Which Monitor Should I Buy To Maximize Gaming Experience

[mlaykj99]

I have a GTX 970 and I am thinking about SLI-ing it with a second one. I want to know what monitor would utilize this power the best. I would like something no smaller then 24'' but ideally bigger. I have 3 monitors currently and am looking to replace one, eventually others, so I guess I have three possible price ranges and want to know the best for each. $250, $450, and $650. If you can give me details on why you think the monitor is the best that would be great. (Ex. How a 2k resolution vs a 4k resolution compares in performance and actual video quality or something like that)

Thanks in advance!

 

[atheus]

Just to clarify, you said you have 3 monitors — what exactly are you doing with those 3 monitors? Are you saying you're running all 3 and gaming on one of them, or are you running games across all 3, or... ? What is the resolution of your existing monitors?

Just to toss some food for thought in a direction you may not have considered, I picked up a 29" 21:9 monitor back in 2013 and I am now a total convert to 21:9 monitors. There are some troubles with certain games which have UI glitches (like XCOM), but most games I play have no issues, and wow is it nice having such a wide view.

I'm currently using a 34" LG 34UM95 which is 3440x1440 — yet another massive improvement to the 2560x1080 of the 29" monitors, but you might not want to run this many pixels on a GTX 970. Dual GTX 970's would be fine, though. I run it on a GTX 980 and I'm fairly happy with the results. I have my old 29" monitor as a side screen for desktop stuff to keep Skype and a web browser open while I'm gaming. With the screen this wide, two windows fit side-by-side on either monitor and don't feel cramped at all.

 

[mlaykj99]

Just to clarify, you said you have 3 monitors — what exactly are you doing with those 3 monitors? Are you saying you're running all 3 and gaming on one of them, or are you running games across all 3, or... ? What is the resolution of your existing monitors?

Just to toss some food for thought in a direction you may not have considered, I picked up a 29" 21:9 monitor back in 2013 and I am now a total convert to 21:9 monitors. There are some troubles with certain games which have UI glitches (like XCOM), but most games I play have no issues, and wow is it nice having such a wide view.

I'm currently using a 34" LG 34UM95 which is 3440x1440 — yet another massive improvement to the 2560x1080 of the 29" monitors, but you might not want to run this many pixels on a GTX 970. Dual GTX 970's would be fine, though. I run it on a GTX 980 and I'm fairly happy with the results. I have my old 29" monitor as a side screen for desktop stuff to keep Skype and a web browser open while I'm gaming. With the screen this wide, two windows fit side-by-side on either monitor and don't feel cramped at all.

I have a 24'' 1980x1080 right now that I run games on. The other 2 are used more for multitasking and work. I want 1 main monitor to run games and the other 2 will be side monitors. Could I do a 4k monitor with dual 970s and the other 2 monitors on the side running other things like youtube or netflix?

 

[atheus]

If you want a 4k monitor you are better off going with a 980 Ti or an R9 Fury X (though it makes me gag a little suggesting an AMD GPU). That said, it seems 970 SLI will usually have higher average FPS, but substantially lower minimum FPS (which I would say is more harmful to gameplay experience than a few fps average). With the cost being about equal, I'd want a 980 Ti every time, mainly because having that 6GB VRAM opens up a few doors when it comes to shadows and textures that might be locked tightly with 970s - especially if you want a couple side monitors in the picture.

Still, being me I love my LG 34UM95. It's far more spacious than 2560x1440 and only slightly higher pixel density than 24" 1080p monitors, which really seems like the sweet spot for Windows without any UI scaling. It's not by any means a "gaming" monitor, and it's quite expensive at $800+, but I play games on it all the time and I'm completely satisfied. In retrospect I probably should have gotten a 980 Ti, but the 980 does a great job anyway. I was running a GTX 780 for about 8 months on this setup too and that definitely produced acceptable results too, but I had to turn some settings down.

 

[mlaykj99]

Thanks for the help. The only reason I was going to do 2 970s instead of a 980ti is because I already have one and it would cost 300$ to get a second one opposed to $600 and having the extra card.

 

[atheus]

No problem. I had forgotten you already had a 970 - it makes sense to pick up another 970 then, though you definitely have the option of hocking it on ebay and grabbing a 980 Ti. That's exactly what I did upgrading from my 780 to 980... although now that I think of it that 780 is still sitting on the floor next to me. Damn, I forgot to sell it