I guess my monitor is going, and I haven’t done monitor shopping in a long time. I was wondering if there are any recommendations. My absolute upper limit is probably around $700, though I’d like to be lower than that if possible.
My more specific/questions/criteria/hints
I have a GTX 970, is 4K worth it with that card? Right now I’m used to 2048x1152, which is an oddball resolution a lot of games fail to support, but is just basically a 16:9 resolution just above 1920x1080. I’d maybe feel slightly weird going down to 1080. When I say this, keep in mind that I’d need a monitor that does at least 60Hz, it looks like some 4K monitors only do 30Hz at that resolution.
Is Gsync worth it?
I was thinking of a dual monitor setup, since I do programming and it would be nice to have two screens. If I played games, I wouldn’t be rendering to both, I’d use only one of them for gaming, but this starts to make me get down to lower-end monitors. If someone knows of a really good pair, it would be great, though.
I plan on having this (these) monitor(s) for a long time, so something that I can stick with would be nice (that may affect the 4K decision).
GTX 970 on high quality at 4K usually does 35fps ±10. You would get higher fps at lower quality but I don’t see why someone would want low/mid quality 4K at 60fps.
Since you picked a GTX 970, I’m guessing that you want the best bang/buck ratio of the high-performance graphics tier. 4K is rare enough that you’d still be an early adopter and you know what that means when it comes to getting a lot per dollar.
For gaming, widescreen 21:9 monitors seem appealing
Actually, a 970 will do very nicely for older games. You’ll get a solid 60 fps on Borderlands 2, for instance. Newer games you’ll have to drop to Medium to high settings. I used to run 4K off a 780 Ti. If you want ultra quality at 4K on the latest games you’ll need a pair of 980 Tis, and even they won’t cut it if you enable Hairworks in The Witcher 3.
However, I have read great reports of the 21:9 monitors, particularly the 3440x1440 monitors. Probably the best is the Samsung S34E790C as it uses VA technology rather than IPS or TN, but will be at the top end of your budget. And I do recommend having multiple monitors: the Dope is great to read on a portrait-mode monitor.
2560x1440p is the sweet spot for your GPU,a nd you want at minimum 27 inches for that resolution.
The 1340x1440 ultra wide monitors are incredible for both gaming and productivity, but they’re very pricey. I haven’t found one with Gsync support for under $800.
And yes, Gsync is worth it. you don’t want to buy a monitor without it, period.
Definitely get dual 1080p monitors. A 970 might struggle sometimes at higher resolutions in poorly optimized ports, so play it safe since frame drop is the worst.
You’ll get more out of two monitors than paying extra for G-Sync or Lightboost or other such features.
There are so many good 1080p IPS monitors in the $250~ range that it is hard to pick one. Maybe dual U2412Ms since Dell’s no dead pixel policy is dope. I’m always terrified of dead pixels when buying a new monitor.
This was going to be my suggestion - really good quality/peace of mind, 16:10, around $250 each. I generally find that I want more vertical space rather than more horizontal space (in both gaming and productivity), so 16:10 has more appeal to me than 21:9. YMMV, as there are tons of perfectly valid opinions on that.
The other option I’d look at, if rolling the dice a bit more is an option, is one of the Korean panels at 30", 2560x1600. They run about half the price of the best deals on the Dell 30", and while you’re giving up features and some assurance, the difference between $400-$500 and $900-$1,000 is a pretty big difference.
(For what it’s worth: I have a 30" Dell and a 24" Dell in a dual monitor setup, and it’s pretty amazing. Takes a lot of desk space, though.)
Yeah, for the Korean ones I was thinking of grabbing two of these and OCing the refresh rate up. I’d have to get a DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI-D adapter though.
Are there major monitors sellers who’ll send you a monitor with broken pixels and tell you “Tough luck”?
Brave man. Or perhaps man who knows what he’s doing when it comes to electronics.
I’m confused about what you mean here. I’d expect a GTX 970 to be able to handle 2 2560 X 1440p monitors for non-gaming tasks, including in terms of wiring.
When you’re running a game, do you plan to run it on 1 or 2 such monitors? Because running 5120 X 1440p is 89% of the way to running 4K.
All:
I could get used to this easily enough
(don’t know if this one is a game but let’s pretend ok?)
Or maybe even this
What’s the approximate height/width ratio of human vision?
Actually, based on my research, these monitors in particular are known to be super simple to overclock. It’s literally just “install some software, go into the Nvidia control panel and set a refresh rate, and the control panel will revert the settings if it’s not working”
Nope, my model of GTX 970 at least only has one Dual-Link DVI-D port, which is the only input that monitor accepts. It does have 3 displayport slots, and 2 HDMI slots, but the monitor will only take a single type of input, so I need an adapter to get it two to work.
Only one, the other is where I’d keep maps/wiki pages open. Though the second monitor is more for work purposes than play purposes.
It seems, then, that you could easily do with a more optimal setup than two identical monitors. If you’re going to use both for programming and 1 for gaming while the other one is open to maps/wiki, then what you need is 1 gaming monitor and 1 programming/maps/wiki monitor, not 2 gaming monitors.
For the programming/wiki/maps monitor, high hz, low latency and high contrast are not worth paying for. Large size and high resolution are also much less beneficial than for gaming. You can go cheaper on the ancillary monitor which will leave you more cash for the gaming monitor or allow you to spend significantly less without sacrificing much.
Once you have a wonky pixel, you’re stuck being bothered by it or are there ways to at least turn off individual broken pixels so they’re not constantly attracting your attention to their brokenness?
Generally you’re stuck with it. Sometimes you can massage them out. Be careful, though! Sometimes a ‘stuck pixel’ is actually a small insect that’s managed to get inside, so you need to let it escape.
You could tweak the monitor profiles to match, if that bothers you.
I went from 2x24" TN 60hz to 1x27" 1440p IPS and I’ve been pretty happy about it. But modern gaming monitors with 144hz and possibly g-sync/freesync would make the decision harder. If you’ve got the desk space, one 144hz panel and one 1440p IPS panel is probably best of both worlds.
