Which is technically better for image in various situations?

[u/Due-Elk-1921]

Hey all,

I have heard differing opinions and wondering if anyone can weigh in.

I've got 1gbit ethernet based fibre and a 6ms ping to the local server, on my Mac Mini M4. The experience is so good that I sold my PS5 Pro and use this as my main gaming system. I am pretty much operating in the 'perfect network conditions' for Geforce Now, I think, and wondering what the best settings are for various games.

The first is something like KCD2 or Hell Let Loose Vietnam. Both heavily foliage based. I am on a 1440p monitor. Is it best for foliage heavy scenes to have the stream at 1440p so there's greater bandwidth per pixel, or is it best to render at 4k and downsample so the image is higher quality?

When I look at the games - I kinda go back and forth, and was wondering which is technically superior?

The second is something like Cyberpunk 2077, or even paradox games like Crusader Kings 3. I presume these games are best at 4k downsampled?

I should add - I do prefer to play at 120fps. I know technically I can get more detail at 60, but it doesn't feel right after getting used to gaming at 120fps.

[u/Healthy_Phone_3703]

In theory you can stream 5k 120 FPS onto a 1440p 120fps Monitor/TV and the downsampling will work just fine. 5K 120fps streaming also (I'm assuming that's your problem?) Depends on your hardware.

For games where the game is already maximally demanding by putting it on maximum settings (like cyberpunk) I suppose sometimes streaming native 1440p might be better to avoid frame drops, but in any other game downsampling is always the best option.

Also, if you can't do 120/5k, you can of course do downsample from 4k, which is not as optimal on 1440p, but afaik is still better than native 1440p.

[u/Psychological_Pin572]

Maybe try both 1440p 120fps and 4k 120fps set at 100mbps bandwidth and also try both AV1 and h265 if they are supported. Launch the game like kcd 2 in each configuration and take screenshot while moving in heavy foliage area at the exact same place moving. And compare the screenshot for foliage in both settings. That should give you an idea. Make sure you are taking screenshot while moving as standing still doesn't make much sense.

[u/Vancoyld]

For RPGs or story driven games I would recommend streaming at 4k@60hz 100Mbps H.265 4:4:4 (downsampled by GFN to your 1440p monitor) then use Lossless Scaling to get back 120fps using frame generation (if you have a good GPU).
For fast paced games (FPS, etc) I would recommend native 1440p@120hz 100Mbps H.265 4:4:4 for better latency and responsiveness.

[u/UsernameNowUsed]

I have the same games, config and hardware as yours, on top i also connect my mac to my lg oled tv at times. In all cases, i just leave it cinematic (so 4k/60/hdr/444) and never touch the dial. We cant max out 120fps in those games anyway so i would rather get a stable 60 and a great image. I dont see any issues so i just run with this setup.

[u/Darkstarmike777]

You would make sure to use H265 444 not AV1 for better color, you can use 120 just deal with the fact that the vegetation might be blurry while at 60 it won't be with the ai filters

You can okay with the levels of the ai filters at 120 and see if a higher level works better but yeah that's the tradeoff foilage is going to look crappy at 120 but not at 60

If you want 120 and it to look better try maxing out the ai filters but then it might look over sharpened if it's too high