Is 144Hz worth it for casual gaming?

[ChuckMaurice]

By selling some parts/peripherals I have some money to spend on PC hardware and I might do an upgrade. I see a lot of recommendations around 144Hz gaming, and was wondering if going to 144Hz would be a worthwhile improvement to my setup (and how much achieving 1440p@144Hz would costs me). I currently use a 25” 1440p@60Hz screen (AOC Q2577pwq) with a “light” gaming build made from parts bought on the used market (see configuration in signature).

 

I play mostly FPS like Overwatch, Battlefield 3/4/1 (confusing versioning on this one) and other similar FPS, a few racing/piloting games, but as I don’t do any competitive gaming and just play casually with friends just for fun, I’m wondering if the 144Hz upgrade is worth it for me or just overrated. The most demanding title I own is probably The Witcher 3.

 

So to put a price on it, I’m looking for:

• A 1440p@144Hz screen (25-27”, IPS, great colors, adequate response time). G-Sync/FreeSync would be great I suppose.
• A GPU that would handle games I play at this resolution/frequency. What would be the minimal requirement/price?
• I’ll definitely upgrade to an i7-grade CPU and DDR4 either way, so other components won’t be an issue (damn i3).
• No streaming or other fancy gaming stuff needed.

[yathis]

It depends on how much you are willing to spend freely without thought or care.

I would say 144 is not worth it.

[Enderman]

With a GTX670??

Unless you play on minimum settings you're not gonna get anywhere near 144fps.

[Moonzy]

1 minute ago, Enderman said:

With a GTX670??

Unless you play on minimum settings you're not gonna get anywhere near 144fps.

11 minutes ago, jldjul said:

put a price on it, I’m looking for:

• A GPU that would handle games I play at this resolution/frequency. What would be the minimal requirement/price?

 

personally i would prefer better colours than higher refresh rates if you're just playing casually

[ChuckMaurice]

5 minutes ago, yathis said:

It depends on how much you are willing to spend freely without thought or care.

I would say 144 is not worth it.

Without knowing how much 1440p/144Hz monitors costs, I don't game nearly enough to justify more than a 1000$ on both monitor and GPU so I'd say:

- 400-600$ on monitor

- 400$ GPU at maximum

 

2 minutes ago, Enderman said:

With a GTX670??

Unless you play on minimum settings you're not gonna get anywhere near 144fps.

The idea is to upgrade it too along with the monitor. It currently struggles with 1440p anyway (but mostly because of my tiny case poor heat management and i3 bottleneck I suppose)

[zPanic]

What's your budget for each?

Maybe my setup could provide some reference.

I play games casually, with friends.

I mostly play games like CS:GO, BF1, a couple of racing games, H1Z1, PUBG, Overwatch, Diablo 3, etc.

 

• Monitors: 2x Asus 27 inch VS278H (no Freesync/Gsync, 60Hz, no IPS afaik) - €209 each
• GPU: Very recently upgraded to a Sapphire RX 580 Pulse 8GB - €280
• CPU: i7 6700k with 16GB HyperX DDR4 RAM. - €~350

With my setup I can play any of my games steadily above 60FPS. 

Great for casual gaming.

I don't see the need for 144Hz myself since I just game casually.

Spend more on getting your GPU + CPU right and sacrifice some budget on a monitor.

[aGl1tch]

4 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

 

personally i would prefer better colours than higher refresh rates if you're just playing casually

Same. Although I'm using an old 120Hz monitor right now (because I could get it for cheap at a garage sale) I'd much prefer having a nice IPS - ideally a 21:9 monitor which, the ones I can afford at least, all are 60Hz panels. But it's really a thing of preference, my friend swears on his 144hz monitor (but I think that's more because he thinks he's gotta have it to be 1337 mlg)

 

I was able to use another bud's setup once, at that time he had a 2560x1080p 34" LG monitor and was driving it with a GTX 960 if I'm not mistaken. The only thing I played was Battlefield 4 and League which both ran completely fine. That LG ultrawide costs 450€ I think, add a newer gen ~400€ GPU and you'll be absolutely set.

[ChuckMaurice]

10 minutes ago, zPanic said:

What's your budget for each?

Maybe my setup could provide some reference.

I play games casually, with friends.

I mostly play games like CS:GO, BF1, a couple of racing games, H1Z1, PUBG, Overwatch, Diablo 3, etc.

 

• Monitors: 2x Asus 27 inch VS278H (no Freesync/Gsync, 60Hz, no IPS afaik) - €209 each
• GPU: Very recently upgraded to a Sapphire RX 580 Pulse 8GB - €280
• CPU: i7 6700k with 16GB HyperX DDR4 RAM. - €~350

With my setup I can play any of my games steadily above 60FPS. 

Great for casual gaming.

I don't see the need for 144Hz myself since I just game casually.

Spend more on getting your GPU + CPU right and sacrifice some budget on a monitor.

Very similar to my use case indeed, thank you. I'm ready to spend more on monitors to get extra features like IPS, adjustable stand and great color accuracy because I actually make money from content creation and websites so good monitors are essentials. But my current monitor is good enough if I don't have to upgrade to 1440p
What did you use as a GPU before the RX 580?

