These days, gamers care more about fancy lighting effects than super high resolutions. Game studios focus on ray tracing techniques instead of pushing pixels to 8K. Real-time ray tracing creates realistic shadows without redrawing everything. Many players prefer smoother 1440p displays running at 144 Hz because they feel faster with less delay. True 8K gaming remains mostly limited to tech demonstrations.
AMD partnered with Samsung and Maingear at NAB 2025 to showcase Horizon Forbidden West running at 8K and 120 Hz. They connected an AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT to a modified Samsung Neo QLED 8K screen. Standard HDMI 2.1b cables lack bandwidth for uncompressed 8K at 120 Hz. The team used Display Stream Compression technology to fit more data through the cable.
The system actually rendered games at about 5K resolution before upscaling to fill the 8K display. AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution handled the upscaling process to maintain sharp edges. Each frame came from real rendering rather than frame interpolation tricks that might cause control lag. This custom setup required TV hardware modifications not available to consumers.
Most players will find that 1440p resolution with high refresh rates offers the best balance between visual quality and responsiveness. The demonstration showed future possibilities when hardware standards catch up. Current technology limitations mean these ultra-high-resolution setups remain experimental rather than practical for home use.
AMD partnered with Samsung and Maingear at NAB 2025 to showcase Horizon Forbidden West running at 8K and 120 Hz. They connected an AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT to a modified Samsung Neo QLED 8K screen. Standard HDMI 2.1b cables lack bandwidth for uncompressed 8K at 120 Hz. The team used Display Stream Compression technology to fit more data through the cable.
The system actually rendered games at about 5K resolution before upscaling to fill the 8K display. AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution handled the upscaling process to maintain sharp edges. Each frame came from real rendering rather than frame interpolation tricks that might cause control lag. This custom setup required TV hardware modifications not available to consumers.
Most players will find that 1440p resolution with high refresh rates offers the best balance between visual quality and responsiveness. The demonstration showed future possibilities when hardware standards catch up. Current technology limitations mean these ultra-high-resolution setups remain experimental rather than practical for home use.
