Question Need advise on choosing a monitor for a MSI 3060 GC but also have one that is future proofed.

[hicks451]

Hi all,

I am about to buy a new monitor for my new Pc but I am unsure what one I should pick out of the 2 listed?
I intend to play 1st person shooters as well as triple A games plus space flight sims like Elite Dangerous, No mans Sky as well as Star citizen if it ever gets a full release?
What monitor would you choose or would you recommend something else?
I am looking for 27inch and above as well as 144Hz and above. My budget is around £300 to £350 but will go slightly more if needed.
Thanks in advance.

Hicks

Pc Spec.

Msi Meg Z690 Ace MB
Msi 3060GC
Intel AL i5
Kingston 16 GB DDR5 Memory X2
Samsung HD
Corsair RM850X Psu

Monitors on my list so far.

ASUS VG279QM 27in 280Hz Gaming Monitor

TUF Gaming VG279QM｜Monitors｜ASUS United Kingdom

TUF Gaming monitors are ideal for competitive gamers on a budget, delivering a carefully selected set of high-end gaming features at palatable prices. Immaculate visuals are now within reach.

www.asus.com

MSI Optix 32 Inch 165Hz QHD Curved Gaming Monitor

https://uk.msi.com/Monitor/Optix-AG321CQR

 

[KananX]

I will recommend you this one, it simply checks all boxes and is 1440p on top: https://www.newegg.com/amp/black-asus-tuf-gaming-vg27aql1a-27/p/N82E16824281067

 

[Eximo]

Future proofing monitors at this point is tough.

You have G-sync Ultimate, Free-Sync Premium, HDR, a new VESA Adaptive Sync certification to consider, OLED, QLED, and MicroLED technologies starting to make an appearance. 4K 144hz is likely to be the big up and coming resolution over the next 5-10 years, but that will set you back a lot. (Or like when I bought a 1440p 144hz monitor with G-sync, when that was new)

At your budget, TUF Gaming series makes sense. A decent monitor at a relatively low price.

Your choice at 1080p might last you longer before you need a GPU upgrade, and let you run older titles at a very high refresh. But as your system gets better, you will be missing out on higher resolutions.

KananX's suggestion of a 1440p panel is more middle of the road. Your GPU is fine for now, some games you will absolutely be able to run at 1440p at 100+ FPS. However, this will eventually lead to needing a GPU replacement as games get tougher to run.

As for the MSI. I'm not a fan of curved VA panels. Kind of a mix between IPS and TN panels. Decent color, but not great viewing angles (thus the curve) The features look good though.

 

[hicks451]

I will recommend you this one, it simply checks all boxes and is 1440p on top: https://www.newegg.com/amp/black-asus-tuf-gaming-vg27aql1a-27/p/N82E16824281067

Thank you Kanan. I will take a look. 👍

 

[hicks451]

Future proofing monitors at this point is tough.

You have G-sync Ultimate, Free-Sync Premium, HDR, a new VESA Adaptive Sync certification to consider, OLED, QLED, and MicroLED technologies starting to make an appearance. 4K 144hz is likely to be the big up and coming resolution over the next 5-10 years, but that will set you back a lot. (Or like when I bought a 1440p 144hz monitor with G-sync, when that was new)

At your budget, TUF Gaming series makes sense. A decent monitor at a relatively low price.

Your choice at 1080p might last you longer before you need a GPU upgrade, and let you run older titles at a very high refresh. But as your system gets better, you will be missing out on higher resolutions.

KananX's suggestion of a 1440p panel is more middle of the road. Your GPU is fine for now, some games you will absolutely be able to run at 1440p at 100+ FPS. However, this will eventually lead to needing a GPU replacement as games get tougher to run.

As for the MSI. I'm not a fan of curved VA panels. Kind of a mix between IPS and TN panels. Decent color, but not great viewing angles (thus the curve) The features look good though.

Nice one Eximo. Always appreciate your help and support!!! You have given me some great pointers especially regarding the future proofing and upgrading the card which I hope to do in around 12 months as well as upgrade the Cpu to hopefully a AL-i9.
I was leaning towards the Asus myself despite dropping to 1080p. Who would of thought I am back here again but this time on monitors lol. I was going to use the display port cable instead of the Hdmi cable so do I have to factor that in carefully if I go the 1080p route?
Apologies for the noob question.

