3rd Monitor; Gsync; 1440p Downscaling questions

ElectrikMayham · May 17, 2016

So I am in the market for a 3rd monitor. Currently I have 2 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007SIC6AO/?tag=qa9gvqsa7t-20 . Ive had them for a few years and they have served me well however recently I have found myself needing a 3rd one for productivity and other things. I figured it was time to get a good monitor for gaming as well. I have done a lot of research but I still have some issues with my options. I am probably 50/50 gaming / productivity and the budget is probably under $600.

EDIT

I guess I didnt make this as clear as I should have. I specifically have questions about how will using a 1440p monitor will work with my current system as a third monitor. I will be using it as my main, center monitor, for games.

The Rig
i7-4790
GTX 970
16gb memory

1440p vs 1080p

I am concerned about how my PC will handle a 1440p monitor while having 2 1080p. I know on desktop applications it will be fine running 2 different resolutions. My concern is when I am playing games. I might be out in left field here but it seems like running a game at 1440p while having the other 2 monitors running at 1080p with desktop applications would cause issues.

Gsync

Since the 2 monitors I have now do not support Gsync I am wondering if I can even use Gsync. Is it even possible to have Gsync on 1 monitor but not the other 2 and have it work properly? My research shows both ends of the spectrum. Some people have gotten it to work, others have not. I am hoping someone with the same setup I have can give me some ideas. I really dont want to have to buy 3 $600 monitors just to use Gsync on one of them.

I mostly play games in windowed borderless and I know there are recent drivers that make Gsync support this but I have still read a lot of people having issues with it. I really dont like playing in full screen because it makes it more cumbersome to alt tab, which I do a lot in between matches and whatnot. Can anyone that has a Gsync monitor confirm that it works on windowed borderless?

Downscaling

I stream a bit and currently downscale from 1080 to 720. It looks fine however I have found a lot of people saying downscaling from 1440p to 720 makes the stream quality so poor that it is almost un-watchable. This might be a deal breaker for me but I havent decided 100% yet. I know some streams do this (dansgaming etc) but they all use a secondary gaming PC. Has anyone had experiences with this?

Any suggestions you may have would be helpful.

Thanks!

Aytex · May 17, 2016

why not downscale to 1080p not 720p?

970 wont have a problem on 2 1080p

FloRolf · May 17, 2016

GTX970 is perfectly fine for 1440p gaming, i use mine similarly.

ElectrikMayham · May 17, 2016

Only the biggest Twitch Partners get bitrates that would support 1080p and even at those bitrates a LOT of people wouldnt be able to watch because they dont have sufficient internet to stream. I am not partnered at all and even if I was I would be streaming most things at 720p.

I know the GTX970 is fine for 1440p gaming. That is not what I asked about.