Monitor upgrades - 1440p questions

[Dem0072]

So I've been using a couple 1080p 23" ASUS monitors I bought back in 2011, they've served well for 8 years, but are beginning to deteriorate and I know their days are numbered. 

 

I hear that 1440p @120-144hz is the sweet spot for gaming these days, and also makes daily use extra nice. I like to game, but I also like doing my own photography, and editing graphics for web design/development. My rig is a few years behind the ball, too. This leads me to a number of questions.

1. I hear there's IPS and VA panels, and that VA are better for gaming whereas IPS is better for professional work. Are VA panels ideal enough for lightroom and photoshop without posting problems, considering I'm coming from 1920x1080 on 8 year old monitors? (I'd think they would be fine, but checking anyways)

2. I'm still using an R9 280, its capable of 2560x1440 resolutions on displays, but it has I believe 1 display port, 1 HDMI, and 2 DVI's. I'd like to power two monitors, and a 4k TV and still be able to game on one display. Are those resolutions on desktop going to impact my gaming performance significantly?

3. Even BFV lags a bit on my card (yes I'm considering upgrading) but would stepping down to 1920x1080 from 1440p still be a good experience on a 1440p monitor until I had a card that could run it at full res?

4. I'm torn between a few favorable sounding monitors. The ASUS VG278Q 27", MSI Optix MAG27CQ, CUK Bionic B27QGM, or others. Right now they're priced from $350-$500 average each, but I've seen the ASUS ones refurbished on Newegg for $240, which is very tempting... (I'm quite frugal, if the 8 y/o monitors didn't give it away lol) Are there any absolute winners or losers in that lineup, or alternative suggestions?

5. Bonus question, if I had a pricier 144hz display dedicated to gaming, would I be able to have a monitor of the same resolution and a lesser refresh rate at 60-75hz (like the BenQ GL2706PQ) would it be a painful contrast side by side for non-gaming applications?

Current system - i5 4690k, 8GB DDR3, R9 280, 1TB SSD.

Thank you for any & all insights

[Turtle Rig]

Well IPS also has bleeding.  Also it is not black in the black areas.  IPS has good viewing angle and rich colour.  Pro's use BenQ IPS 28" monitors @ 4k res.

 

You want to game, but from what I read your productivity work is much more important.  We need to get you a 4k monitor because of what you do.  You will love it.  How many inches you want ? "no sicko not like that" sighs.  Also are you ready to go into the 4k desktop world and 1440p game world as you said?

[SupaKomputa]

1. IPS for color reproduction, VA for faster framerate.

2. Yes you can with the proper cables.

3. It is subjective, 1080p is good enough for me.

4. Which one suits your taste, looks the same to me.

5. You won't even see the difference in desktop.

[Turtle Rig]

I would get these ... click below

 

BenQ 32" IPS 4k HDR.  Gaming will be 60hz.  Unless you have a 1070 or higher or 2060 or something then AAA games wil be fine at 60hz, plus it doesn't seem like you care about 60hz or 144 Hz

[Turtle Rig]

1 minute ago, SupaKomputa said:

1. IPS for color reproduction, VA for faster framerate.

2. Yes you can with the proper cables.

3. It is subjective, 1080p is good enough for me.

4. Which one suits your taste, looks the same to me.

5. You won't even see the difference in desktop.

Why don't post your sig my friend ?  1080p is soo 760 GTX days ago....

[Dem0072]

I'd be open to a 4k, I'm used to 1080p so anything's going to be a step up. My table space is 4' wide, so angling 2x 27" is about as high as I can go without serious construction overhead. I shy away from 4k because I wouldn't want to create too many rifts in visual consistency. When I develop, ill have photoshop in one screen and be uploading and refreshing pages on another. So there is visual comparison going on.

My display budget I'm hoping to keep to $500-$600 total, though I know that R9's going to hold me back. I've considered used 1070's, 1080's, and patiently waiting for 2070's to come down in price, which is where my resolution step-down question came in. I am pretty thrifty, I'm not afraid to buy things used if its a good deal, works and the value's worth forgoing a warranty. 

I just know my current displays aren't going to last forever, and want to have a plan in place so I'm not buying cheap 1080's again just to bide time.

