Question New monitor advice

[GreenMadman]

Hello, I'm planning my first build and I'm looking for some advice.



I can't decide on what monitor resolution and refresh rate to go for. There aren't really any places where I could properly check the differences myself, so I'm trying to get as many opinions as I can, and I also know it's different for everyone.



First off, the resolution : I'm trying to decide between a 24" 1080p and a 27" 1440p monitor. The 1080p is the default and safer choice, and I'm contemplating whether to go up to 1440p. The benefits of a 1440p monitor would be better visuals in games and a bigger work space overall. However, I have many concerns about that resolution. The first being that currently, most content on Youtube and Twitch goes up to only 1080p and I'm worried about how good/bad that will look on native 1440p. Someone said that the quality is similar to 720p on a 1080p monitor, and that looks pretty bad. Can someone confirm if that comparison is fair? Also, I will be playing a lot of older games, and I've read that many of them have various problems on 1440p. And finally, I do a lot of reading on my PC. Is the text on a 27" 1440p smaller comapred to text on a 24" 1080p or are they more or less the same? I know i can zoom/change the settings, I'm just curious about the default size. Lastly for this part, the prices where I live for 1080p is 150-250$ and for 1440p is 350-450$. With all that said, do you think 1440p would be worth it's price premium for me?



Second, the refresh rate : Since I don't play FPS or competitive games I was planning to go with 60/75Hz, but my friend keeps trying to convince me to go for 144Hz because everything, both in game and out, just looks far smoother and better than on 60Hz. Would you agree with that statement, or is more than 60Hz pretty much just a waste of money?



Final part : Out of these 4 options, which one would you pick: 1080p 60/75Hz ~$175, 1080p 144Hz ~$225, 1440p 60/75Hz ~$325 or 1440p 144Hz ~$450, and which particular monitor would you recommend? There are 4 monitors under $450 here : Lenovo L27q-10 $340, HP Pavilion 27q $370, AOC Q2790PQU $450 and Benq PD2700Q $470. Are any of these good or should I try to get one online? The prices seem a bit inflated, but I've read a lot about people buying monitors online and getting faulty ones. Since returning an item would be pretty problematic and I would basically have to give up on the warranty, do you think it's still a good idea to order one online?



Thank you very much to everyone who reads all this, especially to those who also reply, much love to all of you!

 

[LordVile]

Hello, I'm planning my first build and I'm looking for some advice.



I can't decide on what monitor resolution and refresh rate to go for. There aren't really any places where I could properly check the differences myself, so I'm trying to get as many opinions as I can, and I also know it's different for everyone.



First off, the resolution : I'm trying to decide between a 24" 1080p and a 27" 1440p monitor. The 1080p is the default and safer choice, and I'm contemplating whether to go up to 1440p. The benefits of a 1440p monitor would be better visuals in games and a bigger work space overall. However, I have many concerns about that resolution. The first being that currently, most content on Youtube and Twitch goes up to only 1080p and I'm worried about how good/bad that will look on native 1440p. Someone said that the quality is similar to 720p on a 1080p monitor, and that looks pretty bad. Can someone confirm if that comparison is fair? Also, I will be playing a lot of older games, and I've read that many of them have various problems on 1440p. And finally, I do a lot of reading on my PC. Is the text on a 27" 1440p smaller comapred to text on a 24" 1080p or are they more or less the same? I know i can zoom/change the settings, I'm just curious about the default size. Lastly for this part, the prices where I live for 1080p is 150-250$ and for 1440p is 350-450$. With all that said, do you think 1440p would be worth it's price premium for me?



Second, the refresh rate : Since I don't play FPS or competitive games I was planning to go with 60/75Hz, but my friend keeps trying to convince me to go for 144Hz because everything, both in game and out, just looks far smoother and better than on 60Hz. Would you agree with that statement, or is more than 60Hz pretty much just a waste of money?



Final part : Out of these 4 options, which one would you pick: 1080p 60/75Hz ~$175, 1080p 144Hz ~$225, 1440p 60/75Hz ~$325 or 1440p 144Hz ~$450, and which particular monitor would you recommend? There are 4 monitors under $450 here : Lenovo L27q-10 $340, HP Pavilion 27q $370, AOC Q2790PQU $450 and Benq PD2700Q $470. Are any of these good or should I try to get one online? The prices seem a bit inflated, but I've read a lot about people buying monitors online and getting faulty ones. Since returning an item would be pretty problematic and I would basically have to give up on the warranty, do you think it's still a good idea to order one online?



