Display size - what size is best?

Has anyone upgraded their display size and found it a huge improvement? What’s your story.

I’m running 32 inch currently and it’s OK but was wondering if a bigger screen would improve the experience But at what size is the benefit diminishing?

i’m in a similar boat. i’m running on my 15 inch macbook, and it works, but considering going up to a 40ish inch 4k tv.

there are three things i’m thinking will be improved by getting a bigger display:
1 - details are small right now, i think i will be able to see better on a bigger screen
2 - my neck is not neutral when looking at my macbook. i think this is bad for my posture, and i think that i can get a more level view of a larger tv.
3 - it’ll be brighter. i usually ride at night, and more light would be nicer.

do you think any of those will improve by going larger?

keep in mind, that higher resolution requires faster hardware. Macbook will be able to run some kind of smooth on 4k display as long as you keep the resolution at 1080p I guess, anyway I don’t find macbook (even with a discreet graphics) as a great machine to run Zwift, main issue here is overheating. Let’s say, if fans on your mac do ramp up — it is already bad for hardware lifespan.

And to Macho Lim
I run Zwift on Apple TV 4K connected to a 42" Full HD TV hanging on wall at about 1 meter of the floor and a 1,5 meters from my front wheel. This TV is not set for Zwift only, otherwise I would hang it a bit higher I guess.

I would consider a bigger TV with a 4k support only if I had a top end gaming PC laying around, so to play it at maxed out settings (which really improves the experience from what you see on a big screen), even then I probably won’t notice any difference in graphics running it at 1080p with same settings being 2 meters away.

Hope that helps!

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That depends on what kind of display you are looking at. I was running a 19 inch HD display, attached to a desktop running graphics with an Nvidia 760 GTX graphics card. The graphics ran smooth as butter and looked good, but it was just to small for my tastes. I had an LG 32" LED TV that was just lyin’ around after replacing the bedroom TV, so I threw that up for my Zwifting sessions. The “new” TV is pixilated and leaves a lot to be desired, though it does have sound which means through an HDMI input I don’t have to add a sound card or speakers. So if you are going to go with a larger display, then you need to be sure that in addition to your hardware being able to handle it, it can handle high-definition graphics.

My 50 inch TV (1920x1080) died between intervals the other day. Had to quickly dig out my old 20-something screen. I’d say that the difference was big. Planning on getting a 55 inch 4k TV tomorrow. I’ve been thinking about a projector but I kind of like the simplicity of a TV and the 50 inch worked well until it went out with a bang. Might post an update in the pain cave thread.

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You better have a super gaming rig if you want to run 4K, which I would suggest if you are using anything bigger than 32". There is no point in running 1080p on a big screen then you might as well run 1080P on a small er screen closer to you.

I have a 27" Gaming monitor about 1ft (300mm) from my handle bar and I prefer it to the 40" I had on the wall. Graphics is crisper and text easier to read.

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Googling around this morning I suddenly discovered that my 52" Samsung now supports Steam Link; found the app, added Zwift to Steam and attached everything up. All I can say is that going from a crappy laptop to the full 4K UHD big screen in one day is like a week of wet dreams rolled into one.

The bigger the better…in more senses than one…

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A couple of days ago during the Turkey days sales, I bought a cheap 43" TCL UHD TV for use with Zwift. It looks great at the highest settings and does the job I need it to do. Now we will just have to see how durable it is and whether or not it can withstand the subfreezing temps it will experience for the next few months.

As mentioned in my post above - i have a 32 inch IPS monitor (phillips) - It’s actually pretty good - so i think 32 would be the minimum size for immersion. I don’t have access to anything larger than that so that’s my experience so far.

Samsung - 55" Class - LED - NU8000 Series - 2160p - Smart - 4K UHD TV with HDR

My bike is about 5 feet away - but mostly I got the 55 over the 49, in this model, because the 55 and up have a “Game Mode” setting for the HDMI ports. There are links online for setting the HDMI port to Game Mode. My graphics card is NVidia GTX 1070 Ti. You can check at Zwiftalizer.com with your current Log.txt file, to see how your system is performing. With the current setup, I’m getting 60 frames-per-second in UHD 2160 mode.

But once again, it really depends on where your bike is, and how much room you have. I was pretty happy with my old 24" 1080p TV… I just wanted to go big on this.

Dan, I think your biggest issue graphic wise is the MB computer. I Zwifted for 3 years using a MBPro, connected first to a 2k TV, then to a LG 4k 43" TV. Graphics were average at best, slow performance, and TV maxing out at less than 30 FFS, so stuttering especially in the near field of graphics.

I also have a 4k ATV. Use that on treadmill, connected to another LG 43" TV. Works fine for running, but graphics still not “ULTRA” and less detail than below…

I finally purchased a PC computer, with NVIDIA 1070TI graphic card. THAT made a HUGE difference. Detail and performance I didn’t realize was possible, from raindrops to swirling snow drifts, so much crisper and colorful. Avg frame rate with the TV via HDMI cable is 60 ffs. TV is wall mounted, but you really need to place lower than usual, otherwise neck strain.

I now have a second setup with a 27" NEC 2K monitor on a swivel wall mount (from Costco). That is also very nice, and even though small screen, the wall mount allows you to pull the screen close and angled perfectly.

BTW, just fro comparison, go to zwiftilizer.com and compare your MB computer performance (there are plenty of already logged files) to an “average” $1200 PC running a 1060 or 1070 NVIDIA card.

Here is a pic of my current setup…

A 1060 3GB should be more than enough for a Zwift Setup. I got a 1080 and in Zwift the GPU utilization at 4K Ultra @ 60FPS is somewhere around 35%. And Zwift also doesn’t use more cores properly. I only have utilization on one Core/Thread.

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I was able to briefly run Zwift with the same setup above using a Dell PC, also same i7 CPU but with 1060 GPU. Certainly was better than the MBP, but still was getting some stuttering when running ultra mode. When switched to the 1070TI, Ultra mode cranks at 60 ffs, and absolutely no stuttering of the graphics on the same 4k TV. Seemed pretty noticeable.

totally agree with all of your points.

i ended up buying a 42 inch display, but still running the MBP for now. with such a bigger screen, i am now seeing the lack of detail/stuttering.

the 42 inch display IS way nicer to zwift in front of, though – even despite the graphics issues of the MBP. it’s just more realistic having more of your field of vision occupied. i find myself looking down the road and riding instead of constantly eyeballing the stats and ignoring the scenery.

i have a 1050ti in another machine, but it runs linux so i can’t try zwift out on it. new desktop computer might be next step!

37” TV, being run from a Windows 10 laptop. More than adequate for me.

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32′ inch, UHD 4K, 2.2ft. Distance

This is for those who want a 4K gaming monitor for PS5. A 32-inch 4K gaming monitor goes well for PC as well as console gaming. But for placing a 32-inch gaming monitor, you need some extra space on your desk. If you have enough space and distance between the eyes and screen, you can definitely opt for a 32′ inch gaming monitor.

I use a 6.4 inch phone or a 10 inch tablet 90% of the time so I’m possibly not the best person to ask.

It is all relative though as mine are very close to my face!

I used to have a 36" monitor and just switch to a 55" 4K Sony and I am super happy.

I have also once use the bike in front of the main TV (80") and honestly… the bigger the better :slight_smile:

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I had replaced my main TV with a 4k, and kept the old 55" 1080 around “just in case” hooked up chromecast, then zwift. (went with apple tv 4k, just in case. :slight_smile: )

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I’M using my old LG 50" LED TV with a windows computer, with a Nvidia 1030 graphics card(i think). It works for me. :grinning: