Question Buying a QD-OLED monitor do I stay at 4K or switch to 1440p

[smush]

I've had the same 27 inch 4K IPS monitor for about 5+ years now and looking to buy a new monitor probably a QD-OLED. I am just questioning whether to stay at the 4K resoultion or look at getting a 1440p one. My GPU is a 4070Ti and seems to manage 4K 60fps at the games I play which are mostly single player like Cyperpunk 2077, Alan Wake 2 and online co-op games like Wildlands/Breakpoint, Warframe, CoD Zombies etc but I am intrigued at playing the games I play in the 100-120 fps range, which with the set up I have would mean switching to 1440p or upgrading the GPU. My concern however is will I see it as a downgrade and be disappointed with the switch to 1440p? Do I stay at 4K and carry on at 60fps until I save enough money to get a better GPU but a 4090 is just way too expensive though and not sure how I can justify upgrading within the same GPU generation from a not even 2 year old 4070Ti to say a 4080.

 

[Zerk2012]

I've had the same 27 inch 4K IPS monitor for about 5+ years now and looking to buy a new monitor probably a QD-OLED. I am just questioning whether to stay at the 4K resoultion or look at getting a 1440p one. My GPU is a 4070Ti and seems to manage 4K 60fps at the games I play which are mostly single player like Cyperpunk 2077, Alan Wake 2 and online co-op games like Wildlands/Breakpoint, Warframe, CoD Zombies etc but I am intrigued at playing the games I play in the 100-120 fps range, which with the set up I have would mean switching to 1440p or upgrading the GPU. My concern however is will I see it as a downgrade and be disappointed with the switch to 1440p? Do I stay at 4K and carry on at 60fps until I save enough money to get a better GPU but a 4090 is just way too expensive though and not sure how I can justify upgrading within the same GPU generation from a not even 2 year old 4070Ti to say a 4080.

Nobody can answer that for you.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Hey there,

Well, there is mostly certainly a difference between between 60fps and 120fps, regardless of resolution. But, another factor is the 1% lows. This is an indication of how smooth the game will be. So if you are hitting say 165fps (with monitor being 1440p and capable of 165hz), then it's likely the 1% lows will be about the 100FPS mark. This will be very smooth. No matter what you do at 60hz/fps it just won't be the same smoothness at all.

It is a tough choice, but without changing the GPU, then dropping to 1440p might be a nicer experience. 2k still has great fidelity, and is arguably the sweet spot for gaming monitors. I'd much rather hit high fps on a 1440p monitor, than 60fps on a 4k.

IMO, I'd say you will be pleasantly surprised by the 1440p experience with higher FPS. Add in VRR and it's very enjoyable.

But, the one caveat is that if you go for 1440p, then further down the line if you go for a 5070ti lets say (which may be close in performance to a 4090) you will then need to get a new monitor again as 1440p would become a bottleneck.

With all of that said, I'd also try and factor in where games are going right now. Vram is a big factor at or above 1440p. Some new games are absolute Vram hogs, so 16gb vram is almost essential right now for higher resolutions and more eye candy. New games running Unreal 5 engine use lots of vram and are very taxing on what would be mid-high end GPU's like yours.

 

[smush]

Nobody can answer that for you.

They could talk about their own experiences in making this switch.

But, the one caveat is that if you go for 1440p, then further down the line if you go for a 5070ti lets say (which may be close in performance to a 4090) you will then need to get a new monitor again as 1440p would become a bottleneck.

How would a 1440p monitor be a bottleneck? I understand bottlenecks in terms of say pairing an i3 with a 4090 but an accessory like a monitor I'm not so sure, after all you have esports gamers using high end hardware with 1080p monitors to get the highest FPS possible.

I am sort of leaning toward the 4K option because I could just turn settings down or switch the resolution to 1440p in the game to get the higher frames until I do upgrade rather than the significant spending on a QD OLED 1440p then another significant spending on 4K QD OLED when I upgrade the GPU sayi in the next 2-3 years

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

How would a 1440p monitor be a bottleneck?

Well, you mentioned getting a stronger card like a 4090. The monitor becomes a bottleneck when your GPU can output more FPS/hz than the monitor is capable of. The monitor can only show the FPS that the hz will allow. Anything over that means nothing.

I am sort of leaning toward the 4K option because I could just turn settings down or switch the resolution to 1440p

That's a good point. I just prefer to run things native. But that would work too. Just get something high hz.

 

[Zerk2012]

They could talk about their own experiences in making this switch

Your probably not going to find a lot of people that have switched from 4K IPS to a 1440p OLED monitor.
I would think turning the settings down on a OLED monitor would defeat the purpose of buying one.

From the games you listed 60 FPS should be fine.