Thank you very much to everyone who reads all this, especially to those who also reply, much love to all of you!

Depends what panel you want too. If you don’t play FPS much a good VA or IPS would be better than a TN.

Also if your budget is that high I’d also suggest 1440p UW. You’ll get black bars on YouTube video but movies and games will be amazing.
Also 1080p is 1080p. It’ll look fine on a 1440p panel.

 

[DragonMarioMC]

This is quite dependant on your gpu. If you will be gaming, and you have at least a 1070 or 980 ti, you could go for a 144hz qhd panel. When it comes down to working on a large workspace, it definitely is a bit thing, and if media consumption and workspace is your main use then a 4k monitor may be just perfect, preferably a 32" panel as you'll be able to see in incredible detail as well as having much more screen to work with. Definitely if you are going to be gaming then you need a strong gpu.
If you are worried about 1080p video on 1440hz, yes it is downscaled, but nowhere near as much as 720p on a 1080p screen. 1440p provides much more pixels and clarity and 1080p is portrayed almost in full definition and clarity, like displaying 900p on a 1080p monitor.
If gaming is an option, and if video card is an option then definitely go for a higher refresh rate panel at a lower resolution. It all boils down to how much you are going to be using it for specific tasks. And what games + whether you are willing to sacrifice quality and graphics for performance.
You have to try out a high refresh rate monitor simply as it's a whole new experience, it is more responsive, much smoother and makes for incredible gameplay. Best thing to do is try out 144hz in person, but for just gaming, I'd rather give up resolution than refresh rate, as it's simply amazing.

 

[GreenMadman]

Depends what panel you want too. If you don’t play FPS much a good VA or IPS would be better than a TN.

Also if your budget is that high I’d also suggest 1440p UW. You’ll get black bars on YouTube video but movies and games will be amazing.
Also 1080p is 1080p. It’ll look fine on a 1440p panel.

Yeah I was planning to avoid TN like the plague. I've been using a TN for around 10 years and it has served me well but right now I'd rather go for image quality. As for ultra-wide, it's not something for me. 27" 1440p will already be a massive improvement so anything more is just overkill.

This is quite dependant on your gpu. If you will be gaming, and you have at least a 1070 or 980 ti, you could go for a 144hz qhd panel. When it comes down to working on a large workspace, it definitely is a bit thing, and if media consumption and workspace is your main use then a 4k monitor may be just perfect, preferably a 32" panel as you'll be able to see in incredible detail as well as having much more screen to work with. Definitely if you are going to be gaming then you need a strong gpu.
If you are worried about 1080p video on 1440hz, yes it is downscaled, but nowhere near as much as 720p on a 1080p screen. 1440p provides much more pixels and clarity and 1080p is portrayed almost in full definition and clarity, like displaying 900p on a 1080p monitor.
If gaming is an option, and if video card is an option then definitely go for a higher refresh rate panel at a lower resolution. It all boils down to how much you are going to be using it for specific tasks. And what games + whether you are willing to sacrifice quality and graphics for performance.
You have to try out a high refresh rate monitor simply as it's a whole new experience, it is more responsive, much smoother and makes for incredible gameplay. Best thing to do is try out 144hz in person, but for just gaming, I'd rather give up resolution than refresh rate, as it's simply amazing.

For 144Hz I was planning to go with either the 5700xt or the 2070 super, so gpu strength shouldn't be a problem. The main concern is that the bump in price for going to 144Hz is around $400 and I'm not sure if it's worth it. As I said above, going over 27" or 1440p is overkill for me. I've thought about going for a 1080p 144Hz, but the higher resolution + larger screen make more sense for my use case than the higher refresh rate. And as for trying out a higher refresh monitor, that is kind of off the table. I can't check them in the stores because they are either turned off or are rolling a random looped low quality video so you can't compare them (genius move there), while the laptops that are on don't have any software installed so again no dice. And since none of my friends have a high refresh rate monitor, the only option would have been a gaming cafe, but none of the open ones have them, and the ones that did all closed down some time ago. So it's kind of an annoying situation where I'd have to pay a lot to just try and see if it's even for me.