8K@120Hz Gaming on HDMI 2.1 is Now a Reality
The exhibition NAB Show 2025 in las vegas 8K Association demonstrated the world's first real example playing in 8K @ 120 Hz via HDMI 2.1. Despite the limitations of the HDMI 2.1 specification (support only 8K@60Hz), the technology Display Stream Compression (DSC) allowed us to bypass the limit and ensure smooth operation at a high refresh rate.
For the demonstration we used a PC from maingear with processor AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D and video card AMD Radeon RX 9070XT. The game became Horizon Forbidden West, known for its high-quality graphics and optimization. The game was rendered in a resolution 5K with subsequent upscaling via AMD FidelityFX SuperResolution 3 on 65-inch modified Samsung Neo QLED 8K TV, supporting allm, VRR и FreeSync Premium Pro.
The signal was transmitted through HDMI 2.1b with DSC compression enabled, which allowed us to achieve stable 120 frames per second at 8K resolution. This attracted a lot of attention from visitors to the booth, especially those familiar with the game and impressed by its visual quality.
Although 8K gaming still seems excessive for the mass user, modern GPU from NVIDIA and AMD make it more and more real. Especially considering the development of technologies like NVIDIA DLSS-4 и AMD FSR4 with support for multi-frame generation.
Taking into account the upcoming release of the standard HDMI 2.2 (with doubled throughput up to 96 Gbps), widespread use 8K displays and full-fledged 8K gaming could become a reality in the coming years.
