Going to build a new rig and can't decide on what monitor has the best price to performance ratio thanks to Linus calling every monitor in these past few months "the best" and monitor dealers hiding refresh rates on their specifications page. Call me a noob but I find it really hard to make a comprehensive comparison due to different monitors offering different perks with not much detail on the OC aspects of the refresh rates.

From what I read, I'm made to understand that response time <=5ms would then allow for 200FPS which makes refresh rates preset by manufacturer's to be the performance bottleneck. Please do correct me if I'm wrong to think that Hz is a better way to grade a monitor along with resolution.

Without further ado, the relevant pc specs are as follows:-

i7-6700K
Z170 mobo capable of dual SLI
GTX 980 Ti
850W PSU (enough to run SLI?)
Black/Red theme (Doesn't really have to match the theme I suppose, but it would be a plus)

I'm building it to last some years and to add another VGA card if things become more demanding. My questions for the monitors are:-

1. Is 4K @60Hz decent enough? Or 1440p @144Hz better?
2. Ultrawide 21:9 34" is getting tonnes of hype, curved experience really that good? Or save money and go for a 27" 28" now then make 3 screen upgrade better?
3. Should someone invest a lot in a high end screen now, or simply grab something decent and wait for the current gen tech to mature?

Basically all those could be simplified to what is that sweet spot now and something that people won't regret buying after 3-6 months. Any advice?

PS: I live alone overseas so the screen is pretty much what I stare at all the time. Contract another 6 months, if change job need to sell cause how to carry balik? I also play a lot of genres and sometimes buttock itchy like to learn stuff.

This post has been edited by KingDamo: Jan 26 2016, 03:19 PM

if u want simplified, just look for "NVIDIA G-SYNC" in the monitor spec sheet, theyre made for games and solve problems like lag,blurry,tearing, fps drop, etc

here dell example
http://accessories.ap.dell.com/sna/product...hs&sku=210-AGQZ

This post has been edited by GarubaSwey: Jan 26 2016, 03:35 PM

I was in kinda similar situation as U r now, several weeks ago. In fact until now, I still am. I own a 980ti myself and in my own personal opinion, I feel there isn't a "sweet spot" monitor for it. What I mean is, if you use it with a 1440p or below, it will be overkill and the 980ti potential is being wasted. For 1440p, a single 980 will be perfect, and you get to save yourself a few hundred bucks too (if you haven't already bought the 980ti). But if you use it with a 4K monitor, sigh.....not powerful enough. I just recently switched to a 4K monitor from a 1440p type and I can honestly tell you, a single 980ti is not powerful enough for 4K. You've got to add another one, make it SLI. I am not sure is there anything in between 1440p and 4K though. And your 850w probably isn't enough for 2 x 980ti. So it all boils down to how far you wanna achieve, and how much are you willing to spend. PC Gaming is an expensive hobby......heh heh. And to answer your questions..........

1) 4K 60Hz is more than decent enough, if you owned the hardware capable to run it. A single 980ti won't do it. You need a pair of it, especially if you wanna max out everything under graphic settings. 1440p is ok alsolah, and you don't need a 980ti for it. A single 980 would be good enough. As for the high Hz thing, I personally feel it's only useful if you're playing competitively. Otherwise, 60Hz also good enough already.

2) Multi-monitor setup, hmmm........messy, many wires, headache, and you need like a big table to place them all nicely, or a multi-monitor bracket stand kinda thing. Also, the border between monitors doesn't look nice. Better to get a single large screen, if you intend to go this far.

3) If you already bought/owned the 980ti, along with all the hardware you mentioned, u r pretty much half way there already and therefore you should grab a decent 4K monitor. Later on grab another 980ti and you'll be good. Of course with a single 980ti, you can still run 4K with it, except you have to scale down graphic settings to like MEDIUM or so in order to get decent framerate (like what I'm doing now). The PSU part is kinda subjective though, some people would say 850w is enough, some don't. I'm afraid this u have to do research a little deeper yourself.
If you haven't bought anything yet, then u can plan/decide better, which path to go and how far are you willing to go. If budget isn't an issue for you, definitely 4K with 980ti SLI would be ideal. But if budget is an issue, then I recommend a single 980 (or 970 also can lah) with a 1440p monitor will do. And, get i5, don't go for i7 unless u r into those 3D rendering and CAD kinda of work.

Hope this helps.

I've already have the GTX 980 Ti but the rest still old stuff haven't grab new ones. I suppose for the PSU part I'll get 1k just to be safe then, the price isn't really that far off. I saw some heavy CPU sandbox games pushing i5 to the limit, as well as physics heavy games like GTAV pressing 6600K to 80-90% CPU usage during normal play, that's why I opted for the i7. Plus I know I will multi task and don't have the habit to close any apps after use cause pampered too much by MacOS.

