Monitor advice

OverDrive

OverDrive

OverDrive

Associate
Joined
28 Feb 2012
Posts
1,043
Location
Herts
Hi all,

I currently have a Dell 24" 1080p monitor (ST2420L) - so time to upgrade, especially with the new Pascal NVIDIA GPUs landing this month - I plan to get a GTX1070.

I would love more 'desktop real estate' for productivity - especially now that I've got used to dual screens at work.

I've been considering:

1. 27" 1440p
2. 32" 4K/UHD
3. 40" 4K/UHD

The minimum size I would consider for 4K would be 32" as I don't really want to use scaling in Windows - I think (please correct me if I'm wrong) 32" would be the minimum size you can practically run 4K without scaling - or am I being too quick to dismiss scaling?

The only reason I list the 40" 4k monitor is because I've seen the 40" 4K Phillips BDM4065UC priced less than many 32" 4K monitors - it might be a bit overwhelming though!

What would you guys suggest I get - any opinions are welcome :)

The prices of 4K monitors are still quite high and of course frame rates in games will suffer on a single card setup. This leads me to my next question.

As UHD is exactly 4 times the res of 1080p/HD, could I drop back to 1080p in games with no blurring? This might sound daft, but my key need is more desktop for Windows productivity - which I do lots of.

Once I decide on a size I'll look into panel types etc...

Thank you.
 
Last edited:
I would personally go for a 1440p monitor as I prefer that resolution over 4k. If you get a g-sync monitor as well, the difference when gaming is huge!
 
Yes, I'm starting to think that 1440p is the most practical option at the moment.

Would 27" be a good size for 1440p or maybe larger?
 
Wow, just reading up about G-SYNC - impressive!

Any recommendations of good G-SYNC 1440p monitors?

Thanks.
 
Last edited:
Well I went from a 1080p 23" AOC i2369Vm to a 4K 27" Acer S277HK to a 1440p AOC 25" Q2577PWQ, and I can tell you right now the AOC 1440p puts both to shame.

4K is only a viable option above 32", and they cost a fortune. Anything below and scaling is an absolute must. It renders the whole resolution pointless. 1440p on 25"/27" look similar, but the 25" has a tighter pixel densitiy. Neither need scaling unless you're half blind.

If you're after a general purpose monitor, 1440p 25" is a good step up from 1080. If it's a gaming one, either 27 or 25 inch will do, but you'd have other factors like that (response times, refresh rate, panel type etc).

If you're going to be editing then, and only then, would it be worth spending the money on a 32" 4K monitor.
 
Last edited:
BluesFanUK said:
4K is only a viable option above 32", and they cost a fortune. Anything below and scaling is an absolute must. It renders the whole resolution pointless.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what you're trying to say here, but text looks much better on 24" and 28" 4K monitors.
 
Thanks for the replies guys!

I think it will be 27" 1440p for me.

However, as said above there are so many other factors to consider with today's monitors...

IPS vs TN, refresh frequency, response time, G-SYNC, FREESYNC and heaps of other things.....It used to be simple!!!!!

I will welcome the extra desktop area and higher pixel density over 1080p though.
 
Last edited:
You need a decent gpu to game on them but they are no where near as demanding as 4K
Click to expand...

I'm going to upgrade my GPU to a GTX 1070 when they come out, I may not upgrade my rig until Cannon Lake though.

More desktop real estate would be a major plus for me as I do lot's of productivity stuff. Could I drop the res to a standard 2560x1440 to pick up some frames in games if needed - without distortion?

This was a really useful video and his other video tech reviews are very impressive too : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7hfGPOZnjc
 
Last edited:
I recently moved to a Dell 25" 2560x1440 from a 24" 1080 not a huge screen size jump but haven't looked back its perfect very sharp and the extra desktop space is really useful.

I am sure a larger screen would be even better ...

If you can as you are already and NVidia user look at a G-sync versions as well ( they do have a price hike built into them ) as this would also add smother gaming if you are an FPS gamer :)
 
Last edited:
OverDrive said:
I'm going to upgrade my GPU to a GTX 1070 when they come out, I may not upgrade my rig until Cannon Lake though.

More desktop real estate would be a major plus for me as I do lot's of productivity stuff. Could I drop the res to a standard 2560x1440 to pick up some frames in games if needed - without distortion?

This was a really useful video and his other video tech reviews are very impressive too : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7hfGPOZnjc
Click to expand...

A 1070 should be fine for 3440 X 1440 as it's rumoured to be similar performance to a 980ti, you can drop the res but it will ever look as good as native
 
I've just had a look and it's come down to 3 options for curved 34" 3440x1440 monitors:

1. LG 34UC98 (supports freesync)
2. Samsung S34E790C
3. Dell U3415W

Any opinions?

PS> Also found the Asus ROG Swift PG348Q (supports G-SYNC) - this is over £1000 though! I can't really justify spending that on a monitor.
 
Last edited:
Guys,

Why would someone buy a monitor with a Thunderbolt connection, aren't they mainly for Macs?

I've been looking at the 34" 1440p LG ultra wide monitors and they have two versions of the same monitor. One with Thunderbolt and one without. The Thunderbolt version is £50 more. They both have DisplayPort, HDMI and USB 3.0.

Thanks.
 
I have a 4K 40" monitor and its awesome for some games and a bit overwhelming for others.... but you always have the option of moving away a little to suit your preference.

imho an Nvidia 1080 will drive a 4K screen @60fps without too much trouble there maybe the odd setting you have to drop down... but you don't really need Anti aliasing at 4k so that can be switched off most of the time.

my r9 290x drives most games at 40-50fps on high @4K settings

personally I'm going to wait for the HBM2 GPUs before looking at an upgrade

If you like space sims the 40" is damn good, if you like FPS shooters then yes the 1440p with gsync/freesync option is better.

One other thing to consider is do you want a curved screen for productivity work? For games yes I'm sure its great but writing documents and drawings etc.... hmm I'm not so sure.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom