Monitor - Going from 2160/60 to 1440/144+

[Erous]

I'm on the fence on whether or not to make this change and if so, looking for suggestions on which monitor should be on my radar. Looking to possibly drop resolution in favor of higher refresh. I've read over and over that the higher refresh is the go-to for gaming, so feel free to talk me out of it.

My build:
GTX 1080
16Gb 4 channel RAM
I7 5820k @ 4.2

Games
WoW
Divinity
Diablo III
Whatever new games come out that interest me

Cost is not an issue. Hoping to keep it under 1k. The wife is giving me the green light over getting a gaming laptop for mobility. I'm currently looking at the ASUS ROG PG278QR Black 27" as my number one selection. Any thoughts?

[Wries]

For WoW I wouldn't imagine why you'd do it. Framerate of 144 isn't attainable where you'd want it anyway and we don't do twitchy camera movements. If you were more of a FPS player then sure the 144Hz craze makes a lot of sense.

BIAS disclose: I don't play fps and I love my 4K monitor with the pretty colors and high res.

[Erous]

For WoW I wouldn't imagine why you'd do it. Framerate of 144 isn't attainable where you'd want it anyway and we don't do twitchy camera movements. If you were more of a FPS player then sure the 144Hz craze makes a lot of sense.

BIAS disclose: I don't play fps and I love my 4K monitor with the pretty colors and high res.

Thanks. I love my 4k too, and the FPS strain isn't a big deal for me. TBH, I run Antorus without much of an FPS hiccup, it's quite smooth, but figured the higher refresh would be ideal. It could be I was wrong.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

For those games I would imagine higher resolution would be a lot more enjoyable than refresh rate.

[MrPaladinGuy]

1440p 144hz (on a 27") beats 4k 60hz any day.

Thinking higher refresh rates only matter for first person shooters is antiquated thinking.

You only need to hit around 100fps for that higher refresh rate to make a difference, especially when it comes to motion blur, as that's a bonus. With that hardware you'll be running around 100fps in many areas and sometimes much higher. It obviously won't occur at all times, depends on how many people are in the area, and what's going on.

Obviously you'll be running D3 at that nearly at all times, I know I do. I can't see my 8600k @ 4.8 and DDR4 3200 making that much of a difference.

Depending on the size of your current display you may see 1440p as a downgrade.

The speed of your DDR4 may play a part, but I wouldn't assume it to be significant.

I would consider G-Sync a must since you have the budget for it, unless you absolutely don't care about screen tearing.

Then there's the whole IPS/IPS variants VS TN subjective preference debate.

[Illuman]

Personally, I'd suggest 3440x1440 @ 100hz. I find this to suit me a lot better in games like WoW, as well as FPS shooters.

I'd also take the suggestion made above, and switch out to Coffee Lake's i7 8700k (yes, this will require a new motherboard), which can give you core performance up to 4.8-5ghz easily.

[Alantor]

I'd get an AW3418DW, it's 120Hz not 144 though.

[Erous]

I'd get an AW3418DW, it's 120Hz not 144 though.

Interesting choice. I wouldn't mind 120 either, that could be right up my alley. One of the things I was hoping to see was gsync, which I don't believe the Alienware has, nor did I put in my wish list above.

As for upgrading, sure I could think of an upgrade, or push my OC a little bit further.

[Illuman]

120 on g-sync, 100 native. I am assuming you're running gsync with nvidia though?

Every 3440x1440 monitor can only do 100hz native.

Look at the Crossover 34u100, $499, and has the same specs as every other 1440 21:9 ultrawide.

[Erous]

120 on g-sync, 100 native. I am assuming you're running gsync with nvidia though?

That's correct

[Erous]

Here's my theoretical upgrade list. How much performance would I gain, if any, moving to this from the OC'd 5820k and 4 channel DDR4?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor ($333.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus - ROG STRIX Z370-F GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($182.44 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($180.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $696.43
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-03-07 08:22 EST-0500

Edit: I found the benchmarks, and single threaded is pretty significant for WoW in particular. Other multi-threaded applications, or other games also, either break even or see a performance hit. Granted, the 5820k eats significantly more power...so I don't see this necessarily being a righteous upgrade.

[Fascinate]

Here's my theoretical upgrade list. How much performance would I gain, if any, moving to this from the OC'd 5820k and 4 channel DDR4?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor ($333.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus - ROG STRIX Z370-F GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($182.44 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($180.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $696.43
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-03-07 08:22 EST-0500

Edit: I found the benchmarks, and single threaded is pretty significant for WoW in particular. Other multi-threaded applications, or other games also, either break even or see a performance hit. Granted, the 5820k eats significantly more power...so I don't see this necessarily being a righteous upgrade.

