Question Upgrade GPU to run better monitor?

Exdeus

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Jul 29, 2012
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Hi all! I just spent a lot of money on a gaming laptop with a 17" screen but am finding it isn't quite suiting my purpose and am debating returning it. I wanted to be able to sit in the living room with the wife while playing and not in the office on my desktop, but am finding it is just a bit harder and runs quite hot while playing with heavier fan noises even on a laptop desk/stand.

I currently have a desktop with an i5 4690k @ 3.50ghz on an ASUSTeK Z97-AR running a GeForce GTX 970. Also running 24gb DDR3 ram.

My setup is currently three 23" 60hz monitors (running 1920x1080), but I am looking to modify that to a single 34" 1440p 144hz monitor. They are each set up as individual screens and I don't run them in EyeFinity as they are a bit ugly with the bezels. I primarily play World of Warcraft, Eve Online, Destiny 2, etc. Mostly run single accounts except Eve I run 3 clients.

Would my cpu and gpu be able to support those games on higher settings on a 34" 1440p 144hz monitor, or would I need to upgrade one or both? Truly debating between returning the laptop and just upgrading my monitors and system, but not sure which direction I need to go. Wouldn't be opposed to a 34" 1080p, but figure that 1440p is more worthwhile. Looking at the Acer Predator x34.

Thank you in advance! Look forward to your inputs or any other suggestions you may have!
 
Last edited:

Lutfij

Titan
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So you're got 24GB's via 3x8GB sticks of ram? You should either be on 16GB or 32GB, to take advantage of memory running in dual channel mode.

Even if you did manage to swap out the CPU for the highest end i7, you're going to have to drop in a beefy GPU as well. Even after that you're going to have to turn down the game details down while having 1440p resolution in order to get playable frame rates. From the looks of your post, it seems you like eye candy/detail in your games which can mean why you have a noisy laptop.

Can you list your current specs like so:
CPU:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:

?
 
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Exdeus

Distinguished
Jul 29, 2012
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Hey - thanks for the reply! Here is the information I have. I used Speccy to get most of it. If there is a better location to capture the data more accurately I would love hear.

CPU: Intel Core i5 4690k @ 3.50GHz
Motherboard: ASUSTeK Z97-AR (Socket 1150)
Ram: 24.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 (10-10-10-27) (Slot 1 is 4096mb, Slot 2 is 8192mb, Slot 3 is 4096mb, and Slot 4 is 8192mb).
SSD/HDD: 2794GB Western Digital WDC
SSD/HDD: 931GB Western Digital WDC
GPU: 4095MB Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 (MSI)
PSU: I will need to get back there, but it was more than was needed for this period of time.
Chassis: Thermaltake. Not sure model, but it is a full tower. Bought about four to five years ago. Didn't see any external markings other than Thermaltake.
OS: Windows 10 Home 64-bit

If I need to rebuild or upgrade the PC, that is a viable option at the moment as well. You'll have to pardon my ignorance if I've set something up wrong. About 20 years ago I used to build my own PC's but have fallen so far behind on the technology...not sure I'd know what to get or put together now and how it all works!