NVIDIA and ATI need to chill

Let's say we quadruple the pixel number to 3840 x 2400 - a nice 9 Mpixel golden ratio sized display, a good follow up to the famed IBM T221 which offered all that six years ago. This time on 30 inches and within US$ 2000 price range.

Quadruple the pixel number, and you quadruple the GPU processing power and memory size needed to handle the stuff. Then, without even using esoteric 16x or such anti-alias, explore the hyper realism that such resolution can offer the gamers - NVIDIA even coined the term XHD2 for this. Then, add the NHK Japanese TV programming effort with 4K Ultra HD, fitting such monitors really nicely, not to mention 70mm movie runs.

The problem? Since IBM abandoned the T221 after the Lenovo sale, and the actual maker, iDtech from Japan was sold to the Taiwanese, there was no such monitor in the market - the time is now to revive it, straight into mainstream.

So, NVIDIA and ATI should put aside their petty fight for a second, and join forces for one particular goal: get all the key gang, starting with Samsung, LG and such, to offer the 3840 x 2400 grade monitors to the market at an attractive price point. When one sees the otherworldly picture and 3-D quality on those - as I had the honour some years ago - you can't easily move back to the usual stuff. You want it and you want it there and then. It's a far more tangible and convincing approach than some funny anti-aliasing or texture mapping methods, as it benefits pretty much everything.

It will also help those monitor vendors differentiate in more sensible ways rather than trying some really ridiculous ways to create 'new products'. For instance, Samsung's 2343BW. This is a 23-incher with an unusual 2048 x 1152 resolution, an odd cut due to the insistence on the HDTV-optimised, but not PC friendly, 16:9 display ratio. Yeah, for those who like it odd, Samsung may justify charging another 50 quid for this. Why not instead create real new quality paradigm and charge a bit more for this?

Even in the times of crisis, people still buy - but when they do, they usually prefer something of quality and real value. A top end GPU will be seen as more of that proposition if matched with a monitor using its potential to the fullest by bringing the new generation image quality for all users.