Dat 1440p

"Reigntastic" (reigntastic)
03/19/2014 at 19:08 • Filed to: PC Gaming, 1440p, Praise Gaben

I updated my gaming rig a bit last night with a new 27" 2560x1440 IPS monitor, and I'm seriously impressed. For anyone who's counting, that's 4 times the native resolution of the Xbox One, and 50% higher resolution than 1080p.

Color quality is better than my old 1080p monitor, but render quality is really where it shines; needless to say I suddenly desire a new video card. FarCry3 was bringing my rig down to sub 30fps with max settings at 2560x1440 windowed mode, it was very humbling after playing that same game on max at 1080p easily for over a year.

What does everyone else use for gaming? If not gaming, what is your preference for computers?

DISCUSSION (27)

Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy > Reigntastic
03/19/2014 at 19:11

Nice! I got a 23" Samsung 2343BWX at 2048x1152, I'm looking for something to replace my dead 15" which only serves as a USB hub atm.

Reigntastic > Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy
03/19/2014 at 19:13

Depending on your hardware setup, a 1080p monitor would make a nice secondary monitor. They're surprisingly cheap now, the 23" AOC that the new monitor replaced cost $110 shipped a few years ago.

ddavidn > Reigntastic
03/19/2014 at 19:14

Nice monitor! I just have a 22" 1920x1200 Dell panel from a few years back. Would like a new one to dual with.

Reigntastic > ddavidn
03/19/2014 at 19:16

I'd definitely recommend a dual monitor setup, they're awesome for convenience, especially with some of the newer operating systems.

Soloburrito > Reigntastic
03/19/2014 at 19:20

I've been using an HP ZR2740W for awhile. The extra screen real estate is good enough for me to ditch dual monitors and reclaim some desk area. I wish it were glossy, but the AG coating on it isn't too heavy.

Reigntastic > Soloburrito
03/19/2014 at 19:25

Glossy is nice whenever the sun is down, although it looks pretty slick. That's a nice monitor, I'm surprised by the refresh rate though.

ddavidn > Reigntastic
03/19/2014 at 19:34

Yeah it's been a while since I had one at home. At work I have two 1080p 22" screens, which I can't live without. But it doesn't have any sort of graphics power, so I don't play games...

Montalvo > Reigntastic
03/19/2014 at 19:34

I have a BenQ XL2420T , it is 1920x1080 at 144hz which I get to take full advantage of with my GTX 780. I highly recommend you pick one up especially now that it has dropped $150. The monitor has some cool features with 3D but I don't use any of that. I am probably going to pick up another monitor and 780 in the near future to get a nice dual screen set up with a self made GTX 790.

No Prius Needed > Reigntastic
03/19/2014 at 19:34

I also run a dual monitor setup except mine are about 6 years old. Anyway what are your specs since Far Cry 3 will run at max on a GTX 645 which is what I have.

Reigntastic > Montalvo
03/19/2014 at 19:47

SLI isn't quite as effective as a dual GPU card, but it's still a strong setup. I have a 680gtx that I purchased in 2012, so I'm waiting for the next generation of cards to upgrade. The monitor I got is easy to overclock to 120hz, so I'll do that once I acquire the upgrade.

Reigntastic > No Prius Needed
03/19/2014 at 19:53

I've got a 680, Ivy Bridge 3770k, Z77 Gigabyte UD, 16gb of 1600 DDR3, a sata 3 SSD boot drive and a large storage drive that a lot of my games reside on. In the near future I'll expand my flash memory storage and upgrade my GPU so I have a bit more firepower. I bought my screen on the right in that picture in 2008.

No Prius Needed > Reigntastic
03/19/2014 at 20:00

Nice rig. I currently have a GTX 645 1gb, 2tb, 16gb of ddr3, and an i7 4770k. I don't know what motherboard is in it since dell tends not to say. I was also thinking of upgrading my gpu because of this:

http://www.wmdportal.com/projects/cars/

but I guess I will wait until the new gtx 800 series comes out so I can hopefully get a 780 or 770 for cheap.

Depressoiscool > Reigntastic
03/19/2014 at 20:34

What monitor is it? I have the monoprice 2560*1440 and I'll agree with you that anything is just freaking awesome. I just like you want to upgrade, but mine is a little bit more urgent since my current card is a 7770 :-(

The Dummy Gummy > Reigntastic
03/19/2014 at 20:41

a Benq and GTX 670TI overclocked. Does the job just fine.

Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy > Reigntastic
03/19/2014 at 21:00

My PC can definitely handle it, athough there's the issue of space on my desk, there's a large flatbed scanner I use on it.

Reigntastic > Depressoiscool
03/19/2014 at 22:03

It's a Crossover 27QW

Axial > Reigntastic
03/19/2014 at 22:20

I actually use a Dell U2711 (2560x1440) for everything. I watch movies, play games, and do work with it. It's driven by a pair of reference Radeon HD 7970s, though I usually only need one active with Metro 2033 and Crysis being the only two games that demand I have both active.

Axial > Reigntastic
03/19/2014 at 22:23

A dual GPU card is usually less potent than two standalone GPUs running in SLI or Crossfire. Two GPUs on a single PCB are actually running using SLI or Crossfire internally, and so they suffer all of the same drawbacks as running two discrete cards together without the option of disabling one should an application give you trouble. Another drawback to the dual GPU models is that they generate more heat in a given area, and are usually clocked slightly lower than their discrete relatives using the same chip.

There is a reason why running two dual-GPU chips is referred to as "Quad-SLI" or "Quad-Crossfire."