Hicks 👍

As you might have gathered I am new to display port connections and have been using Dvi connections for years so I think I need to get up to speed between the hdmi connections & the new Display connections.

 

[KananX]

Cable is absolutely no problem, I prefer display port anyway. Are you really sure you wanna go with 1080p? It’s a bit outdated, actually the new 1080p is 1440p now.

 

[hicks451]

Future proofing monitors at this point is tough.

You have G-sync Ultimate, Free-Sync Premium, HDR, a new VESA Adaptive Sync certification to consider, OLED, QLED, and MicroLED technologies starting to make an appearance. 4K 144hz is likely to be the big up and coming resolution over the next 5-10 years, but that will set you back a lot. (Or like when I bought a 1440p 144hz monitor with G-sync, when that was new)

At your budget, TUF Gaming series makes sense. A decent monitor at a relatively low price.

Your choice at 1080p might last you longer before you need a GPU upgrade, and let you run older titles at a very high refresh. But as your system gets better, you will be missing out on higher resolutions.

KananX's suggestion of a 1440p panel is more middle of the road. Your GPU is fine for now, some games you will absolutely be able to run at 1440p at 100+ FPS. However, this will eventually lead to needing a GPU replacement as games get tougher to run.

As for the MSI. I'm not a fan of curved VA panels. Kind of a mix between IPS and TN panels. Decent color, but not great viewing angles (thus the curve) The features look good though.

Eximo, Do you think I would be left behind in the near future picking a refresh rate at 144Hz or even 160Hz? And if I went for the Asus at 240 plus at 1080p would I be better going the hdmi route and not the Display port route? Again apologise for the noob question and putting you on the spot.

 

[hicks451]

Cable is absolutely no problem, I prefer display port anyway. Are you really sure you wanna go with 1080p? It’s a bit outdated, actually the new 1080p is 1440p now.

Thanks again for your help. Yeah I am not sure if I should consider either monitor listed and maybe go to £400 and look for something that will tick more of the boxes being mentioned that will future proof me better. I will do some more research and let you both know my findings . I have seen some nice Samsung's at that price range. Thanks again Kanan ✌️

 

[Eximo]

Eximo, Do you think I would be left behind in the near future picking a refresh rate at 144Hz or even 160Hz? And if I went for the Asus at 240 plus at 1080p would I be better going the hdmi route and not the Display port route? Again apologise for the noob question and putting you on the spot.

160hz/165hz are generally just 144hz panels run overclocked. Similar with older 3440x1440 panels that were 75hz and run at 100hz. 1440p 165/170hz is the practical limit of DisplayPort 1.3. 1.4 is capable of 240hz, and 2.0 can do 4K at up to 240hz as well (though most on the market top out at 144hz)

It is the combination of resolution and refresh rate that sets up what you are trying to do.

1080p 144hz is pretty easy to drive for mid-range GPUs. 1080p 200hz+ requires a lot of CPU. An AL i5 is plenty for lighter titles where you would expect such high frame rates, but newer games will require more and more as time goes on. If you are always running low settings and targeting FPS, the GPU doesn't have to be particularly powerful. Upgrading to an i9 may not really matter all that much so much as clock speed or faster CPU cores in general.

1440p at 144hz is relatively easy on the CPU, but a much tougher task for the GPU, same with 4K, only much worse.

The RTX3060 is perfectly capable of all of these on a sliding scale. As resolution goes up your max FPS output will go down. It comes down to whether you want the game to look good or perform well. If you plan on replacing the GPU regularly, then it makes some sense to spend more on a monitor.

Buying an expensive monitor now means you are going to miss out on up and coming monitor features and technologies, but won't have to replace it every time you upgrade your GPU.

It is a trade off. I bought a 1440p 144hz (165hz) monitor for $800 back in 2016. Roughly the same as the TUF gaming series here for $300. On the positive side, the monitor has lasted a long time. On the negative side it lacks some of the latest available technologies like HDR, or being able to have ultra low motion blur on at the same time as G-sync.