[Dem0072]

5 minutes ago, Turtle Rig said:

I would get these ... click below

 

BenQ 32" IPS 4k HDR.  Gaming will be 60hz.  Unless you have a 1070 or higher or 2060 or something then AAA games wil be fine at 60hz, plus it doesn't seem like you care about 60hz or 144 Hz

It looks beautiful, but it would eat my budget for both displays on one, and it would take way more physical space than my desk would have to spare per display. 

[SupaKomputa]

4 minutes ago, Turtle Rig said:

Why don't post your sig my friend ?  1080p is soo 760 GTX days ago....

Signature? i don't know how...

I have 3 monitors in front of me, upgrading is not my priority until any of them dies. 1080p still good enough for me.

[Turtle Rig]

7 minutes ago, Dem0072 said:

It looks beautiful, but it would eat my budget for both displays on one, and it would take way more physical space than my desk would have to spare per display. 

Shucks.  I tried to hook you up with the best monitor for someone in your profession.  Using PS and Premiere etc..... I mean if the IPS 4k way is expensive try just a 4k monitor 27" 4k IPS panel.  Like this one. This thing is sexy and 400 bones ... two hundred less then the other one I recommended.

[Dem0072]

11 minutes ago, Turtle Rig said:

Shucks.  I tried to hook you up with the best monitor for someone in your profession.  Using PS and Premiere etc..... I mean if the IPS 4k way is expensive try just a 4k monitor 27" 4k IPS panel.  Like this one. This thing is sexy and 400 bones ... two hundred less then the other one I recommended.

Definitely give it a consideration, especially if it comes down in price much more than it is. 144hz would be nice, I do plan on having an RTX 2070, or, a 1080/1080 Ti when those come down in price too. I know the street value of a 1070 right now is in the 250 range, I'd like to have 1440p gaming viable for a card on that kind of budget without dipping into the 30's and 40's with frame rates, or being left in the mud a year later. 

I don't really work in premiere though, I do lightroom and photoshop, ones for chopping up and editing web images which usually aren't at full detail or resolution to keep them friendly. Lightroom is where the raw image files get tweaked, and that's more a hobby for now. So I'd say gaming would be as important as a solid resolution upgrade with good color. 

Budget wise I'd be doing it all incrementally, a few hundred at a time over months. Buy something, sell off what I was using before... buy another thing. I wouldn't be able to spring for $700 in monitors on top of a $400 GPU overnight..

[Turtle Rig]

1 minute ago, Dem0072 said:

Definitely give it a consideration, especially if it comes down in price much more than it is. 144hz would be nice, I do plan on having an RTX 2070, or, a 1080/1080 Ti when those come down in price too. I know the street value of a 1070 right now is in the 250 range, I'd like to have 1440p gaming viable for a card on that kind of budget without dipping into the 30's and 40's with frame rates, or being left in the mud a year later. 

I don't really work in premiere though, I do lightroom and photoshop, ones for chopping up and editing web images which usually aren't at full detail or resolution to keep them friendly. Lightroom is where the raw image files get tweaked, and that's more a hobby for now. So I'd say gaming would be as important as a solid resolution upgrade with good color. 

Budget wise I'd be doing it all incrementally, a few hundred at a time over months. Buy something, sell off what I was using before... buy another thing. I wouldn't be able to spring for $700 in monitors on top of a $400 GPU overnight..

A 2070 costs more then 500 bucks while the 2070 still cost heaps at around 350 used.  $250 would be a steal, I doubt your going to find one that price on ebay or craigs...  It has to go for at least 300 bones, then the 1060 6GB is 180 bones. 

[Dem0072]

1 minute ago, Turtle Rig said:

A 2070 costs more then 500 bucks while the 2070 still cost heaps at around 350 used.  $250 would be a steal, I doubt your going to find one that price on ebay or craigs...  It has to go for at least 300 bones, then the 1060 6GB is 180 bones. 

Surprisingly I did see one 1070 on the FB marketplace going for $175, and ebay had some in the 240-280 range. All used of course. My hesitation was seeing FPS rates for the 1070 at 1440p with high settings, compared to what the 1080 and 2070 was getting, it seemed like it would age a little too quickly under higher resolutions. 

I keep a TCL 43" 4k TV with built in Roku hooked up as my third display, but because I still use Windows 7 (a dying romance) I can't adjust DPI independently per display, so I had to downshift the resolution on the TV to 1080p to win back a refresh of 60Hz, because 30 was pretty rough. Reminded me of the Egyptian screen saver on Win98 in its choppy feel.