You mentioned 1440p, was the monitor 3440x1440 or 2560x1440? If it was 2560x1440 then from what you describe, the sweet spot seems to be 3440x1440 for a single GTX 980 Ti. Moreover, thanks for waking me up on the borders in a multi screen setup. Budget isn't really a problem but the way I calculate is based on depreciation over 4 years and keeping the cost to be something like one iPhone per year? I suppose I'm still within budget cause I had a friend bought me the card from US. The exchange rate drop in South East Asia is a huge problem for choosing a monitor though, that's why I plan to keep it at single card for the time being. Thanks for sharing on what 4K requires. It makes me feel more inclined to 1440p for the time being, finally narrowed down the list lol!

If you already owned a 980ti, and going to grab a 1000w PSU, then 4K monitor the one to go for. U will be in same situation like me after that, just waiting for the right moment to grab a 2nd 980ti, SLI them and enjoy 4K to the fullest! As for CPU, I am using i5 6600K, OCed to 4.5Ghz, very very stable and able to run GTA V perfectly well, at 4K! Graphic setting I set to HIGH, in order to ensure consistent 60fps. Setting them to VERY HIGH is ok too, only when certain intense situation, FPS will drop. CPU utilization is not high either when playing GTA V. Other games I'm not sure anymore because I never monitor CPU usage during playing.

1440p is 2560 x 1440. And I personally feel a single 980ti is overkill for this kind of resolution, yet is not good enough for a 4K, if you wanna play everything to the max. With everything that you already own now, you're just one step away from achieving this, and that is a 2nd unit of 980ti. For the time being, just enjoy it without to the max loh, like me. There are games that I even set to MEDIUM level, so to make sure consistent frame rate at 4K, such as BLACK OPS III. For some reason, this game even set at MEDIUM also can't consistently get 60fps. Maybe this game is very demanding, I'm not sure.

I read something about the current 60 Hz limitation at 4K is due to the transfer rate of display port 1.2, and for nVidia, it's rumoured that only Pascal cards will support display port 1.3 which supports 120 Hz on 4K monitors. Like you mentioned, the difference in Hz might be negligible, but I believe that Hz and FPS are reliant on one another in the sense that if your rig can push a stable 80-90 FPS, which I think it should do so once you buy a second card, the 60 Hz limit on 4K would lock your FPS at 60?

I've thought many times like what you mentioned, enjoy it at medium 4K now then upgrade later, but the limit refresh rate is setting on FPS is really annoying to find a balance point. I feel that I probably won't bother with the diminishing difference between 100 Hz to 144 Hz, but 60 Hz to 100 Hz kinda bothers me. I think I'll go for 3440x1440 screens cause it's in between 2560x1440 and 4K, currently available at 100 Hz, runs at decent FPS above 60 on single card and allows for more headroom when SLI is done. By pixel count it's around 25% more than 2560x1440, 40% less than 4K res. I'm glad you are very satisfied with your 4K monitor and I might regret this, but the TN panels on 4K and the idea of getting a curved screen is too tempting leh. Either way, I feel that both 3440x1440 and 4K buyers are proud of their choices in different ways.

3440x1440: "It's curved, and runs everything smooth on ultra."
4K: "MSAA options? At 4K resolution, you don't need AA anymore." <-- This statement is true but so lansi LOL.

I think the answer to your Black Ops 3 are the improvements they made to the game engine, it comes with a new renderer and a overhauled graphics engine.

Of course, if budget allows, getting everything with "higher number" is always better. I'm not sure there is any 4K monitor that is 100Hz or 144Hz available in shop yet, but if there is, this is definitely the one to go, and preparing yourself the path towards SLI 980Ti in near future. But I figured a 4K 100Hz/144Hz will definitely going to cost a bomb, if it does indeed available already. At the end of the day, it all boils down to how much you have to spend on all these, and how far are you willing to go. If money is no issue, just hentam on most high end model and you'll get to enjoy what you have pay for after that.

I use a 980ti & 4k monitor. Currently playing 4k games and I can live with 35-50 fps

Poison so stronk here

I think the best combo is the future

Pascal and 4k best shot load ever

IMO, 1080p is still the sweet spot. With a 980Ti at 1080p, you can play all the games you want at max quality for the next 5 years.
Since most games are console port, you can't go wrong with 1080p. 4k...maybe another 5 years.

1080/1440p G-SYNC