144hz or 1440p for Gaming

[RenegadeHD]

I'm considering a new monitor. My current one is a terrible Viewsonic 1080P 60hz, with an awful stand.

In New Zealand a 1440p display is the same price as a 144hz display.

Keep in mind my specs are:

i7 4770K
16GB RAM
500GB SSD for running games.
Gigabyte Windforce GTX 970

I do some video editing and photoshop work, especially with 1080P files, so it would be really excellent in Photoshop with the image zoom at 100%, with room for my tools and such. I am mainly using my PC right now for gaming though, however I don't play many "twitchy" games such as CSGO, I play a ton of Call of Duty Zombies, Fallout, Battlefield (You be the judge as to whether it warrants a 144hz display) and some more 'casual' type games such as Trine and Grid.

I do also have the option of waiting some more time and purchasing a monitor with both of these functions, but I'd rather spend the extra cash on another 970 and push better framerates on my 144hz or 1440p display.

I'm only a student in a part time job for the 5 weeks of school break I have though, so money like this is rare for me, so I want to make the right decision.

 

[Gallarian]

I recently upgraded from 1080p@60hz to 1440p@144hz, and tried many different monitors in the process, so this is what I'd suggest:

With a single 970, 1440p is simply not worth cranking down a lot of graphics settings to achieve. You can expect a 30-40% FPS reduction at 1440p when compared with 1080p, so to stay at 60fps+, you're going from ultra to medium/high settings in most games right now. In my opinion, though the higher resolution is nice, its just not worth it unless you have a top tier GPU that can handle it (e.g. 980ti).

The biggest and most enjoyable change when I upgraded my monitor was definitely the feeling of 144hz. I genuinely used to believe that 'you wouldnt be able to tell the difference between anything higher than 60fps' before. I'm actually embarrassed that I said that to people. The difference is HUGE. I simply cant go back to 60hz now, it just looks awful in comparison. Even moving the cursor around is nicer at 144hz.

So, imo, if you have to make the choice between the two; higher refresh rate > higher resolution for gaming.

If you really need extra screen space for your editing work, then Id suggest just picking up a secondary 1080p monitor. You can get a 21.5" 1080p from Acer or Asus for next to nothing these days, and it would be perfect for just being able to have a few more things open whilst you edit.

 

[sshortguy73]

if you can go with a acer 27" 1440p 144 hz monitor for 699 go for it but I ended upo getting the acer 27 " 1440 p 144 hz with freesync for amd but still work on invidia cards I ended up getting the freesync 1 b/c it's 200 dollars cheaper for 499 and runs fine on invidia cards