What are system requirements for running 4K CRT shaders?

[Brad251]

My PC specs:

Intel core 2 quad q8300 cpu 2.5 GHz
8 GB Ram
Radeon HD 7750
Rosewill 450W PSU


Is this enough to run a good shadow mask/slot mask CRT shader at 4K? If not, what would need to be upgraded and what would be the minimum specs needed to do this well?

[Hoagtech]

You have a not so new PC.

I would recommend running external scan-lines on output and original resolution or lower resolutions if you want a good experience.

good luck

[BazookaBen]

I'm not sure the 7750 can even output 4k60 over HDMI. Maybe over displayport though. And then there's the issue of whether it has enough VRAM.

It might be just enough for 90's consoles, but I doubt a q8300 could run something dolphin at full speed though.

[Brad251]

You have a not so new PC.

I would recommend running external scan-lines on output and original resolution or lower resolutions if you want a good experience.

good luck

My PC can run most of the CRT shaders at 1080p with no problem in 8 and 16 bit games. I haven't tried CRT shaders with 3D games. I don't know if my video card can handle CRT shaders at 4K with 8 and 16 bit games because I don't have a 4K display. Even a raspberry can run very basic CRT shaders with scanlines at 1080p so there would be no need to use an external scanline generator or lower the output resolution.

[BONKERS]

A GTX 980/1060 can be had for under 250$ if you look on Ebay and can handle most 4k CRT shaders without any issues. (If you are downsampling or are outputting native)
My old 980 paired with an i7 950 @4Ghz could handle CRT shaders at 4k up to at least PS1 without speed issues. (Never really tested stuff like DC/N64. Though i'm sure it would be fine)
The problem may arise from your PSU , CPU and Mobo compatibility though. I think a 450W should be enough hopefuly.

[Brad251]

A GTX 980/1060 can be had for under 250$ if you look on Ebay and can handle most 4k CRT shaders without any issues. (If you are downsampling or are outputting native)
My old 980 paired with an i7 950 @4Ghz could handle CRT shaders at 4k up to at least PS1 without speed issues. (Never really tested stuff like DC/N64. Though i'm sure it would be fine)
The problem may arise from your PSU , CPU and Mobo compatibility though. I think a 450W should be enough hopefuly.

How do CRT shaders look in 4K @60Hz. CRT Royale using the aperture grille mask with settings slightly tweaked looks decent on my 40" 1080p Samsung CCFL LCD made in 2008 with brightness and contrast turned up. Some have said that the motion resolution with CRT shaders in 4K @ 60Hz isn't great and that is a significant concern of mine. However, I don't notice any motion resolution issues with CRT shaders on my 1080p display with horizontal scrolling. Motion does get pretty blurry with vertical scrolling but most retro games I play don't have vertical scrolling.

[Xyga]

CRT shaders look best when still or on screenshots, but ingame they clash with all types of blur because they're attempts at imitating small details. Ghosting/smearing blur, motion blur, PWM and other types of artifacts, all affect CRT shaders negatively.

The ghosting/smearing makes all the details disappear, those little RGB dots or strips that try to look like a mask or grille ? gone when the scrolling begins.
They blend into a grey smear over the colors, which decreases the colors quality and overall brightness.

With LCDs it is more optimal to use mask-less/grille-less shaders (just turn the effect off), and thin scanlines (translated; make the dark lines thinner, there's often a setting for this), to preserve the colors and brightness, and minimize the clash with motion blur.

EDIT; agreed with fernan the kurozumi settings are a good example, the grille's presence is minimal and the dark lines are thin where the colors are bright just like it should be. It's not imitating a consumer or arcade CRT, more a Sony BVM, but it's much better like this for playing.

[Brad251]

CRT shaders look best when still or on screenshots, but ingame they clash with all types of blur because they're attempts at imitating small details. Ghosting/smearing blur, motion blur, PWM and other types of artifacts, all affect CRT shaders negatively.

The ghosting/smearing makes all the details disappear, those little RGB dots or strips that try to look like a mask or grille ? gone when the scrolling begins.
They blend into a grey smear over the colors, which decreases the colors quality and overall brightness.

With LCDs it is more optimal to use mask-less/grille-less shaders (just turn the effect off), and thin scanlines (translated; make the dark lines thinner, there's often a setting for this), to preserve the colors and brightness, and minimize the clash with motion blur.

EDIT; agreed with fernan the kurozumi settings are a good example, the grille's presence is minimal and the dark lines are thin where the colors are bright just like it should be. It's not imitating a consumer or arcade CRT, more a Sony BVM, but it's much better like this for playing.

I understand what you are saying but when I use the CRT Royal shader with the aperture grille mask on my 1080p LCD, I don't really notice motion blur with horizontal scrolling; I do with vertical scrolling. I sit about 7 feet away from the TV. For the settings, I specify the number of triads, set the triad size to 10 and the number of triads to 600. My goal is to replicate a consumer CRT. I don't like Royal Kurozumi because I don't like the way retro games look on a BVM.

[BONKERS]

Motion blur is just inherently part of sample and hold displays and i've come to accept that. (Not that CRTs were perfect. There are tons of consoles games that ran at less than 60FPS and those can look just as blurry as on a CRT due to that in motion. I've also had a CRT that had less than favorable phosphor response that resulted lost of ghosting on high contrast transitions. I don't miss stuff like that)
It doesn't stop CRT shaders from looking "Good enough" to me in motion in many games.
One of my 1080p TVs has a 60hz strobe mode and this ends up looking pretty decent too.

I've been playing R-Type Leo set up like this, and the scrolling is slow enough that motion blur isn't ever much an issue.
http://u.cubeupload.com/MrBonk/rtypeleo190315220438.jpg
I played through ATL III with increased rendering resolution and a CRT shader tweaked to have the scanlines line up with the sprites evenly to give it a psuedo 240p look for the 2D elements and it looked great.
https://u.cubeupload.com/MrBonk/CDROM2180627162052.jpg
Aside from the typical double refresh after image (Which would've happened on a CRT because it's a 30FPS game.) none of the small details really disappeared in motion enough to destroy the look.
At one point I had to use my dex drive and memcard rex to switch discs on my PS2 and get past a crash point bug (Which existed on real hardware actually) on my CRT in 240p and it really didn't look much worse in motion on the LCD in comparison for that kind of game.


Games with faster motion yeah the blur is obvious but again, not enough to really kill it for me for most games. If it does, I play on original hardware. Or on my VGA CRT in 480p line doubled with scanlines inserted or none at all.