Monitors are complicated - GTX970 Duel Monitor setup

[Steelbiscuit]

Hi! Earlier this year i finally saw the light and joined the master race and built myself a gaming pc. I spent around 1500 euro on it and have been very happy with its performance. At the time I didn't have the cash to buy a particularly good monitor so i decided to use an older crappy monitor and buy a good one later on. I had no idea it would be such a difficult task. With the gtx970 ive read that once you go over 1080p gaming you might start taking a bit of a frame-rate hit, especially with future games. I'm also undecided with what refresh rate to go for. I've always wanted a duel monitor setup with each monitor being 27". I've got 500 euro saved, but could probably stretch that to 600 if necessary.
Any input would be greatly appreciated as i'm a little out of my depth here and every other forum seems to offer different advice. Thanks very much.

 

[SU11YBEAR]

If you check the current system builder I think two of them give a review with a 970, or you can google for benchmarks I looked at the BF4 one on anandtech for the numbers, anyways the 970 is great for 1080p since you are almost always above the 60FPS goal for PC gaming, if you want to go upto 1440p monitors you will generally dip below this standard and see more of 45+ fps range.
In this case I would argue to spend the money on a single 1080p monitor with 120Hz-144Hz or G-Sync, 1440p is definitely nice but a smooth and consistent frame rate will provide more then the extra resolution. Also as a note I like dual monitors but they are not really practical for most games (the center of the screen is right on the Bezel between the two monitors) so I would think the single good monitor would be used for gaming and the dual setup would be used when you want to do productivity tasks only.
Some recommended options (havent used these but did some looking around, stars based on Amazon)
Acer XB270H , G-Sync and 4 Star
BenQ XL2720Z, 144Hz 4.5 Star

If you want to buy two new monitors and game on both you will probably have to drop to 60Hz, and the frame rates will be comparable to 1440p (2x1080p monitors have 12.5% more pixels then a 1440p monitor)
BenQ GL2760H, 60Hz 2ms GTG 4.5 Star

Hope this helps

 

[Steelbiscuit]

Is the jump to 144hz worth the extra money? I've never seen a monitor in real life with my own two eyes that has a higher than 60hz refresh rate so i really have no idea if theres a noticeable jump or not. I really like the look of that Benq XL2720z model, im just wondering is it a little over priced cause it has a few extra bells and whistles? (Like switching it to portrait mode, which ill never use).

I really appreciate the reply and help.

 

[SU11YBEAR]

Its hard to say for each person, but in theory the whole argument for exceeding 60FPS doesn't really matter if your monitor cant refresh fast enough to show the new frames anyways, since the 970 does better then 60FPS for most 1080p applications there would be an improvement but it would be difficult to tell, a third option would be to get an IPS monitor which will give better picture quality at the lower refresh rate.
High refresh TN monitors tend to be recommended if you are playing shooters competitively since they give a very fast refresh, if you are playing more casual then a TN 60Hz will be fine for most uses, if you want a better picture quality (for photo editing ie) you can go with an IPS which costs more and have the lower refresh