Agonizing over new monitor (gaming)

[Teppik]

So I decided to build a gaming rig for the first time in well over 10 years.  I've been playing console pretty much exclusively since but PC tech is just too tempting.  Then there's VR coming soon but that's another story.  I got all my parts picked out and ordered a couple but realized I'd neglected to pick a display.  Figured no big deal, I'll just pick one on Newegg in my budget and get on with my life.  Once I started looking I realized that monitor technology has gone insane over the last few years and this has quickly become the most stressful decision involved with my build.  After doing a lot of my own research and waffling for days I've decided to seek help.  Found Linus on youtube so I'm turning to you guys.

 

A little about me:

 

My system will be based around an i5-6500 and a GTX 970.  My gaming will mostly revolve around Diablo 3, Minecraft, or big RPGs like Fallout 4 so no competitive shooters to worry about.  The most I might consider doing would be dabbling in a MOBA.  I realize that I'm no longer a hardcore gamer as RL has taken over but consider myself casually hardcore.  The biggest chunks of my gaming take place at night but daytime gaming can happen and the room where the comp will be is small with a good size window next to the desk.

 

Budget is US$300 or less.

 

Mostly I want the games I play to look pretty so I THINK I'm looking at an IPS panel.  The TN panels I've seen reviewed look washed out and bland to me.  I can stand some minimal ghosting and I'd probably never notice.  Some of the many concerns I have include:

 

1) Will choosing a 1080p display be a waste of the capabilities of my machine?  As a predominantly console gamer would I even notice the difference as I've been pretty happy with 60fps at 1080p for the last couple of years.

 2) Is 1440p that much of a upgrade over 1080p on a smaller display?  I know that, to me, going from 720 to 1080 was pretty noticeable years ago but that was on much larger screens.

3) Assuming my card can handle it and I go with a 1440 display but then am forced to play some games at 1080 will it look like crap?

4) Do any TN panels exist with vibrant color?

5) Is 24' the sweet spot for 1080p or would a larger 27' be ok?

 

Please help as this has been keeping me up nights lol.  Unfortunately there are no stores within over an hour's drive where I could go and look at some gaming type displays.  Oh how things have changed since the days of CRTs.  For reference here are a couple of Monitors I've been considering:

 

QNIX Q2710

 

ASUS VX279

[KearneyMC]

3 minutes ago, Teppik said:

So I decided to build a gaming rig for the first time in well over 10 years.  I've been playing console pretty much exclusively since but PC tech is just too tempting.  Then there's VR coming soon but that's another story.  I got all my parts picked out and ordered a couple but realized I'd neglected to pick a display.  Figured no big deal, I'll just pick one on Newegg in my budget and get on with my life.  Once I started looking I realized that monitor technology has gone insane over the last few years and this has quickly become the most stressful decision involved with my build.  After doing a lot of my own research and waffling for days I've decided to seek help.  Found Linus on youtube so I'm turning to you guys.

 

A little about me:

 

My system will be based around an i5-6500 and a GTX 970.  My gaming will mostly revolve around Diablo 3, Minecraft, or big RPGs like Fallout 4 so no competitive shooters to worry about.  The most I might consider doing would be dabbling in a MOBA.  I realize that I'm no longer a hardcore gamer as RL has taken over but consider myself casually hardcore.  The biggest chunks of my gaming take place at night but daytime gaming can happen and the room where the comp will be is small with a good size window next to the desk.

 

Budget is US$300 or less.

 

Mostly I want the games I play to look pretty so I THINK I'm looking at an IPS panel.  The TN panels I've seen reviewed look washed out and bland to me.  I can stand some minimal ghosting and I'd probably never notice.  Some of the many concerns I have include:

 

1) Will choosing a 1080p display be a waste of the capabilities of my machine?  As a predominantly console gamer would I even notice the difference as I've been pretty happy with 60fps at 1080p for the last couple of years.

 2) Is 1440p that much of a upgrade over 1080p on a smaller display?  I know that, to me, going from 720 to 1080 was pretty noticeable years ago but that was on much larger screens.

3) Assuming my card can handle it and I go with a 1440 display but then am forced to play some games at 1080 will it look like crap?

4) Do any TN panels exist with vibrant color?

5) Is 24' the sweet spot for 1080p or would a larger 27' be ok?

