[SOLVED] Questions About Monitors and Refresh Rates! Best deals/cheapest high hz 1440p for?

[RileyM]

Hi I have a couple questions.

First off, is it possible to get a monitor that will do 1440p at high refresh rate (120,144hz etc) and also can do 4k at 60hz?

And second can you recommend the best deal for a 1440p high refrsh rate monitor for the best price. Thanks

And last is it worth upgrading if I already have a 1440p monitor that does 60hz? thanks

 

[Frag Maniac]

Depends on a few things.

First let me say there's only a few 4K monitors I know of that are 120Hz or 144Hz, and yes, they can also do 1440p, but whenever you scale down to a lower res, you sacrifice image quality. I lost image quality to a degree even on a Sony X900E, which has better scaling than most displays.

WASABI Mango 43"120Hz 5ms 300cd/m2 IPS made in Korea, which is $1270

Acer Predator 27" 120Hz native, 144Hz OC 4ms 600cd/m2 IPS G-Sync for $1850

ASUS ROG Swift 27" 144Hz (OC, native not listed) 4ms 400cd/m2 IPS G-Sync for $2000

Honestly, I wouldn't consider any of the above as they are far too expensive. Anyone saying things like "best deal", "best price", is usually looking for something as cheap as they can get that will last a few years. This however begs the question how powerful a GPU you have? If you really want to make full use of the refresh difference, it takes quite a bit more GPU power to run 1440p at 144Hz, than it does at a mere 60Hz.

I suggest playing your more demanding games on max settings at 1440p. The ones that can consistently average at or near 144 FPS, are going to be the ones that will work well on a 144Hz display at 1440p. If only say a few out of a couple dozen or so games can manage that, then it's pointless for you to even consider a 144Hz 1440p display until you get a more powerful GPU. It's also best your CPU be relatively balanced to the GPU in power. Otherwise the GPU will be waiting for the CPU to send it rendering data, which in worse cases can cause stuttering and lag.

High refresh 1440p monitors can range from just over $300 for smaller screen non mainstream brands, on up to $900 for large screen popular brands. I'm kinda guessing you aren't really ready for one spec or money wise though. https://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100898493%20600255030%20600417886%20600012694%204814&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=RATING&PageSize=96

 

[RileyM]

Depends on a few things.

First let me say there's only a few 4K monitors I know of that are 120Hz or 144Hz, and yes, they can also do 1440p, but whenever you scale down to a lower res, you sacrifice image quality. I lost image quality to a degree even on a Sony X900E, which has better scaling than most displays.

WASABI Mango 43"120Hz 5ms 300cd/m2 IPS made in Korea, which is $1270

Acer Predator 27" 120Hz native, 144Hz OC 4ms 600cd/m2 IPS G-Sync for $1850

ASUS ROG Swift 27" 144Hz (OC, native not listed) 4ms 400cd/m2 IPS G-Sync for $2000

Honestly, I wouldn't consider any of the above as they are far too expensive. Anyone saying things like "best deal", "best price", is usually looking for something as cheap as they can get that will last a few years. This however begs the question how powerful a GPU you have? If you really want to make full use of the refresh difference, it takes quite a bit more GPU power to run 1440p at 144Hz, than it does at a mere 60Hz.

I suggest playing your more demanding games on max settings at 1440p. The ones that can consistently average at or near 144 FPS, are going to be the ones that will work well on a 144Hz display at 1440p. If only say a few out of a couple dozen or so games can manage that, then it's pointless for you to even consider a 144Hz 1440p display until you get a more powerful GPU. It's also best your CPU be relatively balanced to the GPU in power. Otherwise the GPU will be waiting for the CPU to send it rendering data, which in worse cases can cause stuttering and lag.

High refresh 1440p monitors can range from just over $300 for smaller screen non mainstream brands, on up to $900 for large screen popular brands. I'm kinda guessing you aren't really ready for one spec or money wise though. https://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100898493%20600255030%20600417886%20600012694%204814&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=RATING&PageSize=96

Sorry my wording must have been confusing I meant a monitor that will do 1440p at say 120hz and can also do 4k at 60hz.

I am NOT looking for a monitor that will do 4k at high refresh rates. I just want to know if there is a monitor that will do both of the following
*1440p at high refresh rate (120,144 whatever)
AND
*4k at 60hz

so having botht hose options in one monitor. Does it exist why or why not

I have a GTX 1070 and plan to get an i5 8400

I ONLY play older games for example (battlefield 3, battlefield 4, sims 3, cities skylines, black ops 1, modern warfare 2, modern warfare 3, transport fever, skyrim (modded), gta v (modded), Jurrassic world evolution, and crysis 1,2 and 3.

