Monitor Upgrade Advice

mattrix · 8 Oct 2019 at 12:24

Hi All,

Been ages since I posted here, so long in fact that my user was deleted so excuse my apparent 'newness'.

Ive never ever spent any money on monitors for as long as I have been gaming, and it's a mistake which I know a lot of people make. I decided I would finally spend a bit of money, but at the moment we are in the middle of moving house and changing jobs and if I i tell my wife I've just spent £600 on a monitor i suspect I might not be moving house with her anymore!

So I decided to pick one up from eBay or Gumtree or something (I'm in the UK so no craigslist or newegg for me). I'm looking to buy a monitor with G-sync etc, it's gonna have to be from a few years ago. But I was wondering, if the monitor specs say displayport 1.2 for example, does that mean that the monitor ONLY supports version 1.2, or is it just that was the standard that it supported UP TO at that time it was being sold? So if my GPU is capable of outputting version 1.4, am i restricted to purchasing monitors which specify version 1.4 in their specs? I'm presuming the standards are backwards compatible anyway so I could get a version 1.2 monitor anyway. Is it even worth bothering with version 1.4 for the bandwidth if I'm buying a monitor from years ago anyway? my GPU setup is 2 x GTX 980 cards (again not exactly the most up to date system but money is always a factor now I'm a grown up :rolleyes:

). I am also aware that natively the 980 cards output on version 1.2 but there is an Nvidia firmware update utility which allows them to output version 1.3/1.4 found here: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/nv-uefi-update-x64/

Just looking for a bit of advice as I say ive never spent any money on a proper gaming monitor before.

Thanks all!

mattrix · 8 Oct 2019 at 12:47

Never mind, i believe I have found the answer to my question after further research.

orbitalwalsh · 8 Oct 2019 at 12:49

g-sync compatible Freesync monitors

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/products/g-sync-monitors/specs/

lot cheaper then G-Sync onl units

mattrix · 8 Oct 2019 at 12:52

Yeah I know but unfortunately I can't utilise this because you need a 10 or 20 series GPU to support this. They only allowed the option to be turned on in the driver for Pascal and Turing architecture cards. So basically if you are in my situation, you can save a load of money and get a compatible FreeSync monitor, but then you have to spend 600 quid on a new GPU.

mattrix · 8 Oct 2019 at 19:00

OK I think I've done my research. I really don't have much of a budget, but I have the availability to get a 4K 60Hz monitor with G-Sync, for £150. However it is a TN panel, not an IPS panel. From what I've seen online, there's no way I'll get an IPS panel for that. So my question is, are those specs acceptable for a £150 price tag? Would appreciate people's thoughts. My current monitor is a 1080p TN panel at 60Hz without G-Sync, its just a bog standard Acer S240HL. I would be upgrading to an Acer XB280HK.

Len Dananey · 10 Oct 2019 at 14:37

Not sure what makes you think the 980 isn't able to use Gsync mattrix? It does indeed.I used to use Gsync with a 980, 980ti and then 980ti SLI before moving to the 1080ti's.

https://www.blurbusters.com/gsync/supported-graphics-cards/

mattrix · 10 Oct 2019 at 15:00

You can use it with G-sync. You just can't use it with Freesync. It's not able to output to "G-sync compatible" monitors (FreeSync) because of the architecture of the GPU, that's what i meant. Sorry for the confusion.

Len Dananey · 10 Oct 2019 at 16:05

mattrix said:
You can use it with G-sync. You just can't use it with Freesync. It's not able to output to "G-sync compatible" monitors (FreeSync) because of the architecture of the GPU, that's what i meant. Sorry for the confusion.

Ahh ok sorry mate.

NovaKill4 · 11 Oct 2019 at 16:26

mattrix said:
4K 60Hz monitor with G-Sync, for £150

How old is the monitor?

What games are you going to be playing?
In all honesty, you would struggle to notice the difference between 1080p on high and 4k on medium in the majority of games.
Im not sure how well SLI 980's would run a 4k monitor but i can tell you my 1080ti gives me 50-60fps when im playing more modern titles on high.

My advice would be try and get a better spec 1440p monitor, something that is IPS or VA panel or even high refresh rate

mattrix · 11 Oct 2019 at 17:00

Agreed, from my research I've settled on a 2K monitor with a higher refresh rate and IPS if i can get hold of it. However most of the ones available at the moment are all TN panels