Lekker > Reigntastic
03/20/2014 at 11:18

What brand is yours? I've been looking for a 1440 monitor. I have two LG IPs 23" 23EA63V-P , and a 40" Vizio for Big Picture mode in Steam. What GPU are you using? How much was it bogged down in other games? Was it at full res?

Reigntastic > Lekker
03/20/2014 at 11:37

Mine is an offbrand Korean monitor (Crossover 27QW) with an LG IPS panel, I have a 680GTX graphics card. Other games I can play perfectly smoothly, like Dirt 3 or WoW, it just depends on view distance with games like FarCry. It was at full res for all these games though, I refuse to upscale 1080p. I'll probably upgrade my GPU with the next generation of graphics cards from Nvidia, but for now it will suffice. I'm going to overclock my 680 a little bit this weekend, so that should easily give me another 15% more performance or so.

Lekker > Reigntastic
03/20/2014 at 11:43

Damn nice! I mostly play games like BF4, Arma 3, DayZ, CS:GO. So half of them there is no viewing distance, but in DayZ and Arma3 it kills my FPS BADLY. I have a an Asus 7850, overclocked to 950Mhz which isn't bad. I plan to either get a much more powerful card, or get a second one of the same. My bottleneck I feel is my CPU, a lame i5 3570. Overclocking my GPU gives me an estimate of 15FPS more per game (no change in settings, while playing in ULTRA with 4x AA) But that still puts me around 30/45 at best in most games.

Reigntastic > Lekker
03/20/2014 at 11:51

I haven't tried BF4 yet on the new monitor, honestly I haven't really been playing it much lately. I really got a lot of playtime in for BF3, but I haven't quite gotten that BF4 bug yet. i5s aren't all bad really, and for most games you'd probably be disappointed by the performance bump an i7 would bring. Not many games are able to use an 8 core efficiently, and even less actually need it.

You'll definitely want to upgrade your GPU if you want to play on a 1440p monitor in 1440p. My 680 used to eat up anything I threw at it in 1080p at well over 60fps, but the extra resolution of the new monitor is easily enough to stress it.

One thing I'm really excited to try in the near future is monitor overclocking. Although the monitor I bought is 60hz, the same brand and panel are confirmed to overclock up to 120hz, which is a really nice refresh rate bump. That will also likely require even more investment into GPUs, but I think that it's worth it in order to obtain that level of quality in graphics. I'll be essentially ahead of the next "next-gen" consoles.

Lekker > Reigntastic
03/20/2014 at 12:07

I only have the BF4 bug because I love its epic moments when I play hardcore. I had about 400 hours for BF3 and about 600 for BC2, but I'm only around 160 for the 4th one. Mostly because I have responsibilities, but also because racecar.

Do you recommend going to an SLI setup or just one massive card? I've only been doing PC gaming for a year, before I've done only Sony consoles. So my experience and knowledge is limited. Of course I understand the whole thing, hence why I built my own rig. I was looking at something like this card . But I am not sure what would be the wisest investment.

I was totally unaware you could overclock your monitor. What exactly does it depend on? how do you figure out whether it is possible or not? that 60 to 120hz jump would be insane!!!

Reigntastic > Lekker
03/20/2014 at 12:19

I absolutely love hardcore mode, for sure. Normal mode I don't tend to enjoy as much.

SLI setups are king if you're trying to do something crazy, but the efficiency and power/cost ratio for a single or dual gpu card will outperform an expensive setup for anything but bitcoin mining. The 770 is an excellent choice, costs less than my 680 did and outperforms it by a decent margin. Bear in mind that the next generation of cards is due in the next few months, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend one; they're a huge upgrade over your 7850, and I actually just had my girlfriend buy that exact card based on my recommendation.

I'm no expert in monitor overclocking since this will be my first time attempting it, but through some utilities you're able to force your card to push 120hz performance onto the monitor. Through framerate checking with a high quality DSLR with a lightning fast shutter speed it's possible to calculate if a screen will give a "true" overclock (actual 120hz performance), and some other guys already have done the work and confirmed that my equipment is capable. Whether or not my next GPU will be capable of 120hz at 1440p is another question entirely.

Lekker > Reigntastic
03/20/2014 at 12:25

Hardcore is the only thing I ever play. I love it best because it allows for more team-work, and that is one of the reasons I love BF in general. I like to do Rush more than anything.

So let me see if I got this right, a single powerful card will outperform two cheaper cards, but also will be more expensive. Is that correct? If two 7850s give me similar performance to a 770 I would consider that a win for a fraction of the cost.

That sounds like a huge upgrade, but also probably unstable or prone to cause flickering with a monitor. I assume that is why not all models are compatible... I will have to check if mine are.

If you ever want to get on BF4 feel free to add me, Cpt-Bawla is my origin user.

Reigntastic > Lekker
03/20/2014 at 12:29

Yeah, Large Conquest on Hardcore is typically what I'd play, for the teamwork as you mentioned. Rush is a close second.

Although that's a simplification, that's about right. Depends on the card for SLI/Crossfire or even just the game, not all games work smoothly with dual GPU setups, and even some big blockbusters (Like BF4) have had issues with tearing on SLI/Crossfire. Support for single powerful cards tends to be better, and on the flipside you can always wait a year or two and drop in another of the same card for a huge performance bump, easily trumping two 7850s.

Monitor OCing is relatively new to the scene, but so far there have been no signs of it damaging monitors in the last few years.

Lekker > Reigntastic
03/20/2014 at 12:49

I was unaware BF4 had issues with tearing on SLI setups. I'll keep that in mind, I'll end up probably buying one powerful card as you mentioned.

All this game talk makes me want to leave work and go home for a round during lunch....