I wouldnt trade my 165hz 1440p monitor for even a OLED 4k 60hz panel, 60 hz just sucks badly once you have a fast monitor. This isnt just in games either, just moving your mouse around or opening the start menu everything feels so much smoother. You would be surprised how nice this is in WoW as well, with a fast CPU getting 100-150 FPS is not out of the question even in busy areas (i have 8700k 4.8ghz) and that is very noticeable on these monitors.

I have the dell s2417dg and imo its the best gaming monitor for any price point. It does not have great black levels or viewing angles but it has outstanding color gamut for a TN and of course 1440p 165hz, as a bonus its one of if not the cheapest gsync panels available.

[Erous]

I went the route of trying a decent 1440p TN monitor with a higher refresh and was less than pleased. The posters above are correct, that to maintain the FPS for a higher refresh I'll need to get a newer CPU or OC some more. Moreover, the picture quality didn't seem to match the 4k screen remotely. There were times the panel shined and other times it didn't, the experience wasn't consistent. It may be the screen chosen, or simply I just didn't like the outcome.

As others have mentioned, and what I also found from further research, is that MMOs don't benefit as much from the higher refresh as FPS games do. FPS players favor speed over visual quality and I saw that in the monitor.

[Fascinate]

I went the route of trying a decent 1440p TN monitor with a higher refresh and was less than pleased. The posters above are correct, that to maintain the FPS for a higher refresh I'll need to get a newer CPU or OC some more. Moreover, the picture quality didn't seem to match the 4k screen remotely. There were times the panel shined and other times it didn't, the experience wasn't consistent. It may be the screen chosen, or simply I just didn't like the outcome.

As others have mentioned, and what I also found from further research, is that MMOs don't benefit as much from the higher refresh as FPS games do. FPS players favor speed over visual quality and I saw that in the monitor.

You made the thread asking the question if its worth it to drop down a bit in resolution for high refresh rate panel and i gave my opinion, i wouldnt trade this screen for a 4k oled if it was only 60hz. 144hz+ panels are truly one of those things that once you get used to it, you cannot go back.

if you already tried a 1440p 144hz TN that really is the best it gets for gaming, or was that a typo and you meant 1080p? 1080p 144hz screens are generally trash compared to these dell gsync panels, no where near the color gamut.

[ossyc]

I'm on the fence on whether or not to make this change and if so, looking for suggestions on which monitor should be on my radar. Looking to possibly drop resolution in favor of higher refresh. I've read over and over that the higher refresh is the go-to for gaming, so feel free to talk me out of it.

My build:
GTX 1080
16Gb 4 channel RAM
I7 5820k @ 4.2

Games
WoW
Divinity
Diablo III
Whatever new games come out that interest me

Cost is not an issue. Hoping to keep it under 1k. The wife is giving me the green light over getting a gaming laptop for mobility. I'm currently looking at the ASUS ROG PG278QR Black 27" as my number one selection. Any thoughts?

I say up the resolution. I have a 1080Ti. Check out the Acer Predator x34 3440x1440 100Hz Gsync - perfect for a 1080 card.

This monitor is a wet dream, trust me.

[Erous]

You made the thread asking the question if its worth it to drop down a bit in resolution for high refresh rate panel and i gave my opinion, i wouldnt trade this screen for a 4k oled if it was only 60hz. 144hz+ panels are truly one of those things that once you get used to it, you cannot go back.

if you already tried a 1440p 144hz TN that really is the best it gets for gaming, or was that a typo and you meant 1080p? 1080p 144hz screens are generally trash compared to these dell gsync panels, no where near the color gamut.

I tried a 165hz 27inch HP Omen 1440p that was insanely onsale at Walmart of all places. I compared it back and forth between my Dell 4k 60 and wasn't overly impressed EXCEPT for one fleeting moment when the colors appeared more vivid and crisp. I can't explain it. It was a moment that occurred when I had both monitors plugged into my video card and the disparate refresh and resolutions didn't play nice; however, the Omen monitor looked crisp and less opaque compared to other tests I did.

Also, I couldn't keep a consistent 160 in WoW, I think for obvious reasons, but even 120 seemed difficult to maintain. Wish I could've figured out why, for one moment, the picture looked great, otherwise I just couldn't see the price justification.