I don't expect 240hz to be very mainstream for a while yet. 1440p 240 FPS is pretty daunting, just like 4K 144hz is now.

You might consider an ultrawide 3440x1440. Nothing wrong with running it at 2560x1440 when you need to.

The thing I don't like about 27" 1080p screens is the readability. Gaming and multimedia tasks will be alright, but web browsing isn't that great with a low pixel density.

 

[KananX]

Maybe I should say at this point that 240Hz isn’t any smoother than 144Hz, in a blind test at LTT, people couldn’t tell the difference and only 360Hz made a real but slight real world difference. The big jump was between 60 and 120/144, even more than that is like pouring a bowl of water into a lake.

 

[hicks451]

Thank you both. You have been a massive help and I am very grateful that you took the time to educate me on monitors. I am going to do some more searching as well as check out some youtube reviews. It looks like I need to take my time and choose wisely. I will keep you both informed. Have a fantastic evening!!! All the best. 👍✌️

 

[hicks451]

160hz/165hz are generally just 144hz panels run overclocked. Similar with older 3440x1440 panels that were 75hz and run at 100hz. 1440p 165/170hz is the practical limit of DisplayPort 1.3. 1.4 is capable of 240hz, and 2.0 can do 4K at up to 240hz as well (though most on the market top out at 144hz)

It is the combination of resolution and refresh rate that sets up what you are trying to do.

1080p 144hz is pretty easy to drive for mid-range GPUs. 1080p 200hz+ requires a lot of CPU. An AL i5 is plenty for lighter titles where you would expect such high frame rates, but newer games will require more and more as time goes on. If you are always running low settings and targeting FPS, the GPU doesn't have to be particularly powerful. Upgrading to an i9 may not really matter all that much so much as clock speed or faster CPU cores in general.

1440p at 144hz is relatively easy on the CPU, but a much tougher task for the GPU, same with 4K, only much worse.

The RTX3060 is perfectly capable of all of these on a sliding scale. As resolution goes up your max FPS output will go down. It comes down to whether you want the game to look good or perform well. If you plan on replacing the GPU regularly, then it makes some sense to spend more on a monitor.

Buying an expensive monitor now means you are going to miss out on up and coming monitor features and technologies, but won't have to replace it every time you upgrade your GPU.

It is a trade off. I bought a 1440p 144hz (165hz) monitor for $800 back in 2016. Roughly the same as the TUF gaming series here for $300. On the positive side, the monitor has lasted a long time. On the negative side it lacks some of the latest available technologies like HDR, or being able to have ultra low motion blur on at the same time as G-sync.

I don't expect 240hz to be very mainstream for a while yet. 1440p 240 FPS is pretty daunting, just like 4K 144hz is now.

You might consider an ultrawide 3440x1440. Nothing wrong with running it at 2560x1440 when you need to.

The thing I don't like about 27" 1080p screens is the readability. Gaming and multimedia tasks will be alright, but web browsing isn't that great with a low pixel density.

Eximo I came across this monitor.

https://www.cclonline.com/gb3461wqsu-b1-iiyama-red-eagle-g-master-gb3461wqsu-gaming-monitor-34-inch-3440-x-1440-uwqhd-ips-panel-amd-freesync-black/

Is that is the type of specs you suggested I take a look at?

 

[KananX]

Eximo I came across this monitor.

https://www.cclonline.com/gb3461wqsu-b1-iiyama-red-eagle-g-master-gb3461wqsu-gaming-monitor-34-inch-3440-x-1440-uwqhd-ips-panel-amd-freesync-black/

Is that is the type of specs you suggested I take a look at?

If you’re really such a flight sims and space flight fan, I think, it makes a lot of sense to consider a UW monitor, though be aware that it needs a lot of power to drive this beast, GPU power that is. More than double of a 1080p display.

 

[hicks451]

Hi all,

I just came across this Msi monitor.

https://www.msi.com/Monitor/Optix-MPG321QRF-QD/Specification

I will continue the search and list my findings once I have a new list.

Thanks

 

[KananX]

It’s not bad if you want something bigger than 27”, otherwise I’d take the Asus.