Is 1440p worth it for a GTX 1070?

[dunkirkman]

So I recently just bought the Alienware aw3418dw monitor. It can OC at 120hz or default at 100. I know not every game will run ultra but do you guys think I'd experience any trouble game play wise since I won't be hitting that 100fps?

It does have g sync. I will eventually upgrade my GPU but this monitor is on sale and I've been waiting for it too so I can grab it.

 

[Darkbreeze]

If you're going to upgrade the graphics card at some point, then it's probably worth it since you have G-sync, so long as you realize that for most AAA games you are not going to hit 100+ FPS at 1440p on that GTX 1070. With a 1080, 1080 ti, 2070 or 2080, you could probably do that well enough to call it good. Shouldn't be a problem though especially if you don't mind dropping a few settings and have a CPU that is capable enough to keep up.

 

[dunkirkman]

@Dark breeze. Thanks for the response! Now, would you recommend me lowering my settings until I hit 100fps+ or would I be okay to play just above 60fps @ 100hz?

 

[Darkbreeze]

IDK, that's kind of up to you. Both ways will work, but it does seem kind of sad to have to limit your refresh rate and lose the benefit of that which is the whole point of having a high refresh rate monitor in the first place, so lowering settings until you hit at or near the required FPS might be better but it depends on whether or not your CPU is capable enough to do that.

If you don't have a strong enough CPU then lowering the settings might result in maxing out your CPU usage and still not hitting the mark.

You'd probably have to try it out and see. What CPU do you have, how much memory do you have and what speed is your memory.

In fact, what are you full system specs?

 

[dunkirkman]

CPU is a i7 7700k unlocked
Ram is a Corsair vengeance ddr4 @ 3000mhz.
Total ram is 32gb however it's 8x4 ram slots. So I am using two paired 16gb sticks. Same model.

 

[dunkirkman]

I know I won't be able to run everything on ultra. Perhaps I'll just put somethings on high and as far as AA and shadows go, I can keep them on medium

 

[dunkirkman]

Here's a link for the ram. So I got two of these things... totalling 32gb. https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01HKF4ZUI/?tag=pcp0f-20

 

[Darkbreeze]

So, your CPU and memory are both fine. One question regarding memory though, do you HAVE the XMP profile for your memory enabled and is it running at the rated, advertised speed, or is it running at the default speed. Could make a big difference in your existing performance if not.

All told, you should have no problem on THAT side of things maintaining the necessary frame rates though.

I suppose you already know it's usually a bad idea to run memory that didn't ALL come in ONE kit together, but so long as it IS working, no harm no foul and the better to for that fact. Four sticks of RAM is taxing on the memory controller though so if you haven't had to already to get them running, I'd probably up your memory voltage by .005v just to ensure stability. More sticks is more stress and more probability of instability as no memory manufacturers guarantee their XMP profile values for dual channel kits when running more than two modules.

Might not be a bad idea to run four passes of Memtest86 as well, just to be sure. There is more to memory instability than just freezing, restarts or blue screens. Most memory corruptions occurs behind the scenes and you never know it's happening until it's too late and you start seeing issues. By then, it's too late and most of your data, files and operating system are borked.

That's all up to you though and isn't really relevant to this problem. I think you're fine as far as the hardware requirements are concerned.

 

[dunkirkman]

I believe it's running at default Dark. I got a professional to put my PC together a year ago and I havent encountered any BSOD except when it was first given to me, as my Mobo bricked. How do I run the memtest86? Is there an option to check ram on there?

Also, I was aware you shouldn't combine two of the same kits, however Amazon sent me an extra 16 without a charge so I couldn't just not use it...unless I wanted to sell it. As for the RAM speed, would you recommend me increasing it from the default? I believe that's done in the bios but I don't know how...don't want to fiddle around with that as I might screw something up

 

[Darkbreeze]

I agree, I'd probably use it too. So long as they WORK together, then it's usually ok. It's just that OFTEN, they WON'T work together. So long as they do, no harm no foul, mostly anyhow. I'd always rather see 2 x16GB for a 32GB memory configuration than 4 x8GB, but sometimes you play the hand you are dealt.

Yes, I would absolutely run them at their XMP profile settings. You'll need to set the XMP profile setting in the BIOS. It's not terribly hard. This guide should tell you everything you need to know about how to do that and I'd recommend you read it, several times if necessary, and try to set the XMP profile. As I said, with four modules you MIGHT need to slightly increase the DRAM (Memory) voltage as well since four modules at high speed tend to often not want to be stable with the default XMP settings, BUT, they might, so try it and only worry about the voltage if they don't want to RUN properly.

If the system doesn't want to POST after allowing it to try several times (It will probably restart itself two or three times while training the memory) then power off, take two sticks of memory out, power on, go into the bios, find the DRAM voltage setting and increase it by .005v, save settings, exit the bios, power off, install the other two modules back in again and try powering it on again to see if it will POST.

If you are not comfortable with doing this then I'd suggest you find somebody who is familiar and trained in doing this, like a shop.

*Resolving memory problems and setting up XMP/DOCP/AMP profiles

 

[dunkirkman]

Dark breeze, youve been an absolute help. Can't thank you enough! Now, I did make another thread, just so I can get more than one opinion (not saying yours is wrong) about upgrading some of my hardware. If you can check it out, I'd really appreciate it. let me know what you think. I won't be posting anymore threads as I don't want to spam.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Link?

 

[dunkirkman]

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-3853948/upgrading-build.html