That’s a lot of pixels, and it results in an extremely sharp image. How much of a difference it makes is likely up to your viewing preferences, and perhaps even your visual acuity, but I found the difference obvious and dramatic.
The thing about sharpness is that it can make virtually everything you view look sharper. The Windows desktop is better. Games are sharper. Photos—if they’re of high quality—are sharper. The only thing that won’t see much improvement is video, as very few video sources exceed 4K resolution.
And the leap to 6K can solve some persistent visual quality issues in games. Fine objects, like power lines or a chain-link fence, are notoriously difficult for games to render without blocky, jagged aliasing. 6K nearly eliminates the problem, providing a clean and crisp image with extreme detail in even the smallest, finest objects.
Too Many Pixels?
Unfortunately, 6K has a big downside, too. You need a PC that can actually handle it, and most can’t.
Modern PCs will generally output 6K without an issue, though if you’re on a system more than five years old, you should double-check your available video outputs. Hitting 6K at 165 Hz is a different story, though. You’re going to need a DisplayPort 2.1 output or an HDMI 2.1 output. That’s not rare on new PC hardware, but your PC may lack these ports if it’s more than a few years old.
Even if you have the required ports, though, rendering a 3D game at 6K resolution is a lot more demanding than rendering a 2D application. As mentioned, it’s a roughly 155 percent increase in pixel count over 4K—and an incredible 10X increase over 1080p.
Rendering all those extra pixels isn’t easy, and odds are high that your PC can’t handle it in modern games at a playable frame rate and acceptable detail settings. Mine certainly can’t, at least not in demanding titles, and I’m fortunate enough to have a gaming desktop with a recently released AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT graphics card. Most PC gamers aren’t so lucky. Even the mighty Nvidia RTX 5090 is going to struggle if you’re playing path-traced games like Alan Wake 2 or Halo Campaign Evolved.
To be fair, you can play these games at a lower resolution, like 4K, without a hugely bothersome hit to image quality. Modern image upscaling can also make up some of the difference. But if you have to play at 4K or lower to achieve playable frame rates, you’ve lost the 6K monitor’s greatest strength.
6K resolution can also lead to problems in older games. Titles more than a decade old often have a user interface that targets a lower resolution. Sometimes the UI can’t scale up, which results in tiny icons and text. In other cases the UI can scale up, but the art assets remain at a lower resolution, which leads to a fuzzy and muddy look.
LCD in an OLED World
Photograph: Matthew S. Smith
On its own, the G80HS’s resolution would be an acceptable compromise. It requires a beefy rig but also delivers unparalleled sharpness. Unfortunately, there’s another problem. The monitor has an IPS-LCD panel.
