2560x1440 - best on 27" or 32" monitor?

[ClassicRyu]

Hello all.

Building a new PC soon, the new CPU will be a Core i5 6600 and the graphics card will be a Radeon RX 470 (just makes my budget). It will be used for some casual gaming and high settings of graphics do not matter that much.

One of the options I cannot seem to make my mind up on is the monitor size. I've decided on going for the 2560x1440 resolution. But I'm stuck between the choice of a 27" or 32" monitor size for it. The 27" is an IPS panel, and the 32" is a VA panel.

I've seen people say that 27" is too small for 2560x1440.

Can anyone offer any advice? Thanks in advance.

 

[ClassicRyu]

Why dont you tell us which monitors you are looking at? If you are going AMD for GPU, get a Freesync display. It will increase gaming joy.

The two monitors I am looking at are:

Asus 27" PB278QR

BenQ 32" BL3200PT

I am leaning more towards the BenQ.

I'd also suggest you go to an RX480 rather than a 470.

I might just do that, the pricing is not far off.

I also want to ask, in general if it's a mid to above-mid range cards, which is more preferred for gaming? Nvidia or AMD?

 

[ClassicRyu]

Thanks for all the responses guys.

Well in the end, I went for the BenQ 32" BL3200PT, because right now at the current moment, it's going for an extremely good price for a monitor like this.

With all the reviews I read online of the monitor and also taking your views into consideration, I thought long and hard about it. I do prefer the bigger screen size over "quality of image". That's not to say that it hasn't got good quality image though, as all the reviews I read say that it has, and that it's very close to an IPS panel. Apparently it also betters IPS panels in some areas as well.

 

[ClassicRyu]

Be interested to know how you get on with it. I tried one last year but it had nasty banding and had to go back :< But maybe newer stock is better?

Got it and set it up, it looks excellent. Even at 1920x1080 the OS looks great close up.

But then again this is me upgrading from a Samsung 24" TN panel, which lasted me 6+ years.

So far it looks fine, no dead pixels either. How would I test for banding?

 

[ClassicRyu]

Mine looked like this, with two main darker bands near the middle and a lot of lighter variations:

Spoiler

Basically it became really obvious the moment I was in a game (e.g. Minecraft) or displaying a solid, pale colour. Didn't have to hunt for it, I noticed it before I knew it was a thing :/

Well I did some tests regarding banding, and it looks okay to me:

I think I got a good one... can anyone advise?

As do I man. I have a 27" 1080p screen, which many tried to tell me was too big for the resolution. I'm very happy with it. I very much care about IQ and all that, but a bigger image make for such a more immersive gaming experience. Especially if you like any sim games.

But damn, 32" is *huge*! You can always push it back to a comfortable distance, though.

After getting the BL3200PT, I'm definitely sure that 32" is perfect for me now.

I sit about 2ft - 2.5ft away from it and it's awesome. I'm pretty sure that if I went to a 27" it would be too small for me now!