Resolution vs. Refresh Rate: which is more important for gaming?

[barnaby32]

I am making the jump into high end gaming with the launch of the gtx 1080 and was wondering what type of display to purchase. Cost really won't be an issue and I will have 1080s in sli so I should have enough horsepower for awhile. The question essentially boils down to which gaming experience is better: 1440p 165hz or 2160p 60hz. I would say my gaming is split pretty evenly between shooters, RPGs and strategy games. Essentially does the faster frames make all games better or am I making a significant visual sacrifice in rpg and strategy games to satisfy the needs of a shooter and vice versa if I were to get a 4K monitor. Any thoughts are appreciated.

 

[Suzuki@1473780084@1473780163]

Refresh rate is. But if pretty image is better for you, then higher resolution, or both.

 

[DonQuixoteMC]

Holy shit you're making me drool over here.

1440p @ 165Hz sounds like the holy grail of gaming to me, but then again I personally use 1080p @144Hz.

If you get the chance, the best way to answer this question would be to see for yourself. I've really come to love >144Hz monitors. With a rig as powerful as the one you're building, 150 FPS in most games would be a dream. After seeing a high refresh rate monitor, 60Hz will make you want to cringe.

On the flip side, incredibly high resolution monitors deliver a kind of visual fidelity you can't get otherwise. But I can't really weigh in on the resolution side of things, I've never used more than 1080p.

If my opinion has any worth, I'd go with 1440p @165Hz. Especially if you like to play "competitive" FPS games like CSGO.

 

[boosted1g]

1440 with faster refresh is more important.

Frame rates will make all games smoother, obviously fast paced shooter games that is more important.
With anything smaller then a 32" monitor you wont feel like you are missing anything between 4k and 1440p anyways.

 

[xeonox]

To answer your specific question, BOTH are important.
The Refresh rate will give you less bllur/screen tear/ lag. its more responsive as the screen "refreshes faster"

The resolution is more of the sharpness/clarity of the picture, the problem here is the higher the resolution the less frames per second you will be getting, so in if the resolution is too high and your GPU (video card) cant handle the graphics you will have low frames per second (fps) therefore it defeats the purpose of having a high refresh rate.

As for the best price point for serious gaming without going too too far overboard, Don is right, 1440p @ 165Hz sounds like the holy grail of gaming as of the time of this writing. As video cards and CPU gets better so will the "industry standards".

Other things to consider is monitor SIZE and DPI, the bigger the monitor inch size means the less DPI and the more "blurrier" the picture will be if at same resolutions, and scaling will play a factor, but thats a whole other topic. Good luck to your endevours.