New monitor for gtx 970 ssc

[aplipinski]

Looking to upgrade my monitor. I spent more than I should've on my PC so I had to get by with a 720p 32in TV for a bit. I am running a gtx 970 ssc 4gig and want to know if it is okay to go with a 1440p 60hz monitor or should I stick with a 1080p at 144h? I am not a super competitive gamer so the 144hz doesn't make or break my gaming experience, but I don't want to go with the 1440 if it means I'm not going to get to play fallout 4 or the upcoming battlefield 1 in highest if not high quality. That part is very important. The 970 user manual boasts 4K but I. Don't. Buy It. Maybe 4K for just web browsing but I want FLUID gaming. Any input here?

 

[timeconsumer]

In 1440p on Ultra you can expect a GTX 970 to average just shy of 60 FPS and have a minimum around 45 FPS in Fallout 4. Very playable. BF1 we won't know until it's released, but I'm sure it will definitely be playable.

 

[aplipinski]

Yeah but I don't think I would ever want to drop under 60hz. Isn't 60 standard? My concern is that higher end games would start to get laggy and I would have to reduce quality. So I guess the real question should have been is it better to have 1440p on medium settings, and do you think it would get choppy, or 1080p on ultra?

 

[timeconsumer]

60 FPS is nice, but not required (see my sig). I run closer to 40 or 45 FPS in most games on my rig and it's just fine for me. But everyone has their own requirements. Yes, at some point in the next few years it is very likely that you will have to drop from Ultra down to High settings, and reduce MSAA to FXAA to maintain high framerates in 1440p on the newest games using a GTX 970. But it all comes down to what you find acceptable, which unfortunately I cannot answer. If it were me, I wouldn't hesitate to go for 1440p.

 

[aplipinski]

Final question and you've been a big help so thanks. But if I go with the 1440p and find that I'm dropping into the choppy, I would rather put my nerves through a shredder, kind of gameplay, couldn't I just drop the resolution to the 1080 then run ultra?

 

[timeconsumer]

You can, but 1440p doesn't downscale to 1080p very well, it's best to run games in their native resolution.

Think of it this way: The GTX 770 came out about 3 years ago, and at the time was pushing about 55 FPS average in 1440p BF3 on Ultra with 4x MSAA. Fast forward to today and the same card averages around 38 FPS in 1440p BF4 on Ultra with 4x MSAA. So the next generation of the game, with no change in settings dropped FPS by 17 FPS. At that point you'd probably want to drop the MSAA down a little, or possibly change from Ultra to high. But still very playable in the next generation of games. And that was a 2gb VRAM card, which is not going to do very well in 1440p regardless.