Gaming at 1080p on a 120Hz monitor with ultra settings

[reveszroland]

Hello There,

I am planning to assemble a gaming PC. After "chewing" the topic for a couple of times (4K at 30fps? / Full HD at 60fps? / Just run the latest titles for 2-3 years at high settings?), I have come to the conclusion that my sweet spot would be to play games at 1920x1080 resolution on a 120Hz monitor with high or (preferably) ultra settings. So - if I understand well - I would need a rig that is capable of pushing the framerate above 100fps - to utilize the capability of a G-Sync monitor (I know AMD uses FreeSync but I would cling to nVidia).

The relevant components would be the following:

• 
  MOBO: MSI Z170A GAMING M3
  Memory: Corsair 2x8GB DDR4 2400MHz
  CPU: Intel Core i5-7600K
  GPU: MSI GTX1080 Gaming X 8G

I would do some minor overclocking without a need for watercooling.

So what do you think? Is a GTX1080 an overkill?

Generally speaking about the minimum requirements of gaming with high fps on a high refresh rate monitor, I could not find any instructions on the web about the must-haves:

• 
  Does RAM speed play a role?
  Amount of RAM? 16 GB or 32 GB?
  The more video memory the better?
  i5 CPU or i7 CPU?

Another question: take a PC where one game can be run at 100fps on average at ultra settings, whilst another can be run at 150fps on average at ultra settings. Does the G-Sync technology

• 
  dynamically change the refresh rate to 100Hz of a 120Hz monitor, and the game runs at 100fps in the first scenario,
  forces the game to be run at 120 fps with a 120Hz refresh rate in the second scenario?

So if I understand well, the key is to synchronize the frame rate of the GPU with the refresh rate of the monitor to avoid tearing, and to have a smooth gaming experience.

Thank you all in advance.

Roland

 

[Hellfire13]

All of your concerns covered in the tentative part list below...

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8400 2.8GHz 6-Core Processor ($199.89 @ B&H)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - Z370 AORUS GAMING WIFI (rev. 1.0) ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team - Vulcan 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial - MX300 275GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($41.89 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Windforce OC Video Card ($399.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair - SPEC-01 RED ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair - CXM 550W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($88.89 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Acer - GN246HL 24.0" 1920x1080 144Hz Monitor ($187.49 @ B&H)
Total: $1308.10
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-25 14:39 EST-0500

http://www.pcgamer.com/intel-i5-8400-review-the-best-new-gaming-cpu-in-years/

 

[reveszroland]

All of your concerns covered in the tentative part list below...

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8400 2.8GHz 6-Core Processor ($199.89 @ B&H)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - Z370 AORUS GAMING WIFI (rev. 1.0) ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team - Vulcan 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial - MX300 275GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($41.89 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Windforce OC Video Card ($399.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair - SPEC-01 RED ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair - CXM 550W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($88.89 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Acer - GN246HL 24.0" 1920x1080 144Hz Monitor ($187.49 @ B&H)
Total: $1308.10
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-25 14:39 EST-0500

http://www.pcgamer.com/intel-i5-8400-review-the-best-new-gaming-cpu-in-years/

Thank you, but I'm afraid this doesn't fulfil my thirst for the know-hows. What I'd be interested in is the main "drivers" meaning: what are the specifications in general which lead to a smooth 120Hz/144Hz gaming experience? At least 8GB of video memory? At least 32GB of RAM? Can the RAM speed be ignored? And so on, what I posted previously.

 

[sizzling]

For high FPS/Hz gaming you need a strong cpu and single core performance is important, this is why Intel takes the lead still at high fps gaming. You also need a strong gpu and 16Gb RAM. VRAM depends on resolution but for 1080p 4Gb or higher is fine.

Just google some benchmarks of the latest CPU's & GPU's

 

[Hellfire13]

All of your concerns covered in the tentative part list below...

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8400 2.8GHz 6-Core Processor ($199.89 @ B&H)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - Z370 AORUS GAMING WIFI (rev. 1.0) ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team - Vulcan 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial - MX300 275GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($41.89 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Windforce OC Video Card ($399.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair - SPEC-01 RED ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair - CXM 550W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($88.89 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Acer - GN246HL 24.0" 1920x1080 144Hz Monitor ($187.49 @ B&H)
Total: $1308.10
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-25 14:39 EST-0500

http://www.pcgamer.com/intel-i5-8400-review-the-best-new-gaming-cpu-in-years/

Thank you, but I'm afraid this doesn't fulfil my thirst for the know-hows. What I'd be interested in is the main "drivers" meaning: what are the specifications in general which lead to a smooth 120Hz/144Hz gaming experience? At least 8GB of video memory? At least 32GB of RAM? Can the RAM speed be ignored? And so on, what I posted previously.

The main driver for 120hz/144hz monitor is your GPU. You need a mid to high range GPU for that. The stronger the GPU the better will be its rendering throughput for faster refresh. And that means the higher cores are required for accelerated video processing. But a high GPU cannot operate without the cpu complimenting its input/output rate. But the cpu has a lesser role refresh wise.
RAM wise modern games consume anywhere between 8gb to 16gb. You also need to take into account the background processes that requires additional RAM. But 32gb would be overkill for most games specially at 1080p. RAM speed doesnt affect gaming too much, but having said that you need to cater to the minimum speed required to avoid processing lag.

 

[reveszroland]

Thank you all for your help.