4K vs. 144Hz.

Dave Burton · 25 Sep 2019 at 09:31

Per title, I'm currently running a triple monitor setup, with the "main" screen being a 28" Samsung 4K display, which was purchased as a spur of the moment thing thinking that 4K was the way forward. I'm now starting to think this was possibly a mistake and have started to look at 24-28" 144Hz panels instead.

This is all being driven by a 1080Ti but due to the 4k display I suspect it's pushing the card pretty hard and it's keeping the card pretty warm @ 85 degrees which I know is well within "normal" operation for these cards.

The question I have is this: If I go back to 1080 resolution @ 144hz (or thereabouts) would it be a notable trade-off of quality vs quantity, if that makes sense...?

Airflow seems to be pretty optimized, taking of the case side as an example only drops temps by 1-2 degrees and I'm looking to try and quiet things down, and upgrade my overall gaming quality of life.

Thanks in advance!

DB.

bledd · 25 Sep 2019 at 09:41

1440P 27" 144hz

This is what I have, I love it.

I'd much rather over 100FPS than 4K.

Radox-0 · 25 Sep 2019 at 10:34

Your not really going to see an improvement temp wise and noise wise if that is what your trying to achieve here, i am assuming this is a blower style cooler?

I still expect with a high refresh rate panel at lower resolution, your GPU will still be getting warm anyways if your looking to hit 144hz (though 1080p at 144hz will be less demanding then 4k @ 60hz) If your looking to quiet things down, I would get MSI afterburner and create a custom fan profile. If I recall, before going under water, 55%-60% fan speed for founder edition being the top was reasonable noise wise. It did mean when it hit the thermal target (mid 80s) clock speeds dipped, but usually still stayed reasonable, around the 1750-1850 mark.

From a gaming quality aspect, then yeah would agree with bledd's comments. On my main gaming screen, a higher refresh rate but lower resolution panel hits the sweet spot IMO. 27" 1440p @ 144hz with a sync technology is a real nice combination for most games. But with this sort of panel, I still expect unless you change anything GPU will (or put a cap on FPS, i.e 60 FPS at 1440p), it will still be under a heavy load and behave thermally and acoustically as it does now.

Dave Burton · 25 Sep 2019 at 10:56

Additional info, it's Zotax !080Ti Mini card, so not a blower style but not ideal as the cooler is quite small compared to the 3 fan setup versions. I have setup fan curves which are pretty aggressive as the temps rise, there's something at the back of my mind that says the cards are ok up to 91 degrees, so 84-85 is acceptable, I'm just trying to get a feel for the improvements I'd get to everything (temps/noise/quality) by switching to a 144Hz display, if any. I have seen people swapping out the stock cooler for an aftermarket type with notable improvement, but I'd only consider this as a last resort as I fear possible damage to the card, they're expensive items to replace...

This is and always has been one of the best forums for advice as there's such a wealth of knowledge and experience, so forgive me if the question is a little vague, but there's not really any other way I could find of wording it.

Thanks again for the input.

DB

tyler_jrb · 26 Sep 2019 at 00:16

Went from 1080p to 4k and had a wow moment but an even bigger wow moment going from 60hz to 144hz.

Absolutely impossible to go back to a 60hz monitor for gaming now. Just couldn’t get used to it again.

I’d agree with the above you will see very similar frames at 1440p as you will at 1080 due to bottlenecks etc. Get a decent 1440 144/165hz panel and you won’t be disappointed.

Phixsator · 26 Sep 2019 at 07:10

I'm currently using a 1080p 240hz monitor. Its a good monitor and i'm enjoying the refresh for sure. Here the other day i connected my 43" 4k ips tv and was "wauwed" by the improved sharpness(and color) however it was difficult to live with only 60hz. I'd say as many others have said, go smack in the middle, 1440p 144hz+ and you are golden. Then if you feel like splashing a bit extra you can invest in an IPS instead of TN, or VA if you are not sensitive to poor dark pixel transitions.

Quartz · 26 Sep 2019 at 07:48

Dave Burton said:
Airflow seems to be pretty optimized, taking of the case side as an example only drops temps by 1-2 degrees and I'm looking to try and quiet things down,

Here's what I did. The fibre-optic cables have come down in price significantly.

Dave Burton said:
Additional info, it's Zotax !080Ti Mini card,

No wonder it's hot and noisy. Seriously, this, not your screen, is the problem.

bledd said:
I'd much rather over 100FPS than 4K.

With the Acer Nitro 4k you can have both.

Cooper · 26 Sep 2019 at 08:00

Quartz said:
With the Acer Nitro 4k you can have both.

Not with a 1080Ti powering it, heck, even a 2080Ti isn't really good enough for 4K over 60fps. Comeback for the 3080/4080Ti if you want consistent framerates over 60 at 4K.

Quartz · 26 Sep 2019 at 08:14

Cooper said:
Not with a 1080Ti powering it, heck, even a 2080Ti isn't really good enough for 4K over 60fps. Comeback for the 3080/4080Ti if you want consistent framerates over 60 at 4K.

There speaks someone who hasn't tried it. It all depends upon the game and the graphics settings. RTXC and Hairworks will kill any GPU. But I'm playing BL3 at near-max settings at 4k at well over 60 fps, for example. On a 1080 ti I'd likely have to drop settings a little further but I got over 60 fps at 4k in Borderlands 2 on my Titan XM - a glorified 980 Ti. You have a RTX 2080 and that's fine for 4k.

