Considering upgrading my monitor.

[gelliott]

I built a new desktop in Dec 2011, but at the time in order to save some money I salvaged my old monitor and video card from the last desktop. I'm considering upgrading my monitor ( I currently have a 21" LG that supports up to 1680x1050 resolution) and going with a 21-24" option that supports at least 1080p. I mostly play WoW and Guildwars 2 and currently have no problems keeping either game at least at high settings and some at ultra.

My question is how noticeable will the upgrade in monitor be to the eye (besides the increase in size obviously if I went with a 24")? with a side note of will my 460 gtx have trouble keeping at least high settings in games with that resolution upgrade?

The rest of my setup is in my signature.

 

[sk1939]

Your graphics card may have some issues pushing 1920x1080 as it is considerably larger than 1680x1050. As far as noticeable differences, there would some increase in detail, but not a whole lot frankly, at least not enough to justify the cost of upgrading to a new card if everything else runs fine imo. Beyond that what is your budget for the monitor upgrade?

 

[gelliott]

Well I'm willing to spend about 200-250$ on the monitor (less of course if possible). But if the difference won't be that noticeable, and may require me to also upgrade my video card, then I will likely just wait until I'm in a little better situation to replace both!

 

[sk1939]

You can get a decent monitor for that price, and the difference between 21 and 24" inches is quite noticeable, but the resolution can be an issue due to the sizing since most monitors now are 16:9 vs 16:10 aspect ratio. Quality wise there won't be that much of a difference, but the resolution is the kicker. If it doesn't bother you a ton now, I would wait.

 

[gelliott]

Thanks! I think I'll just stick with what I have until I can put out the money to upgrade both at the same time.

 

[gelliott]

Best answer selected by gelliott.