The only really demanding games on that list are crysis and JW-EVO. I don't play new games really at all. And I know that the 1070 is basically the 1440p king. I also don't mind turning down some settings to reach 120fps and also I don't need to be at a constant 120fps because anything above 60fps is very smooth.

 

[Frag Maniac]

I understood what you asked, but later you asked best price, best deal on a 1440p 144Hz too, without even mentioning 4K in that paragraph.

Doesn't matter, as I've already answered all that was asked in your OP.

If you think anything over 60Hz is smooth, I'm not sure why you even want to bother with a 4K display, which will only make playing at high refresh even harder. When I say high refresh I mean anything 120Hz or higher.

Given what you said, I would shoot for more like a 75Hz - 120Hz (native, not OC) 1440p display, and forget about 4K. Any of the older games that can easily exceed 100 FPS, I'd use DSR at 3840x2160.

DSR is fantastic and will easily come very close to the look and performance of actual 4K on a lower res panel. I use 4K DSR all the time on my 1080p IPS display on older games.

In case you don't know how to enable DSR, you right click on the open desktop, click Nvidia Control Panel, then Manage 3D settings in the upper left. In the Global Settings box, click on DSR - Factors.

Check all the boxes then click Apply. You will now see ALL the resolutions above 1440p in your games as an option. The main reasons this is a better option than having a 4K display and having to use 1440p on some games is displays play best at their native resolution. With a 4K display the games will only look as good as they can at 4K. With DSR the games will look good at 1440p, or at simulated 4K. The other reason is obvious, 4K displays are far more expensive.

You are also not entirely correct on which games on your list are demanding, probably because you've not played any of them at 4K or even 4K DSR. Have a look at the performance summary page of the 1070 review by TPU. It shows how low the FPS drop to at 4K, which would be similar even at 4K DSR (42 FPS BF4). Again, BEFORE you decide on buying a higher refresh 1440p display, play the games you listed in 4K DSR, then you'll know if it's even worthwhile.

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_1070/9.html

 

[RileyM]

@Frag Maniac

I understood what you asked, but later you asked best price, best deal on a 1440p 144Hz too, without even mentioning 4K in that paragraph.

Yup because I'm trying to figure out if it's better to buy a 4k display that will do 60hz and also 1440p at 120hz or just 1440p. And you seem to be answering my question so thank you.

The reason I said that was because you started off talking about 4k monitors that will do 120 hz and more and I thought maybe you were thinking that's what I wanted. I googled one of those monitors quickly and it did affirm that they were indeed 4k 120hz etc but maybe I was inn correct and they do 4k 60hz and 1440p 120hz. Because I only checked quickly because those were of coarse out of my price range as you correctly assumed

If you think anything over 60Hz is smooth, I'm not sure why you even want to bother with a 4K display, which will only make playing at high refresh even harder. When I say high refresh I mean anything 120Hz or higher.

Not sure what you mean here? Because I'm not trying to play 4k at high refresh rates, If what you mena instead is that simply using a 4k monitor at all even when playing in 1440p will make it hard to reach 120hz even when not at 4k just by being on a 4k monitor? Maybe this is true let me know interesting didn't know that. If that's not what youre saying let me know.

Given what you said, I would shoot for more like a 75Hz - 120Hz (native, not OC) 1440p display, and forget about 4K. Any of the older games that can easily exceed 100 FPS, I'd use DSR at 3840x2160.
DSR is fantastic and will easily come very close to the look and performance of actual 4K on a lower res panel. I use 4K DSR all the time on my 1080p IPS display on older games

I hear what you're saying here. I just wonder how this technology works? It can't add more pixel to amonitor that only has a certain amount of pixels right? So how does this work? Thanks.

In case you don't know how to enable DSR, you right click on the open desktop, click Nvidia Control Panel, then Manage 3D settings in the upper left. In the Global Settings box, click on DSR - Factors.

I have noticed the setting before but my current system is too weak to try it yet.

The main reasons this is a better option than having a 4K display and having to use 1440p on some games is displays play best at their native resolution.

Interesting. Didn't know this. Can you provide specific examples of in what way they play better? I see you go on to elude to it looking better at native resolution makes sense to me. Just wondering if there are other factors like performance or anything else or if it's all just visual. If you're only quam is saying that it.

So from what I gather from what you are saying is, me playing a game in 1440p on my 4k display WILL NOT look as good as if I played it on a 1440p monitor that ran it natively. If so that makes sense to me. Is that correct?

