Buying a monitor - Lost between 1440 vs 144hz

[exeon]

Hi all,
I'm about to receive all the parts for my gaming build:
http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/nrKjsY

I am only missing a monitor. I currently have an old Acer X223W.

The PC will be mainly used for gaming and I don't expect to do any 4K gaming. As you can see, I will be using a single GTX 970 and will probably upgrade to a SLI setup in a year or so (unless a new card pops up and is affordable).

Even though the ROG Swift is the ideal monitor, I am not willing to pay 1000$ for a monitor. My EXTREME max is 500$ but even that is exagerated IMO. My sweet spot would be around 300$. I'm from Canada.

I am a bit torn between going for 1440p vs 144hz vs G-sync.
I play all types of games but rarely (if ever) FPS online. My offline games are usually open worlds like Skyrim, DA, GTA, etc and online, I mainly play D3. So I am thinking that 1440p makes more sense then 144hz in my case. Do you agree?

Can you suggest a monitor that would fit my profile and my build?

Thanks!

 

[Gam3r01]

Get the 1440p, you will notice the difference far easier than 144Hz.
I dont recommend going over 60Hz anyway, as there are those that say theres a difference, I say no. Your graphics card wouldnt hit 144FPS often enough to make it worth it if you could "see" it.

Not to mention RTS and similar games are better on higher resolution than refresh rates.
(Side note, what class in D3 ?)

 

[exeon]

Hey Gam3r01.
Can you suggest a good 300$ish 1440p monitor? Should I wait for the end of CES (i.e. some current gen monitors will drop in price when new ones are announced)?

(my S1 main is a DH but I have pretty much every class on grind mode. S1 was way too long )

 

[Gam3r01]

If you can wait, it might be a good option to see if prices go down.

I play holy monk, my poor S1 crusader was so starved it never made it past T1 D: (S1 was too long)

 

[chenw]

For your budget, 1440p IPS is more ideal, 144hz monitors requires a lot of background tweaking and adjustments to get the most out of, so IPS has much better out of the box experience. 1440p is also just about the maximum tolerable UI size compared to the screen (any higher res the UI just gets too small to read).

However opinions differ. If budget wasn't a concern, I wouldn't ever buy a 60hz monitor again (especially not with 144hz IPS on the horizon), and I quite enjoyed tweaking monitors.

 

[exeon]

so I've pushed my thoughts a bit more and here is where I am at now.

1) My parts arrive in a couple of days. I'd like to have a display by then. So target is to buy the display by mid next week.
2) As I won't be doing any FPS or if so, very little, I am aiming at an IPS screen
3) I have a feeling that with CES and all the tech changes for monitors happening now, new AFFORDABLE monitors will start popping up in ~6 months. Because of this, I expect the monitor I will buy now to be my second screen in 6 months. So I have to buy one now but it probably won't be my main monitor in 6 to 12 months
4) As I don't want to invest in a second 970 now, 4k is out of the question. The question is, should I ignore 1440p to for now and wait 6 to 12 months?

With all this said, I want to stick to MAX 400$ for my budget for this temporary monitor. I have a feeling a 400$ 1440p monitor would be a waste for now as only the Korean ones fit this budget...

So it seems I should be looking at 1080p IPS displays. Do you agree? If so, what should I go for?

 

[-Lone-]

Here you go, BenQ 27 inch 1440p IPS monitor with 4 ms response time with built in speakers plus all 4 display connection ports.

https://pcpartpicker.com/part/benq-monitor-gw2765ht

Edit: Or go with 1080p IPS if you really don't want to spend the money, but I'd highly recommend to go with 1440p IPS if you're going to SLI the 970 later so you can play games at ultra settings on it.

 

[exeon]

Thanks Lone.
The only concern I have with buying a 1440p screen is that it seems we are in a turning point for monitors and with all the CES announcements, I have a feeling the cost for 1440p/G-Sync/144hz monitors might drop in a near future. I'd feel like a fool buying a 500$ 1440p monitor only to have better monitors for half the price come out in 2 or 3 months...

 

[-Lone-]

I'd expect 1440p g sync to be more than $500, probably close to Asus Swift with those features.

 

[TallestJon96]

I own a 144hz monitor, and have never owned a 1440p monitor. I believe 144hz is better for gaming. Motion is more fluid, but what is often overlooked is the low input lag and reduced screen tearing. Also 1080p vs 1440p is not that much of a jump compared to 60hz vs 144hz. Finally, a higher refresh rate helps smoothoutpiirly optimized games that stutter, but 1440p increases the minimum GPU powerhouse need. That being said, if you want better colors, or don't have a good eye for screen tearing or motion resolution, get the 1440p.