[SOLVED] New Monitor and/or Time to Upgrade PC?

[Urbanitus]

For years, I've had two standard budget 1080p monitors that I've used for work and moderate gaming on my home computer. One of them is now over a decade old and is getting increasingly hard to read, so I'm thinking about getting its replacement (which has also led me to wondering if/when I should upgrade my GPU and/or whole PC build). It has been years since I've really paid attention to monitor technology or even gaming PC components, so I'm starting cold on all of this. My current build can be seen here: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/Urbanitus/saved/Hz6qqs although I've since added a spare laptop HDD that I had available.

For the monitor:

1. Is there a reason to consider going above 1080p to 1440 or even 4K if I've been happy with 1080p up to now? I have 4K at work, and it seems like it is almost more trouble than it's worth for non-gaming tasks given scaling issues.
2. Is there a reason to consider replacing both monitors at once or to maybe think about replacing both with a single extra wide monitor?
3. While I'm willing to be convinced otherwise, at the moment I can't imagine spending more than $300 on a monitor. Any suggestions?

For the PC:

1. Would my RX 280X have issues running 1440 for gaming? What about when not gaming?
2. I never got around to overclocking my CPU. Would that be something worth considering to extend the life of this build, or should I just start thinking about a whole new build?
3. What GPUs should I consider to use with my current build if I decided to upgrade for 1440? Is there a sweet spot for something that might be overpowered for now but could be useful if I go full rebuild in a year or so?

 

[tennis2]

I prefer 1440p since you can get 144-165Hz. The more pixels you have to render, the more you have to spend on a GPU to produce decently high frame rates.

Do you NEED two monitors if you have a single 27"-32" one? You probably don't game on both?

Your 280X should be replaced for sure!

My brother just OC'd his i5-4690K to 4.5GHz (all-core) at 1.12V

For 1440p, an AMD RX5700 or 5700XT or a RTX2060 Super - 2070 Super would be ideal.

What country are you shopping in?
What's your budget for all this?

 

[Urbanitus]

I prefer 1440p since you can get 144-165Hz. The more pixels you have to render, the more you have to spend on a GPU to produce decently high frame rates.

Do you NEED two monitors if you have a single 27"-32" one? You probably don't game on both?

Your 280X should be replaced for sure!

My brother just OC'd his i5-4690K to 4.5GHz (all-core) at 1.12V

For 1440p, an AMD RX5700 or 5700XT or a RTX2060 Super - 2070 Super would be ideal.

What country are you shopping in?
What's your budget for all this?

I'm shopping in the USA, and I'm still developing a budget for all of this.

It's all of the extra teleworking recently that made me realize that I really need to replace the monitor due to eyestrain. I'm still trying to figure out whether I should simply replace the monitor at a more budget level or use this as an excuse to splurge a bit with a larger PC upgrade in mind. You're right that I don't game on both monitors, but I do need to maintain dual monitors for non-gaming work.

 

[tennis2]

What's your time frame for the monitor purchase? (which you can obviously run on your current system for working). Prices are pretty volatile right now.

 

[Urbanitus]

Ideally within the next two weeks, but I can stretch that out easily.

 

[kbparker]

I'm in a similar situation. Although I recently built a newer PC, mainly for work, I didn't buy a new display. And now that I am home working more, it is very apparent that I need to upgrade my decade old monitor. I find myself completely torn. All I really need is, reduced eyestrain, with good clean quality so that I can work efficiently. I do game on the PC occasionally, but just to relax, I am years past competitive gaming. I multi-task a lot (3x 22" displays at work), so I probably need a 27", but I have limited space. I just want something nice to look at with good contrast and good brightness. This seems nearly impossible with low end monitors, gaming TN panels, and professional IPS models saturating the market. All I think I want is a high brightness VA panel.

 

[kbparker]

For years, I've had two standard budget 1080p monitors that I've used for work and moderate gaming on my home computer. One of them is now over a decade old and is getting increasingly hard to read, so I'm thinking about getting its replacement (which has also led me to wondering if/when I should upgrade my GPU and/or whole PC build). It has been years since I've really paid attention to monitor technology or even gaming PC components, so I'm starting cold on all of this. My current build can be seen here: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/Urbanitus/saved/Hz6qqs although I've since added a spare laptop HDD that I had available.

For the monitor:

1. Is there a reason to consider going above 1080p to 1440 or even 4K if I've been happy with 1080p up to now? I have 4K at work, and it seems like it is almost more trouble than it's worth for non-gaming tasks given scaling issues.
2. Is there a reason to consider replacing both monitors at once or to maybe think about replacing both with a single extra wide monitor?
3. While I'm willing to be convinced otherwise, at the moment I can't imagine spending more than $300 on a monitor. Any suggestions?

For the PC:

1. Would my RX 280X have issues running 1440 for gaming? What about when not gaming?
2. I never got around to overclocking my CPU. Would that be something worth considering to extend the life of this build, or should I just start thinking about a whole new build?
3. What GPUs should I consider to use with my current build if I decided to upgrade for 1440? Is there a sweet spot for something that might be overpowered for now but could be useful if I go full rebuild in a year or so?

A few of my quick thoughts, for what they are worth. My work computer has only a i7 3770K, and a GTX 980. I don't play many games on it, but it seems to still handle most pretty well at 1080p. I feel like if you were going to upgrade the GPU, I would just go for a temporary upgrade. New GPUs are usually super expensive compared to the other components. And they tend to offer huge gains every few years. To me, to spend $600+ on an 'overpowered GPU' with older components seems like a waste, because by the time you upgrade the rest of the components in 1-2 years (1 year always becomes at least 2 in my experience) the GPU you could buy for $400 is better than the one you 'just' bought for $650. Personally, I have had great experience buying pre-owned GPU's typically one model year older, but the flagship. That way you get amazing performance, and if you are willing to really be selective, you can pay way less than market value. I purchased my GTX 980 for around $130 in 2017-18 when 1080's were going for $800 or so. I purchased an Sapphire RX 580 Nitro + for $120ish 6 months ago when I was building this PC. How much is a RX 5600XT right now? Twice that at least, for similar performance? Sure they might be a bit under powered for some new games. But if you think $150 will buy you a year or two until your next upgrade, you can get something that much better all at once. Honestly, I think the display is where I get caught up, there are only so many GPU makers, you basically pick a price point. With a display for your GPU you have a few panel makers, but then you through in all of the display makers and who knows which one is best for your needs.