 

2 minutes ago, aGl1tch said:

Same. Although I'm using an old 120Hz monitor right now (because I could get it for cheap at a garage sale) I'd much prefer having a nice IPS - ideally a 21:9 monitor which, the ones I can afford at least, all are 60Hz panels. But it's really a thing of preference, my friend swears on his 144hz monitor (but I think that's more because he thinks he's gotta have it to be 1337 mlg)

 

I was able to use another bud's setup once, at that time he had a 2560x1080p 34" LG monitor and was driving it with a GTX 960 if I'm not mistaken. The only thing I played was Battlefield 4 and League which both ran completely fine. That LG ultrawide costs 450€ I think, add a newer gen ~400€ GPU and you'll be absolutely set.

Ok thanks. I'm not fond of ultrawide monitors because I still use my laptop a lot (which is not ultrawide) but I guess the 2560x1440p resolution is similar enough in terms of GPU power.

So no 144Hz for me right now. A 1060-grade GPU will definitely fit my needs then. With Vega/Pascal Refresh in the crosshairs, I think I'm gonna wait a little more, try to sell my current rig and build a new one while keeping my trusty AOC screen. Maybe add a new similar one for a better dual screen setup.

[zPanic]

10 minutes ago, jldjul said:

Very similar to my use case indeed, thank you. I'm ready to spend more on monitors to get extra features like IPS, adjustable stand and great color accuracy because I actually make money from content creation and websites so good monitors are essentials. But my current monitor is good enough if I don't have to upgrade to 1440p
What did you use as a GPU before the RX 580?

 

My previous GPU was a Sapphire R9 280X Dual-X.

The 280X was able to keep up with current games without any issues on medium to high, and I'm still well impressed with AMD for such a solid card.

The only and foremost reason I upgraded was to futureproof myself while I have the money to do so. 

 

I'll go look for some monitors that fit the bill for you without sacrificing too much money on them.

Any desired size for monitors you want? It shouldn't be too hard to find an affordable brand monitor that support IPS at 1080p, or even 1440p. 

 

Quote

I'm ready to spend more on monitors to get extra features like IPS, adjustable stand and great color accuracy because I actually make money from content creation and websites so good monitors are essentials.

If you do want to upgrade, you'll probably want to go with a BenQ monitor, or even Acer/Asus. my current monitors aren't highly adjustable; they just tilt up and down. I reckon you'll find something to your liking within the $300-400 price range. I'll have a look and edit this message, or post a new reply if I find something.

[ChuckMaurice]

36 minutes ago, zPanic said:

 

My previous GPU was a Sapphire R9 280X Dual-X.

The 280X was able to keep up with current games without any issues on medium to high, and I'm still well impressed with AMD for such a solid card.

The only and foremost reason I upgraded was to futureproof myself while I have the money to do so. 

 

I'll go look for some monitors that fit the bill for you without sacrificing too much money on them.

Any desired size for monitors you want? It shouldn't be too hard to find an affordable brand monitor that support IPS at 1080p, or even 1440p. 

 

If you do want to upgrade, you'll probably want to go with a BenQ monitor, or even Acer/Asus. my current monitors aren't highly adjustable; they just tilt up and down. I reckon you'll find something to your liking within the $300-400 price range. I'll have a look and edit this message, or post a new reply if I find something.

My current monitor is fairly recent (2015), fits my needs and I don't absolutely need an upgrade if 144Hz is out of the question. But a second monitor with similar specs/design, but in 27" would be good for a multi-monitor setup. I even found a 4K/27" variant that I could still afford (but I'd need info on HiDPI scaling to be sure). The website says maximum freq is 80, but it probably is 60 Hz).

 

[Darkseth]

Try it out for yourself.

 

Honestly, since i have experienced 144+ Hz, i don't even want to Browse the Web anymore with 60 Hz.

[ChuckMaurice]

22 hours ago, Darkseth said:

Try it out for yourself.

 

Honestly, since i have experienced 144+ Hz, i don't even want to Browse the Web anymore with 60 Hz.

I'm not sure that will be good for me overall : I'll still have to use 30/60Hz screens for work, and those are here to stay (to be fair they are good Dell monitors or high-end laptops, but I don't think Dell is gonna upgrade them to 144Hz anytime soon)

[IceCold008]

Ask yourself a question when you do have time to play some games. Do you like to play your games at Max graphics and decent frames. If you do then yes 144hz is the way to go and you said your looking for a good Dell Monitor well ive got the Dell S2716DG 27-Inch. Its a 1440p G-sync 144hz gaming monitor and its great. Its a TN panel but seriously the colour and the quality is amazing. If you do a graphic design work i would recommend a IPS display but if you dont then i recommend this display from personal experience. 

[ChuckMaurice]

@IceCold008

3 hours ago, jldjul said:

but I don't think Dell is gonna upgrade *my work monitors or laptop* to 144Hz anytime soon)

(I meant in a funny way that I can't justify to my company an upgrade of my work monitors to 144Hz panels, at least until it becames the standard for every monitor).
But thanks for the suggestion. I will definitely look for 60Hz Dell monitors if they have IPS panels.

As for your question, no, I'm not set on having the ultimate maximum graphics possible. I mostly play in High settings, sometimes even if my GPU could probably handle more. I just wanted to know if 144Hz was affordable or smart for my casual/mid-range GPU power use case.