• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

Jump from 1080p to 1440p or 2160p?

Associate
Joined
11 Jan 2011
Posts
2,235
Morning everyone,

I have a low end gaming PC at the moment, it can barely run the latest games on low settings (gtx 460 :().

However since I skipped buying the latest next gen consoles I'm going to get into some PC gaming. However I cannot decide what path to take..regardless of resolution I'll have to buy a new PSU, upgrade my memory and get a new case so that's (£200 there).

First path -1440p - would gaming be nice enough and a good jump from 1080p for the next 2 years or so? If so what GPU would be best at this resolution, I don't want to spend more than £250ish. I'm just concerned that I won't be overly impressed with 1440p gaming..is it any good? I'd also have to buy a 1440p monitor.

Price - £500-£600

Second path - 2160p - I guess this might be out of my budget considering the latest GPU's don't run 4k perfectly yet and I'd have to spend £300+ on a GPU to play at nice frame rates? Again I'd have to buy a 4k monitor.

But wouldn't buying a 4k monitor be better since I can change the resolution to 1080p/1440p anyway and game at that resolution? that saves me having to sell a 1440p monitor in the long run?

Price - £850-£1000

I've been thinking about this for ages now and cannot decide what to do or what's better in the long run..

Please help guys! :confused:
 
Associate
Joined
16 Feb 2009
Posts
950
For 4K you'd be looking at a Titan X or 295x2 to start with. The cheapest of which is currently on deal for £500.

I'd go for the 1440p. It is definitely a noticeable step up in terms of resolution.
 
Associate
Joined
15 Jun 2009
Posts
2,189
Location
South London
1440p looks like a good sweet spot for a long while still. The minimum for 4k 30fps is a GTX 980 and that is barely going to last long at ultra settings and no AA with 4k.
 
Associate
Joined
1 Mar 2014
Posts
2,419
With 4K you probably won't be happy with the framerate on a single card unless you drop settings to low-medium and that doesn't future-proof you very well.

My recommendation would be to get a solid 1440p 120hz or 144hz monitor and for the GPU at £250ish your options would be a R9-290X or the GTX970.
 
Associate
Joined
24 Aug 2006
Posts
189
Location
Cardiff
Larger 4k monitors may be more suitable for productivity but 1440p is most definitely the sweet spot for gaming IMO. I would also highly recommend a high refresh rate gsync or freesync monitor, I know I couldn't go back.
 
Associate
Joined
15 Jun 2009
Posts
2,189
Location
South London
My recommendation would be to get a solid 1440p 120hz or 144hz monitor and for the GPU at £250ish your options would be a R9-290X or the GTX970.

Not sure there is much point of getting a 120Hz+ 1440p monitor with a single mid range card like the 970. 60Hz would make more sense imo and £150+ less which could have gone to a 980 :p
 
Associate
Joined
1 Mar 2014
Posts
2,419
Not sure there is much point of getting a 120Hz+ 1440p monitor with a single mid range card like the 970. 60Hz would make more sense imo and £150+ less.

Price - £850-£1000 minus £200 for case, psu etc

I basically worked out the max spend with the remaining 650-850.

Edit : Oh yeah I forgot the 980s are £400 now
 
Caporegime
Joined
24 Sep 2008
Posts
38,322
Location
Essex innit!
From my experiences:

1080P 120Hz is nice but sometimes the jaggies stand out a bit too much for my liking, even with maxed settings.

1440P 144Hz is my ultimate sweet spot and a decent high end GPU can pretty much cope with everything maxed in games. No more jaggies either unless you look for them.

4K 60Hz was the best looking image but required some serious GPU grunt. At the time I was running a pair of Titans and whilst most games could cope, a lot of the newer games would really struggle. Lowered settings looked better on the 4K than 1080P maxed settings though.

Taking all of that into consideration, the only thing that would make me swap my current 1440P 144Hz monitor is a 4K 120Hz (or higher) monitor. That would then be my sweetspot.

Just remember, the higher the res, the more GPU grunt is needed, so it will start to get pricey.

Hope that helps :)
 
Associate
Joined
21 Nov 2014
Posts
417
Location
Newcastle Upon Tyne
4k appeals to me for the ‘wow’ factor people report but I’m not sure I’m happy tech is fully ready, sure a pair of Titan X’s should cope now but how about in 12 months’ time?

After trying out a ‘normal’ 1440p monitor I'm settling into the idea of a 3440x1440p monitor and a Titan X now, and another one later on if required. Some of the upcoming screens at that resolution look great and while still giving a lot of screen real-estate also requires a lot less grunt then a full 4k monitor.
 
Associate
Joined
7 Jun 2013
Posts
1,102
Location
Norniron
I'm in a very similar position to OP, where if I put more of my budget into a better monitor I can't afford the gpu to fully exploit it and vice versa... frustrating.

I can only afford a full upgrade (pc + monitor) every 5-6 years with an extra GPU upgrade approx. in the middle of that timescale. My concern is not buying a 4k monitor now will gimp my future gaming potential? But then if I can't afford to buy a gpu to power it... :confused:
 
Associate
Joined
1 Mar 2014
Posts
2,419
I'm in a very similar position to OP, where if I put more of my budget into a better monitor I can't afford the gpu to fully exploit it and vice versa... frustrating.

I can only afford a full upgrade (pc + monitor) every 5-6 years with an extra GPU upgrade approx. in the middle of that timescale. My concern is not buying a 4k monitor now will gimp my future gaming potential? But then if I can't afford to buy a gpu to power it... :confused:

You can always upgrade the GPU and use 4K DSR or VSR which upscales your native resolution to 4K. It gives you the best of both worlds imo if your on a budget.

There will always be something better-faster just around the corner.
 
