Legit Reviews

I'm going to upgrade a fairly old machine (Athlon II X4, GeForce GTX460) with main requirement being ability to connect a 4K screen to it and watch 4K videos without lag. I don't want to overpay for extra power I won't use, so the question is what is the most efficient route to achieve this...

https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/24 ... ii-x4-640/ - doesn't look good

I have not looked to see if there are any players that will use GPU but if they do, you would probably need a pretty high end card to do it smoothly.

I also read the GTX460 does not do resolutions above 1600p.

I hate giving good people bad news but here, have a cookie and you will feel right as rain.

Of course someone else may know how to do it but just from a quick search and my gut feelings, it takes a lot to push 4k. I have not even bothered looking into 4k for myself yet.

Oh i forgot, the new Intel chips do have support for 4K built in so you could swap the cpu/mb and probably be golden. I know, not the same as using what you already have.

I think you are being overly optimistic thinking you can push 4K with old technology like this

ehh.. haswell CPUs can play 4K video with the integrated graphics.

Cram as much RAM into that system you can, and slap a GTX7xx series card in there should be fine.


Gamming at 4K, thats a WHOLE other issue.

Yeah, I know two ways I can go is putting a better GPU that actually supports the resolution (you are right that 460 doesn't) or new-gen motherboard/CPU combo are the ways to go. Wanted to know if anyone has good experience with 4K on lower-end components, like, for example, if passive-cooled GPUs can still play a 60fps 4K video...

Velo:Sity wrote:Yeah, I know two ways I can go is putting a better GPU that actually supports the resolution (you are right that 460 doesn't) or new-gen motherboard/CPU combo are the ways to go. Wanted to know if anyone has good experience with 4K on lower-end components, like, for example, if passive-cooled GPUs can still play a 60fps 4K video...

you could be the guinea pig I do not have a 4K monitor or tv (I still have my 50" 720p plasma which is awesome) so I can not try to test. True 4K content is HUGE also so I could never download a test clip on my computer either since our internet is ungodly slow (said over 14 hours to get a map update for my Garmin....sigh)

Velo:Sity wrote:Yeah, I know two ways I can go is putting a better GPU that actually supports the resolution (you are right that 460 doesn't) or new-gen motherboard/CPU combo are the ways to go. Wanted to know if anyone has good experience with 4K on lower-end components, like, for example, if passive-cooled GPUs can still play a 60fps 4K video...

Dunno.

I have no use for 4K video currently.. nothing I own currently will record it and I'm ok with 720 and 1080 video guess I'm not that picky LOL.

Velo:Sity wrote:Yeah, I know two ways I can go is putting a better GPU that actually supports the resolution (you are right that 460 doesn't) or new-gen motherboard/CPU combo are the ways to go. Wanted to know if anyone has good experience with 4K on lower-end components, like, for example, if passive-cooled GPUs can still play a 60fps 4K video...

Most anything current can stream 4K just fine. I have an office PC with a Broadwell processor (Core i7-5775C) and it plays 4K content just great. Can't game at 4K, but 4K UHD content is fine. A low-end passively cooled Maxwell GPU should be just fine. Not sure if you need to cram that much memory in a system. My Dell XPS 13 Core i7 Skylake laptop has just 8GB of RAM, but it plays 4K content just fine.

Actually even this setup plays 4K 25fps video stretched over a few screens just fine. It's 60fps where the problems begin.

Velo:Sity wrote:Actually even this setup plays 4K 25fps video stretched over a few screens just fine. It's 60fps where the problems begin.

Wow, now that is something I would have never guessed it would be able to do! That is awesome for you man!!

i will have to change my thinking on how much power 4K really needs as I have just gone by what I have been reading and ti seems they are all full of it or else getting paid to tell people to buy new hardware