And my question would be what would look better, a 4k display running at native 4k, or a 1080p display using dsr to simulated 4k?


I suggest playing your more demanding games on max settings at 1440p. The ones that can consistently average at or near 144 FPS, are going to be the ones that will work well on a 144Hz display at 1440p. If only say a few out of a couple dozen or so games can manage that, then it's pointless for you to even consider a 144Hz 1440p display until you get a more powerful GPU. It's also best your CPU be relatively balanced to the GPU in power. Otherwise the GPU will be waiting for the CPU to send it rendering data, which in worse cases can cause stuttering and lag.

High refresh 1440p monitors can range from just over $300 for smaller screen non mainstream brands, on up to $900 for large screen popular brands. I'm kinda guessing you aren't really ready for one spec or money wise though. https://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=...

You are also not entirely correct on which games on your list are demanding, probably because you've not played any of them at 4K or even 4K DSR. Have a look at the performance summary page of the 1070 review by TPU. It shows how low the FPS drop to at 4K, which would be similar even at 4K DSR (42 FPS BF4). Again, BEFORE you decide on buying a higher refresh 1440p display, play the games you listed in 4K DSR, then you'll know if it's even worthwhile.

This is all valid stuff here. My only question would be two things. So What this shows is that a GTX 1070 will average 83fps in Battlefield 4. Maybe I'm missing it somewhere but I don't see what settings they used to achieve these numbers? Either way as I mentioned before I have NO PROBLEM turning down settings to increase performance in these games. Especially since half the time these fancy settings are distracting to find the enemy. And secondly even if I don't achieve 120fps CONSTANTLY is it really necessary? Is there some sort of visual artifact or screen tear if my frame rate goes a bit below 120 fps maybe to like 100fps then 110 then 90 then 85 then back to 120? Honestly just asking I have no idea.

And just to be clear my estimation as I'll call it for assuming bf4 would run at 1440p at high frame rates is based on youtube video benchmarks where they average over 110 fps but maybe that isn't the most accurate data.

 

[Frag Maniac]

I obviously started out talking about high refresh 4K monitors because that's what you first wanted to know about. My intent there was to let you know there are very few of them, and they are very expensive.

??? I was referring to your 2nd paragraph in the OP, before I'd said ANYTHING, so what's this reason you said that bit?

I'll clarify what I mean, you were seeming to feel you needed a 4K monitor to cover all the res options you wanted to play at. I was mostly referring to playing at high refresh at 1440p on it, but truth is, as I've shown you with TPU's performance summary, there's a LOT of games that can't manage even 45 FPS on a 4K display. So maintaining decent FPS in general is hard on a 4K display, high or otherwise.

DSR (and AMD's VSR), allow the game to render at 4K, then a filter is applied to sample it back down to your screen's native resolution. The result is way more clarity with same amount of pixels. Truth be told you really don't NEED extra pixels unless you have a very large screen. This YouTube vid both explains the tech and shows the result. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0v-wcOijsg

I'm willing to bet you might have at least SOME older games your 1070 could handle at DSR 4K, unless your CPU is very weak.

The reason resolutions below a display's native don't look as good is because it involves scaling. You can either have the GPU do the scaling, or the display, but either way, it will not look as good as native res without scaling. I know this by experience because I at one time had a Sony X900E 4K HDTV, which has industry leading scaling and upconverting, and I still noticed playing at 1440p was not as sharp. Even in Just Cause 3, a series known for lots of blurred distant textures, it was noticeable.

Regarding a 1440p display vs 4K, I was saying given the proper GPU and CPU power, games you can play at 4k would look just as good on a 1440p display using 4K DSR. DSR in itself makes 4K displays kinda pointless except for the rich, especially if you're talking high refresh rate ones. DSR 4K wouldn't look better on a 1080p display than on a 1440p display though. Either way you're simulating the same 4K res and it takes the same GPU power, and you'd have more pixels with 1440p The only other factor would be screen size, meaning it would look a bit sharper on a smaller screen due to smaller pixels. This depends on viewing distance though. The only reason I mentioned using it on my 1080p display is to convey how well DSR works in general, but if the screen size and viewing distance were equal, it would look even better on a 1440p.

TPU is VERY thorough about using same exact test setup for each game, and explaining what settings they use. You have to go to the test setup page for that, where they explain every game is set to the highest settings, unless mentioned otherwise on it's performance page. Pay attention to hardware spec they use though. If you can't run any of your games on DSR, you're either setting up DSR wrong, or your spec other than GPU is very weak.