News Nvidia confirms 4K, 144Hz G-Sync HDR screens shipping this month

[Loony Tunes]Doooon't youuuuu delieve iiiiiiiit[/Loony Tunes]

AUO have only just announced volume production of the panels has started, so expect a few months before they actually get into shippable monitors. The ultrawide FALD panels are also pushed back (again) until "like, July maybe, I guess".
The 65" panel HFR HDR panel (presumably for BFGDs) is also mentioned, so those will probably not start shipping for a while. Infuriating, there is also a new 43" HFR UHD panel, but without FALD making my 'perfect monitor' remain a pipedream for now. LG Display are dangling a future 3840 x 1600 not-quite-UHD ultrawide with HFR and HDR, so there is still hope.

 

Yeah the delays are getting a bit annoying.

It will be very interesting once they actually arrive, not just because we will finally have a good reason to upgrade, but it should also annihilate the value of every single monitor that exists to date...

 

This. Hopefully it means the 144hz 1440p monitors most of us actually want will become vaguely affordable. The fact that TN 1080p panels (regardless of how fast they go) still cost as much as they do is criminal. 4K is pointless for most gamers (those using GTX 1060/70's or RX570/580's), but very few cater for that Goldilocks middle ground - and the ones that do know they can shaft us for the privilege.

Let the fly boys and forum braggers have their 4k, high refresh rate, HDR-compliant screens, let the rest of us have our VA/IPS 120/144hz 1440p panels for under £350!

 

I don't think monitors are going to suddenly nosedive in price, the panels are still the same (high) cost to fab. These HDR* monitors will be even more expensive, due to the cost of a high update rate FALD backlight. Unlike with HDTVs where 'new' features are generally a trickle-down from broadcast and mastering monitors (that go for 5 to 6 figures), these high update rate FALD backlights - and the cotnrollers to deal with them, you can't jsut slap a FALD backlight on an existing high refresh rate monitor - are being created from whole-cloth.

*Anything without a FALD backlight is just half-arsed HDR and not worth bothering with at all. Better to stick with a quality SDR monitor in that case than waste money one faux-HDR.

 

If it was just one or two new high end panels I would agree but there is an absolute influx of new monitor tech in 2018 though:

8K monitors
HDR + G-Sync in same screen
60Hz barrier on 4K screens falling
100Hz barrier on 3440x1440 ultrawides falling
4K equivalent res on ultrawides
TV sized monitors with monitor like performance
Revolution in backlight tech

All that launching within the space of a year is bound to have an impact on what used to be high end and is suddenly being relegated to meh tech.

 

It'll push down the cost of second hand monitors, but all these new capabilities will likely roll out at a 'same price' level (or an increase in price) as panel fab and controller fab lines switch over to the 'newer and better' devices as standard. The only way I could see new 'low end' monitors being fabbed to sell in cheaper monitors is if the update of higher-end features is stalled. There may be a brief burst of old stock being sold off in thrown together barebones monitors (like the few months where cheap 27" 2560x1440 'Korean' monitors with single DVI inputs and dubious overclockability were masively popular, then stocks ran dry), but I think overall that moving the 'high end' bar upwards will also end up with the 'midrange' bar also moving upwards to match, rather than the 'midrange' getting cheaper.

E.g. your 'too expensive' 27" UHD 60Hz monitors will become equally too expensive 27" UHD 120Hz monitors, and 27" UHD 60Hz monitors will effectively vanish (as new products) rather than drop in price.

 

Perfect. I’ve got cash waiting for a 1440P IPS fast refresh screen.