experience and I understand now how people become obsessed with frame rates, specs, cards, the unveils, the news and rumors etc.

I was so close to pulling the trigger myself even though I don't have a PC. I could probably justify the $500 + $500 for card and monitor on an existing PC (or a Mac upgrade clears throat) but not an entirely new machine to play games.

If you haven't seen cutting edge PC gaming go and check it out somewhere or somehow. There was this entire revolution happening that I knew nothing about.

>It's a completely different gaming experience and I understand now how people become obsessed with frame rates, specs, cards, the unveils, the news and rumors etc.

I also partly think this is cultural, as the original commenter noted.

Last year shortly after Overwatch came out I built a new gaming PC, featuring an i5 6600K, GTX 980Ti, and 27" 1080p 144Hz monitor. My buddies gave me some flack for it because even at the time (~June 2016) these were not the top of the line options. Nevermind the fact that even with all settings on Ultra I was able to consistently get 120-140 FPS, and with settings turned down to their most basic (a common practice among competitive gamers to decrease input latency) I never dropped below 144, even in the middle of the most dense game play.

Granted, I'm playing at 1080p, but I have yet to find a reason to want more than that, and the performance is where I want it to be, so I'm satisfied. Still, since I didn't trade hundreds of extra dollars for an i7 and a GTX 1080 I'm the noob.

I lowered game settings to reach 100fps on my 100Hz trinitron screen back in -98 too. Like everything it can be cultural, but to suggest it's only that is ridiculous. People still buy expensive functional clothes, bikes, and everything else. Just because you can work out in a tshirt from H&M on a $100 bike doesn't mean there's no practical value to go more expensive.

> Granted, I'm playing at 1080p, but I have yet to find a reason to want more than that, and the performance is where I want it to be, so I'm satisfied. Still, since I didn't trade hundreds of extra dollars for an i7 and a GTX 1080 I'm the noob.

So what you're saying is that you find a value in playing at 144Hz over 60Hz, but object to people finding value in playing at a higher resolution? Someone else might argue that you paying to play at 144Hz is only cultural, while you know it's not.

>object to people finding value in playing at a higher resolution

Except I didn't object to anything. Me calling the wants and needs of the high performance PC culture "cultural" is not me being dismissive of what they happen to enjoy. Buy whatever you want. My whole point was that you can still have a professional quality (as in eSports level) experience with equipment that's not super-ultra-top-of-the-line-fantastic, saving you the super-ultra-top-of-the-line-fantastic premiums.

> My whole point was that you can still have a professional quality (as in eSports level) experience with equipment that's not super-ultra-top-of-the-line-fantastic, saving you the super-ultra-top-of-the-line-fantastic premiums.

I'm not sure I understand. In this area (as opposed to functional clothing etc) it's very easy to measure real differences between a GTX 1070 and a 1080, and seeing pixels on more than 1080p when the screen is 27" and up.

That you can get a rags-to-riches story in eSports learning to play on a 5 year old computer is very true, but it doesn't detract from the fact that it's easier with better hardware.

If you don't feel it's worth it it's not worth it for you, but the difference is very real.

Yet to find a reason to want more than 1080p? Come on...

You're part of the fringe, not the other way around.

I'm a potential customer with enough money to buy basically whatever I want, but nothing about a resolution greater than 1080p has been enticing to me so far (and I own a 4K TV that my feelings are generally "meh" about).

I'm satisfied, so really it's not my problem; it's the problem of the hardware manufacturers and game developers to make better products and do a better job of convincing me that a higher resolution is something I need, and so far they haven't.

Have you tried watch 4k content on Netflix? The difference is not subtle. It's not quite the same leap as DVD->Bluray, but it's not that far off. It's not so much more detail as everything seeming more in focus.

I've watched some of Amazon's 4K content and wasn't particularly blown away. In fact, I had to pause the Fire TV a few times just to see whether or not the stream was still in 4K, because if your network traffic slows down it will revert back to 1080. It wasn't noticeable enough for me on a 50" screen at about 8 feet away.

Have you verified that the HDMI port you're using supports 4K/the nessesary HDCP? I stream netflix directly on my smart TV (as well as youtune 4k), and like I said, the difference is immediately obvious. I suspect you're getting 4k downscaled to 1080p.

It's definitely working -- in fact, the FireTV won't even display the "4K Ultra HD" categories unless it's connected correctly to a compatible TV[0]. I notice the difference if I actively try to, I just don't think it's as mind blowing as everyone is claiming it to be. It's certainly not something I couldn't live without.

[0] https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=...

OK. I've got a PC with gtx970 I occasionally use for gaming, mostly Battlefront (at 1080p, haven't tried 4k). It's pretty good, wouldn't say it blows my mind like the HTC Vive demos I've tried though