Should I upgrade to the GTX 1080 for 4K?

Thanks for your thoughts. Actually, though, I want it for a game that's out next week (Deus Ex, which is my most anticipated game of anything on the list). Also, Dishonored, Mafia 3, etc. will be out before the end of the year, and I don't anticipate any major shakeups before then. However, the games I'm looking forward to extend into next year (particularly Mass Effect).

Thanks for the thoughts, guys. And yeah, I have a perfectly good 1080p system now. On many levels, upgrading would be pretty decadent and not very economical given where card prices are likely to be in the next year or so.

It would be more about paying a premium to be able to play some highly anticipated games in 4K now; I'm still mulling it over but I see where, in pure monetary terms, it's not the wisest call.

If possible, I'd still like some clarity on the 1440p scaling issue - I understand that 4K scales down well to 1080p because the dimensions are multiples of each other. In my current circumstances, that's not too exciting a prospect since I'm basically getting the full 1080p experience now.

However, being able to scale down to 1440p if 4K gets too demanding would be a compelling factor in this decision. However, it sounds like 4K-1440p scaling doesn't really work since the dimensions aren't parallel.

Are there any exceptions to this, any displays that allow for 4K-1440p scaling? Does a display being 4:4:4 play a factor in how well 4K-1440p scaling works? This would be good information to have whether or not I decide to pull the trigger on the upgrade.

OK, thanks for clarifying. Sounds like there's no surefire way to effectively do 1440p on a 4K display.

I'm mulling over going ahead and buying the 4K TV (the 40" Vizio D series seems like the best option at my desired price range) but holding off on the graphics card for now. I'll eventually want a 4K TV anyway, and I would be able to test out 1440p scaling, older games at 4K, and newer games at 4K to see how they look (even if the newer ones won't be playable).

That way I can sort of preview what the GTX 1080 would be like, and get a sense of whether the immediate gratification of playing a series of highly anticipated games at 4K at release would be worth the premium.

Again, the feedback is appreciated.

I posted the below answer in response to a follow up question in this related thread - http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-3157378/vizio-d40u-good-gaming.html - and I figured I'd share it here as well since it's relevant -

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Thanks for asking, cause I would have appreciated a follow up to a thread like this while I was exploring the TV/video card purchases. About a week and a half ago, I splurged and got the 40" Vizio and the GTX 1080 FTW Edition (they were out of Strixes but fortunately had one last FTW).

The TV looks great and I've been happy with the response time. I don't have a frame of reference to know how well it compares with other 4K tvs and monitors, but the picture is very good and I haven't been disappointed in 4K. If some games have looked better than others, my sense has been that it's due to limitations of the games themselves or the 1080, as opposed to the display being deficient, as the best stuff looks remarkable indeed.

As for 4K, while not totally transformative, it makes a big difference, albeit in some games more than others. One of the coolest things is that it lends this 3D-ish quality to the imagery that makes the various levels of distance in front of you seem much more defined. Once the shooting begins in The Division, for example, explosions and particle effects seem to pop out in front of the enemies, and when you aim at them, they seem to stand out in a physical space that recedes behind them in a way that makes 1080p seem comparatively paper-flat.

In general, 4K adds a real sense of density and presence to the environment that is quite cool. Things also look a lot smoother and less pixel-ey and shinier. It's like a filter being taken off. I was having a hard time engaging with Assassin's Creed Syndicate, for example, but its version of London in 4K is astonishing, particularly in daylight, and I've spent a lot of time with the game mostly to take in the sights. From what I've seen, visually lavish environments (Syndicate, Bioshock Infinite even though it's older, Doom to an extent) particularly benefit from the extra resolution and density.

The big thing I was looking forward to was playing Deus Ex: Mankind Divided in 4K, and I’ve been satisfied. Despite all of the garment-rending over the game's optimization, I'm able to play at the High preset with a couple of effects turned off at around 30-40 fps (judging by benchmarks; in practice, it feels closer to 40).
I expect performance to improve with patches down the line, but as is I’m OK with it. I find the game totally playable and satisfying, and I could tell a big difference visually when I switched to 1080p as an experiment.

In general, with the 1080, I am getting about the level of performance I was expecting. I can turn settings up to reasonably high levels and get reasonable framerates. It's not a 4K Ultra/60fps killer, but I wasn't expecting that.

While 4K is cool, and I am happy with my decision on both the TV and the video card, it isn't necessarily the best call for most people. I was -

a. itching to get a new toy;
b. facing a bunch of highly anticipated games coming out in the next few months;
c. fortunate enough to have enough disposable income to make the purchases; and
d. wanting, almost for the heck of it, to see the upper levels of what PC graphics can be these days.

For me under these circumstances, upgrading to 4K was worth it. However, I can see where this card will likely be underpowered for 4K in a couple of years or less. And cool as it is, 4K doesn't change what the games fundamentally are. You get the core, important experience at 1080p.

If you're on a tight entertainment budget, making the leap now probably isn't the thing to do. But if you understand what you're getting into and recognize that you'll be paying a fairly severe premium to get 4K today, I can say that it's worth exploring, and I'm glad I did it.