4K monitors – they will not catch up? AOC U2868PQU looking for a real job

4K monitors still suffer from fuzzy positioning. On the one hand, we are offered an amazingly sharp picture with a resolution of 3840×2160 pixels. On the other hand, along with the benefits the buyer gets a bit of a headache: super-high resolution is still only supported by DisplayPort interface, many 4K monitors suffer from input lag, and graphics cards go crazy trying to produce a comfortable FPS in games.

Thanks that the price tag has dropped – the AOC U2868PQU in question at the end of April costs about 30 thousand Dollars. Extremely much in comparison with budget displays for home use, obscenely little if you translate the price into dollars. On the other side of the ocean, 30,000 Dollars is some 580 dollars, and it’s a very low cost for a 4K display. If we have determined with the availability, then we will have to think about the positioning.

U2868PQU has 28″ diagonal, which is the upper limit for home monitor. The same thirty-inch screens are needed either for professional work or just for watching movies from a couple of meters away. The display uses TN matrix, which is not good for semi-professional device, but before you make conclusions, you should test it with a calibrator.

AOC doesn’t skimp on accessories: in addition to the power cable, audio jack and USB cable for the hub, there are DVI, VGA and DisplayPort cables in the box. Justifiable generosity: without DisplayPort, a 4K monitor won’t do much good. Accordingly, dear UPgrade reader, show some civic responsibility, check your computer for a DisplayPort connector. Extremely desirable that it was version 1.2. Older Version 1.1 semi-officially supports a 3840×2160 picture, but only at 30 Hz, which will obviously not be enough for normal life.

The monitor is adjustable for tilt and height, the screen can be rotated and changed from landscape to portrait mode. On the right side there is a USB hub with two USB 3.0 and two 2.0. All interface connectors and speaker grills are concentrated at the bottom. The transformer is built into the monitor, so the included power cable is common.

Despite the plain design of the U2868PQU, there is a place for such a fashionable element like touch buttons – you can use them to navigate the onscreen menu. The menu is convenient but without any interesting settings.

I connected my monitor to a computer with a GIGABYTE Radeon R9 290X graphics card, which has DisplayPort version 1.2. Immediately after the Windows startup it transmitted an image at 3840×2160 resolution, but for some reason at 30 Hz. My fears were not borne out – it was a private system malfunction, after manually selecting 60 Hz in the drivers, everything went back to normal.

More accurately, it didn’t quite stand up. I came across a not uncommon bug of AMD video chips: Radeon graphics cards add some flicker to the 4K picture at 60Hz. Flicker disappears if you lower refresh rate to 59 Hz. Internet is full of discussions about this problem, AMD promises to fix it 15 years in a row .

What can we say about the picture on the 4K screen? Perfect. Clear, bright, but the OS interface has become unbearably tiny. For the sake of interest, the test computer was loaded into Windows 8.1, Linux Mint 17.1 and OS X Yosemite of course, hackintosh . Unfortunately, Mint doesn’t get along with 4K at all, the interface has become unbearably tiny. The built-in settings were not enough to use the system comfortably. In Windows I had to tweak the scaling of the interface. But the Yosemite hackershot was literally ready for such a resolution – the system thought that here it was, the long-awaited native Retina screen. OS X interface is large, handy and enthusiastically crisp.

After boring test for truthfulness of specifications it is the turn of entertaining test. An alpha version of Unreal Tournament 4 helped to test U2868PQU for input lag. We are talking about a micro delay between the actual movement of the player and the change of image on the screen. This feature is still common to all 4K monitors without exception. There is an input lag in the AOC model in question. However, it is so small that it can be estimated only with high-speed video.

GTA V was released on Steam on the last day of testing. In my opinion, at 4K resolution this game should have put the Radeon R9 290X to shrugs. And so it turned out – AOC U2868PQU shows fantastic picture, which I wanted to stare for long minutes, without touching the keyboard and mouse. Except that FPS at maximum graphics settings remained at 20 fps. Reduce settings? Why would we need a 4K monitor at all?? In that case, you can play a stripped-down version for the Xbox 360 on the Ruby TV at the cottage.

There was a hitch with 4K movies – there were only demo videos and a few informative broadcasts on the Internet. Looks cool: all that lush vegetation, riot of colors, traced insects. I’m waiting for 4K-movie, which promises to arrive on store shelves in a year or a year and a half. So far, there is nothing to see in this resolution.

Okay, so what’s the bottom line? AOC U2868PQU has a very attractive price for a device like this. Very good color rendering, minimal input lag, problems with AMD video chips are about to be fixed, small contrasts dip, normal viewing angles. If you, dear reader, have an almost unlimited budget for your home computer, then there is no need to think twice – 4K is worth getting now, especially since Windows 10 will arrive by mid-summer, and Microsoft promises normal support for super-res resolutions.

It’s easier to say who this monitor won’t be good for: hardcore pro-gamers, for whom every millisecond of lag catches their eye. The TN matrix clearly puts a cross in the professional use of the screen. No Premiere Pro or Photoshop for printing purposes, just photo jabs and light editing of vacation photos. On the other hand, the monitor already comes with the most successful color settings.

4K screens were just starting to make their way into the masses, coming down from the upper price ranges. By the end of the year all manufacturers will definitely be releasing their ultra-high resolution monitors. But if someone is impatient, the AOC U2868PQU has no significant flaws that would dissuade you from buying this device.