[Turtle Rig]

4 minutes ago, Dem0072 said:

Surprisingly I did see one 1070 on the FB marketplace going for $175, and ebay had some in the 240-280 range. All used of course. My hesitation was seeing FPS rates for the 1070 at 1440p with high settings, compared to what the 1080 and 2070 was getting, it seemed like it would age a little too quickly under higher resolutions. 

I keep a TCL 43" 4k TV with built in Roku hooked up as my third display, but because I still use Windows 7 (a dying romance) I can't adjust DPI independently per display, so I had to downshift the resolution on the TV to 1080p to win back a refresh of 60Hz, because 30 was pretty rough. Reminded me of the Egyptian screen saver on Win98 in its choppy feel.

No kidding wow... ya btw you pay shipping it comes in at 300 bones but the 1070 is a really good card although I have no experience with it.  I do know the 1060 6GB aloud me to pump my nvpanel settings all to max and turn on everything,, and in game turn on everything max settings.. @ 1080p I was getting a solid 60hz 60fps that never dropped.  Now you can imagine what the 1070 can do.  You can certainly try 2k gaming.

[Turtle Rig]

If you want 1080p gaming grab a 1060 6GB, If you wanna try 1070 then it will be a nice boost maybe 30 or 40fps more in situations in a game.  If you know for fact your going to do 1440p then grab a 1080 used for under 500 dollars.  Possibly much less....

[Dem0072]

1 minute ago, Turtle Rig said:

No kidding wow... ya btw you pay shipping it comes in at 300 bones but the 1070 is a really good card although I have no experience with it.  I do know the 1060 6GB aloud me to pump my nvpanel settings all to max and turn on everything,, and in game turn on everything max settings.. @ 1080p I was getting a solid 60hz 60fps that never dropped.  Now you can imagine what the 1070 can do.  You can certainly try 2k gaming.

My thought was if the 1080 ti follows the same pattern as the 980 ti in price drops and used value, I hope AMD's release of the RX 3000 series knocks prices down on 1080 ti's and 2070's. To do so people aren't going to cave until benchmarks actually come in, but rather than waiting till after the RTX 2000 series successor sometime in 2020... this might be a dark horse that makes 1440p viable on a $250 or less card. And that would blow away any concerns of skimming the water with a 1070. 

Lenovo's also releasing a new monitor this year, a family of 1440p's @ 240Hz which between AMD's RX3000 release and Lenovo's new family, I hope the price war and buzz beats down currently good cards and monitors a bit. Its half my reason for holding and doing my homework now, so when good deals emerge I can act quick.

[Dem0072]

I just know if I was going to stick with 1080p for years to come, I could get a card to push that for $130, and monitors that I could live with at $150 each. But my visual experience wouldn't change a whole lot, textures would be a little nicer, but I'd be stuck with updated versions of what I have. For $200 more and some luck in possible upcoming price wars it might be just enough to get me into 1440 without the fear of struggle.

[Turtle Rig]

44 minutes ago, Dem0072 said:

I just know if I was going to stick with 1080p for years to come, I could get a card to push that for $130, and monitors that I could live with at $150 each. But my visual experience wouldn't change a whole lot, textures would be a little nicer, but I'd be stuck with updated versions of what I have. For $200 more and some luck in possible upcoming price wars it might be just enough to get me into 1440 without the fear of struggle.

Im just looking at history when the 10xx family arrived.  This was almost 3 years ago.  It took them almost a year to make the 1080 Ti,  then that sat in the market for another year and half.  At this cycle pace, nVidia will come out with new GPU once every 2 years.  makes sense, they milk it good then continue to milk and also sell their new techie.

[Dem0072]

On 2/6/2019 at 6:44 PM, Turtle Rig said:

Im just looking at history when the 10xx family arrived.  This was almost 3 years ago.  It took them almost a year to make the 1080 Ti,  then that sat in the market for another year and half.  At this cycle pace, nVidia will come out with new GPU once every 2 years.  makes sense, they milk it good then continue to milk and also sell their new techie.

There's always the hope AMD will scare them into an early release, or a modded version of an existing card at a special price point to keep them in check. Even the perception of a threat would be enough to greatly help my investment