MSI GTX 970: 1440p vs 144hz

[Firehawk911]

I have one GTX 970 and I play games like payday 2 and guns of icarus and a lot of FPS games for that matter and I was wondering what monitor I should get, I like graphics but the 144hz seems pretty amazing for my type of gaming and I don't want to sacrifice ultra settings for medium if it means using 144hz. I was just wondering what games would I be able to use 144hz on or if it'd be worth getting. I play assassins creed unity, farcry 4, payday 2 (this one is most often), Counterstrike (Not pro but when i play with friends im pretty competitive) and games like that.

I have an AMD fx 8320 Eight-Core processor 3.50 GHz

16 GB of DDR3 RAM

and the monitors I was debating on getting are Asus VG248QE 144Hz 24.0" Monitor

and

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA6PB2983854

Thats pretty much my budget, 280 Dollars

 

[chenw]

I personally would choose Hz over resolution anytime, because the existence of DSR means you can still enjoy higher res textures if you have spare GPU power, but you can't get higher hz on a low hz monitor by turning down resolution.

Also, a lower resolution screen have an advantage that if for performance reasons you need to lower resolution, 1080p on an 1080p screen will look better than a 1080p on a 1440p monitor at full screen (can always scale though, but you'll have black borders).

That being said, if the 1440p is a good quality IPS, it is not as clear cut. IPS tend to have better colors out of the box and the colors carry over to every game you play. A quality TN would still require some calibration, and unfortunately that calibration sometimes does not carry over, and often more work needs to be done to get the most out of it.

If you are one that values image quality over smoothness, get 1440p IPS, if you don't, a good quality 144hz is more versatile.

 

[Firehawk911]

I personally would choose Hz over resolution anytime, because the existence of DSR means you can still enjoy higher res textures if you have spare GPU power, but you can't get higher hz on a low hz monitor by turning down resolution.

Also, a lower resolution screen have an advantage that if for performance reasons you need to lower resolution, 1080p on an 1080p screen will look better than a 1080p on a 1440p monitor at full screen (can always scale though, but you'll have black borders).

That being said, if the 1440p is a good quality IPS, it is not as clear cut. IPS tend to have better colors out of the box and the colors carry over to every game you play. A quality TN would still require some calibration, and unfortunately that calibration sometimes does not carry over, and often more work needs to be done to get the most out of it.

If you are one that values image quality over smoothness, get 1440p IPS, if you don't, a good quality 144hz is more versatile.

Would i be able to run 1080 with the 144hz monitor and get the full affect of the 144hz? I've been doing a lot of research before I bought this and have been getting mixed answers, some saying that my card wouldn't be good enough to run that high of FPS on some games to get the full affect without SLI, which I don't believe I can afford at the moment. Sure, I don't mind lowering the settings a little bit if necessary in games but I want to at least keep the resolution. Also, what is G-sync? Im not sure what it is but the 144hz monitor I want supports it and I don't know if it would help or what exactly it is, Isn't it supposed to reduce tearing? If so, does that help my performance at all with the 144hz?

 

[chenw]

Basically, in a nutshell, G-Sync comes at a premium, but is generally regarded as one of the most important bits of tech in gaming. It solves many age old problems (screen tearing and input lag when V-Sync is enabled) and helps smoothing out 40~50 fps a bit. It works by forcing the monitor to wait for the GPU to finish rendering an image before accepting data from the GPU and displaying it. V-Sync is the other way round, normal monitors refresh at set times, V-Sync forces GPU to wait until the monitor is ready to receive an image, then sends it to the monitor and displays it.

It doesn't look that impressive on paper, it is something you have to experience.

That monitor was the first monitor that could be G-Sync'ed, however it can only be done with a special module from nVidia, which costed quite a bit ($200), is no longer sold, and AFAIK voids the warranty on the monitor. If I want to enjoy a G-Sync monitor, I would prefer buying a monitor that already comes with G-Sync.

Whether or not you will get the full effects of 144hz heavily depends on the game you are playing. Some very recent games are very demanding even at 1080p, even for 970, so you may not necessarily achieve 144fps in those, but for slightly older games, 970 can usually handle those well enough that your fps would be above 60.

Whether that would benefit you or not would entirely depend on the genre of games you play. if you play a lot of fps and tps, I would seriously consider 144hz. If you play a lot of slow pace games, like TBS or RTS, IPS would be better in those games.

 

[Firehawk911]

Basically, in a nutshell, G-Sync comes at a premium, but is generally regarded as one of the most important bits of tech in gaming. It solves many age old problems (screen tearing and input lag when V-Sync is enabled) and helps smoothing out 40~50 fps a bit. It works by forcing the monitor to wait for the GPU to finish rendering an image before accepting data from the GPU and displaying it. V-Sync is the other way round, normal monitors refresh at set times, V-Sync forces GPU to wait until the monitor is ready to receive an image, then sends it to the monitor and displays it.

It doesn't look that impressive on paper, it is something you have to experience.

That monitor was the first monitor that could be G-Sync'ed, however it can only be done with a special module from nVidia, which costed quite a bit ($200), is no longer sold, and AFAIK voids the warranty on the monitor. If I want to enjoy a G-Sync monitor, I would prefer buying a monitor that already comes with G-Sync.

Whether or not you will get the full effects of 144hz heavily depends on the game you are playing. Some very recent games are very demanding even at 1080p, even for 970, so you may not necessarily achieve 144fps in those, but for slightly older games, 970 can usually handle those well enough that your fps would be above 60.

Whether that would benefit you or not would entirely depend on the genre of games you play. if you play a lot of fps and tps, I would seriously consider 144hz. If you play a lot of slow pace games, like TBS or RTS, IPS would be better in those games.

One more question, How would I use MSI afterburner to see my FPS in games? I read somewhere that this is possible and I want to track my FPS in Payday 2 with it because NVIDIA's shadowplay seems to cap at 60 fps which kind of doesn't really help me. Also, would MSI afterburner be able to increase fps if i overclock my card to a point if needed?

 

[chenw]

I have only used afterburner for OC (but I have started to use nVidia inspector for that, as I have not found a way to OC my second card seperate from my first one), never for FPS monitors, so I am not sure about how to use that function.

I use fraps to monitor FPS in real time (no pun intended)