Cooper · 26 Sep 2019 at 08:29

Quartz said:
You have a RTX 2080 and that's fine for 4k.

It's 'adequate' for 4K...in conjunction with a Freesync/Gsync monitor for those times, much more often than not, when it drops below 60fps.

The 2080Ti is just about coping at 4K but there is very little headroom in them once you go over 60fps at 4K.

Dave Burton · 26 Sep 2019 at 08:30

Thank for all the feedback so far, looking likely I'll be making the switch at some point. My son is giddy with excitement as I'd likely pass the 4k screen to him as he doesn't really play any AAA titles, his 1080 should be ok to run this screen pretty comfortably. To clarify, when people are referring to 1440, I'm assuming this to be listed as "QHD" with typical resolutions of 2560 x 1440?

Quartz · 26 Sep 2019 at 09:12

Dave Burton said:
To clarify, when people are referring to 1440, I'm assuming this to be listed as "QHD" with typical resolutions of 2560 x 1440?

That and 3440x1440.

Cooper said:
The 2080Ti is just about coping at 4K but there is very little headroom in them once you go over 60fps at 4K.

That is complete rubbish.

Dave Burton · 26 Sep 2019 at 09:32

Wow, this has opened a can of worms. IPS. TN. 5ms. 1ms. Reading up, it would appear that 144hz@4-5ms is comparable to 60Hz @ 1ms, would that be a sensible evaluation? Would my aging eyes be able to see the difference between 1ms and 5ms, or would the high refresh deal with that?

Edit: these are the specs of the panel I've spotted...
27", 2560 x 1440 QHD, HDMI, Displayport & DVI, 144hz / 1ms Response Time, Panel Type: TN

Quartz · 26 Sep 2019 at 09:46

TN panels give worse colours than IPS panels; IPS panels can have the problem of IPS glow.

4K8KW10 · 26 Sep 2019 at 09:56

Dave Burton said:
Per title, I'm currently running a triple monitor setup, with the "main" screen being a 28" Samsung 4K display, which was purchased as a spur of the moment thing thinking that 4K was the way forward. I'm now starting to think this was possibly a mistake and have started to look at 24-28" 144Hz panels instead.

This is all being driven by a 1080Ti but due to the 4k display I suspect it's pushing the card pretty hard and it's keeping the card pretty warm @ 85 degrees which I know is well within "normal" operation for these cards.

The question I have is this: If I go back to 1080 resolution @ 144hz (or thereabouts) would it be a notable trade-off of quality vs quantity, if that makes sense...?

Airflow seems to be pretty optimized, taking of the case side as an example only drops temps by 1-2 degrees and I'm looking to try and quiet things down, and upgrade my overall gaming quality of life.

Thanks in advance!

DB.

This is only you who can answer. Aren't you satisfied with the superb image quality of 4K?

Dave Burton · 26 Sep 2019 at 10:00

4K8KW10 said:
This is only you who can answer. Aren't you satisfied with the superb image quality of 4K?

Oh, don't get me wrong, the quality is amazing but I'm always wondering "what if something else is better?". As stated, this was a spur of the moment purchase as the local retailer had a superb offer (20% off!) so I grabbed it in passing, then I started reading reviews and comparisons of 60Hz vs 144Hz and started to think I might have acted hastily...

tyler_jrb · 26 Sep 2019 at 11:06

Dave Burton said:
Wow, this has opened a can of worms. IPS. TN. 5ms. 1ms. Reading up, it would appear that 144hz@4-5ms is comparable to 60Hz @ 1ms, would that be a sensible evaluation? Would my aging eyes be able to see the difference between 1ms and 5ms, or would the high refresh deal with that?

Edit: these are the specs of the panel I've spotted...
27", 2560 x 1440 QHD, HDMI, Displayport & DVI, 144hz / 1ms Response Time, Panel Type: TN

Ms doesn’t mean much from experience. Went from a tn 1ms 144hz to a IPS 165hz which is I believe 5ms and it feels exactly the same to me, not one difference. 165hz being a tiny bit smoother and responsive overall.

60hz-144hz in any ms is a big jump and 144hz is by far more responsive.

If you play mostly in the daytime or in a bright room get an IPS for better colours and viewing angles otherwise if you only play in the dark etc then a decent well reviewed VA may be a better option.

Tn I wouldn’t really recommend as it has poor viewing angles and colours and the only thing really going for it is cost and response time. Response time not making much if any noticeable difference.

4K8KW10 · 26 Sep 2019 at 11:16

Dave Burton said:
Oh, don't get me wrong, the quality is amazing but I'm always wondering "what if something else is better?". As stated, this was a spur of the moment purchase as the local retailer had a superb offer (20% off!) so I grabbed it in passing, then I started reading reviews and comparisons of 60Hz vs 144Hz and started to think I might have acted hastily...

There are options for either 4K@120Hz or 8K@60Hz.

Dave Burton · 26 Sep 2019 at 12:58

Looking at something along these lines, seems to tick all the boxes https://www.overclockers.co.uk/sams...-gaming-widescreen-led-monitor-mo-23m-sa.html

Never had a curved screen before, not sure if they live up the hype?

DB

chaparral · 26 Sep 2019 at 20:37

Dave Burton said:
Looking at something along these lines, seems to tick all the boxes https://www.overclockers.co.uk/sams...-gaming-widescreen-led-monitor-mo-23m-sa.html

Never had a curved screen before, not sure if they live up the hype?

DB

How about a 34" 1440p UltraWide

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/acer...descreen-led-zeroframe-monitor-mo-136-ac.html