1440p gaming: Worth the investment after a new GPU? Will it kill my system?

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hammer326

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Nov 29, 2012
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Hello!

So I recently upgraded to a new GPU much nicer than any other I've owned and decided it may be time to look into something better than my 22" 1920x1080 viewsonic for serious gaming and even general use.

I'm currently looking into various 27" monitors as the idea of jumping up to 1440p sounds like fun. Just like my GPU, I've rarely ever dropped more than $150 on a new monitor but am willing to double that approximately if you need a budget to work with for suggestions.

What else I'm deeply concerned about is how much harder the higher resolution will run my system. Right now, my GTX 1060 6GB approaches 70 degrees celsius playing Elite Dangerous maxed, which is not even the most demanding game out there. This GPU, however, I just recently learned was subject to a grievous oversight of its cooling system design and will be RMA'd for a FIXED one soon (thanks EVGA, both sarcastically and seriously), so this apparently high heat may be a moot point after the new card.

To summarize:
Will gaming on a bigger AND higher res monitor melt my system?
Is it even worth spending that kind of money for a new display for general use and moderate gaming, especially when I'm also long overdue for a new CPU, SSD, and even more RAM?

System specs:
EVGA GTX 1060 6GB
12GB RAM
intel DH77KC mobo
intel I5 3330 CPU
Corsair 750w PSU
2x Seagate 500GB HDD's
Windows 7 64 bit

 
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-RAM is fine
-GPU, while better than the old one most likely, is best for 1080p instead of 1440p. 1440p gets into the 1070 range. That said, turn the settings down a bit and you'll be able to play many games at a playable framerate on the 1060, it's not like you'll end up getting 10FPS on medium with it. You'll be getting in the range of 40-50 for many games.
-It will not melt your system as long as you don't heat the GPU up to 80-90-100 degrees and leave it there. These cards are designed to handle 100% utilization and not have a nuclear meltdown.
-For the moment, your CPU is also fine. The SSD would not be a bad idea, but that's really up to whether or not you care about the convenience of it. If you don't care about long boot times, I wouldn't bother with it, I'd put the money to either a possible later upgrade on the rest of your system (moving over to skylake/kaby lake or Zen) or just... keep the money and save it.
-Go look at monitors somewhere local. Screens are incredibly hard to judge from another screen. You can get someone to tell you that 1440p looks fantastic (which it does), but it would really be best for you to go look at them and see what you think, and then determine if getting a higher res monitor would be worth it.
 
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the 1060 is a great at 1080p card

70 degrees is cool


not for 1440p, need a gtx 1070 for that
 
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Personally I prefer 21x9, even in 1080p, to 1440p. I know it's not as crisp but I think by the time I upgrade to a new monitor 4k will be better and more affordable so I'd rather not spend money now on a 1440p monitor only to get a 4k monitor in 2 years when prices have fallen a bit and more affordable cards can run the resolution.

Edit because I forgot to mention: Monitor size has no bearing on system strain it's pixel count. For instance I can run my 720p 55 inch TV off my integrated graphics and get decent frame rates yet my 1080p 25 inch monitor requires a graphics card to play most games. It's all about how many pixels it has to process.
 
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Agreed. It's more than faster boot times. You'll spend far less time staring at a loading screen in games, and everything will launch as fast as you can press the button.
 
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Hi Hammer - Being a recent owner of an EVGA myself (a GTX1070 though) - in addition to the above comments there may be something to help you out with your temps: Go to the EVGA forums and look for a BIOS update for your card. EVGA identified an issue with the fan speed in the previous BIOS, which they changed (at least for my card's class). The new BIOS speeds up the fans a little without compromising noise - hence your card runs cooler.

Here is a starter:
http://forums.evga.com/EVGA-GeForce-GTX-1060-BIOS-Update-Single-Fan-Models-Only-m2520978.aspx

Good luck!
 
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If you really want a 1440p monitor then I would recommend getting it. I'm gaming with an old GTX 570 on an ASUS PB278Q 27" 1440p monitor and it's like night & day vs my old ASUS VS239H-P 23" 1080p monitor.

I play StarCraft 2 and CS:GO on ultra high settings. Overwatch on medium settings at 60FPS.

You'll even be fine with newer game titles. I wouldn't expect 100FPS on very graphic intensive games, but I'm assuming around 60FPS is doable if you tweak with the graphic settings.
 
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Thanks for the replies everybody!

As of late it's become apparent that there's still a few upgrades to do before it's new display time, but I will keep all this in mind and be sure to hit a best buy or elsewhere and look at what I can in person, as I agree that that is really the only way I'm going to make a call effectively before I pull the trigger on a purchase comparable to the new GPU. I really don't even know if 1440p will look much different to me or specifically how but if I'd essentially be breaking even with them (since game graphics settings would have to come down to maintain a decent FPS) I may re-evaluate them and just opt for a bigger 1080p screen. Thanks again!
 
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