 

Please help as this has been keeping me up nights lol.  Unfortunately there are no stores within over an hour's drive where I could go and look at some gaming type displays.  Oh how things have changed since the days of CRTs.  For reference here are a couple of Monitors I've been considering:

 

QNIX Q2710

 

ASUS VX279

The BenQ GL2460HM is a good monitor. I have been using it since december and I havent had any problems with it at all 

[DocSwag]

You shoulda probably got an r9 390 for your gpu. It performs ever so slightly better but also has more vram. It uses a lot more power though.

1. You could probably play all games max settings at 1080p at 60 fps. If you went 1440p you might need to turn down settings a bit (to like high or medium).

2. Unfortunately I don't know.

3. You will never have to scale down resolution to run 1080p on 1440p monitor. That would look TERRIBLE. Instead you would be turning down settings to make the graphics perhaps not quite as detailed.

4. I'm not sure. I just stick with IPS. It looks so much better.

5. Too large of a screen on 1080p would make it more likely for you to see the pixels, and so the worse the quality of it when you look at it.

 

Another thing you might want to look into: ultrawide monitors. Basically they are super duper wide monitors with an aspect ratio of 21:9 compared to the normal 16:9. In games they can often give you a wider field of view. I happen to own one (the lg 29 um67) and I love it. It also has a resolution between 1080p and 1440p. I can run battlefront on it without turning down settings. The one I have also supports freesync, but unfortunately you (nor I) have an AMD gpu. However you could plan on an upgrade to AMD in the future.

I would really say get an ips monitor for sure. I feel 1080p might be better than 1440p partially because you'd be turning down settings for 1440p and partially because 1440p monitors start at around 250 dollars, and those are the cheapest ones.

[Errenar]

Just to answer some of your questions since i am also one of those conflicted in getting an IPS or TN Monitor:

 

1. No the Gtx 970 sits perfectly at 1080p gaming along with the R9 390 although the latter is the entry level of 1440p

4. Not as vibrant as an IPS but there are TN Panels with good color reproduction

5. 24" is the sweet spot for 1080

 

if my research serves me right then the type of games you play would be better in an IPS Panel, fast paced competitive games are the ones that would benefit the most from low response time, high refresh rate monitors

 

[Matty2hatty]

The MX279H is a great 27 inch thin bezel display which is also IPS.

[Teppik]

Wow, thanks so much for the quick replys.  So far it sounds like 1080p, and around 24' is what I should be shooting for.  I think I've made my mind up about IPS at least heh.  

 

It was just getting a little overwhelming because here I am dropping all this cash on a new system and then realizing I could possibly screw it all up with the wrong monitor.

[Teppik]

So after getting help from you guys and reading even more reviews I've got another question.  Since I've only just started ordering parts I actually returned the GTX I had just received.  It was a ZOTAC, and I'm concerned about the noise and heat output.  I know it was recommended that I go for a r9 390 instead,  is that a pretty general consesus?  

[roctrebira]

1 hour ago, Teppik said:

So after getting help from you guys and reading even more reviews I've got another question.  Since I've only just started ordering parts I actually returned the GTX I had just received.  It was a ZOTAC, and I'm concerned about the noise and heat output.  I know it was recommended that I go for a r9 390 instead,  is that a pretty general consesus?  

Yep the 390 performs a bit better at 1080p and gets better as the res goes up. If you go for the 390 get the sapphire or the msi card.

[Camisto]

7 hours ago, Teppik said:

So after getting help from you guys and reading even more reviews I've got another question.  Since I've only just started ordering parts I actually returned the GTX I had just received.  It was a ZOTAC, and I'm concerned about the noise and heat output.  I know it was recommended that I go for a r9 390 instead,  is that a pretty general consesus?  

It really depends on the games you play.  AMD barely releases driver updates and those updates can affect performance significantly.  Fallout 4 is the only game you mention that would actually require some horse power and I think its pretty well known that the 970 performs much better on that title due to it being a game works title and all.  Really it just depends on the games but they are both pretty neck and neck.  The 4.5 extra vram is nice touch but really you will find at 1080 that you will rarely need more than 3.

 

My suggestion?  Wait for polaris and pascal.  Not really a good time to buy one right now, you will see these new cards release in the very near future and be filled with regret.