Caporegime
Joined
24 Sep 2008
Posts
38,322
Location
Essex innit!
4k appeals to me for the ‘wow’ factor people report but I’m not sure I’m happy tech is fully ready, sure a pair of Titan X’s should cope now but how about in 12 months’ time?

After trying out a ‘normal’ 1440p monitor I'm settling into the idea of a 3440x1440p monitor and a Titan X now, and another one later on if required. Some of the upcoming screens at that resolution look great and while still giving a lot of screen real-estate also requires a lot less grunt then a full 4k monitor.

I am far from an expert on this and have thought the same many times but we are kind of limited to what the consoles get, with a bit on top and with the consoles still being relatively new, I am not sure this is going to change. Maybe some dedicated PC only titles would see more demands or perhaps some devs with a bit more time to focus on the PC platform but I think we are stuck here till the next gen consoles.
 
Associate
OP
Joined
11 Jan 2011
Posts
2,235
It seems like it's pretty much a one sided opinion on this, 1440p gaming it is then. It does seem like the logical solution considering my small budget.

On this forum and others some people say that a 290x & 970 isn't enough for 1440p gaming at max settings but on benchmarks it looks like it is? I would be safe with either of those cards right? (My Asus P8P67 motherboard only supports crossfire).

I'm planning to buy a 850w or 1000w PSU for future upgrades so I guess a 290x would be the right card to get since I can buy a second whenever I decide to jump to 4k gaming?

So I guess that's settled, only decision to make about GPU's is should I wait till AMD release the 300 series and see what the prices of those are or get a 290x for a cheaper price when they're realised lol

One last thing, monitors; I have only ever used 60hz monitors, however I do like my FPS games but I don't really play online due to my crap internet. So I am not entirely sure if I would make use of a 120/144hz monitor. Plus to play at those crazy frame rates I would require a top end GPU which I can't afford (980/Titan x).

So would it be a smart idea to buy a 60hz 4k monitor now instead of a 1440p one because I can just set the resolution to 1080p/1440p whenever needed and when I do get a GPU powerful enough to play games at 4k I can just change the resolution back? it will save me selling a 1440p monitor.

4k monitors - Samsung U28D590 (£400) / Asus PB287Q £430) / Acer Predator 4k2k XB280HK (£510)

Or should I buy a 1440p monitor now and by the time I upgrade my GPU, 4k monitors should be better & cheaper?

1440p monitors - Acer Predator XG270H (£430) / BenQ XL2730Z (£500)

So many options here!

Thanks for the quick replies and information, you guys are very helpful.
 
Last edited:
Associate
Joined
15 Jun 2009
Posts
2,189
Location
South London
One last thing, monitors; I have only ever used 60hz monitors, however I do like my FPS games but I don't really play online due to my crap internet. So I am not entirely sure if I would make use of a 120/144hz monitor. Plus to play at those crazy frame rates I would require a top end GPU which I can't afford (980/Titan x).

So would it be a smart idea to buy a 60hz 4k monitor now instead of a 1440p one because I can just set the resolution to 1080p/1440p whenever needed and when I do get a GPU powerful enough to play games at 4k I can just change the resolution back? it will save me selling a 1440p monitor.

Or should I buy a 1440p monitor now and by the time I upgrade my GPU, 4k monitors should be better & cheaper?

So many options here!

Thanks for the quick replies and information, you guys are very helpful.

I think a few of the suggestions of going 120Hz+ are only slightly misguided and coming from users that are used to luxuries of droolworthy GPU grunt and 60fps+ gaming with Ultra settings. A few of those users are going Titan X 4K/Titan X SLI for 1440p 144Hz for example.

As I mentioned earlier, in reality using a single high end 290X or 970 with a 120Hz 1440p monitor is pointless imo and the extra money 120HZ costs at this resolution would be better put to use to a more powerful GPU in the first place to run over 60fps.

Getting a 4k monitor and then using a lower resolution because of lack of grunt could be an idea, but not all monitors look good when using a resolution lower than the original one to my knowledge. Maybe someone with a 4k monitor can try it out and report how well they look with non native resolutions. If not 60Hz 1440p is not bad at all.

Just as an aside some interesting words from a guy from Asus about high refresh rates in this video @ 1:50 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTQMdsLFj8M (not that I have any input of the difference in quality/smoothness at higher refresh rates as I use 60Hz only).
 
Last edited:
Associate
OP
Joined
11 Jan 2011
Posts
2,235
I think a few of the suggestions of going 120Hz+ are a slightly misguided and coming from users that are used to luxuries of droolworthy GPU grunt and 60fps+ gaming with Ultra settings. A few of those users a going Titan X/Titan X SLI for 1440p 144Hz for example.

As I mentioned earlier, in reality using a single high end 290X or 970 with a 120Hz 1440p monitor is pointless imo and the extra money 120HZ costs at this resolution would be better put to use to a more powerful GPU in the first place to run over 60fps.

Getting a 4k monitor and then using a lower resolution because of lack of grunt could be an idea, but not all monitors look good when using a resolution lower than the original one to my knowledge. Maybe someone with a 4k monitor can try it out and report how well they look with non native resolutions.

Yeah I don't quite think 144hz gaming is where I'm at right now, that's the next level up :p

1440p & 60hz seems to be the sweet spot as said by many of you.

I had a look at the monitors and updated my previous post with some models. 1440p and 4k monitors are very similiar in price for some reason so it makes sense to opt for a 4k one at the same price? I just need to see if lowering the resolution to 1440p or 1080p is ok with a 4k monitor.

Samsung U28D590 (£400) / Asus PB287Q (£430) - both 4k, LED, 60hz & 1ms and branded as "gaming monitors".

Are either of those a smart choice for gaming?
 
Back
Top Bottom