Monitor advice, 24 in. vs 27 in. and 1080p vs 1440p

[ChaoticRambo]

Hello,

I am sure this question and similar questions have been asked time and time again, but a quick search didn't come up with my exact situation.

I have not upgraded my monitor in over 6 years and I am looking to upgrade. I currently have an ASUS VH236H, 24 in., 1080p, 2 ms response, 60 Hz monitor. I am going to be purchasing a GTX 1070 to replace my GTX 770 and figured it is time to upgrade the monitor.

I have tried to do my research in terms of 1080p vs 1440p and 60 Hz vs 144 Hz. My requirements for a new monitor is 24-27 in., 1080p minimum, and <2 ms response time. Obviously if I am going to stick with a 24 in. monitor I would want an upgrade of some form, so then 144 Hz would also be required.

I have come up with the following options:

ASUS VG248QE 24 1920x1080 <2ms 144 Hz 239.64
ASUS VG278HV 27 1920x1080 <2ms 144 Hz 305.07
ASUS PB277Q 27 2560x1440 <2ms 75 Hz 319.21

I tried to find a 1440p monitor with 144 Hz, but they were outside of what I want to spend at this time (I could buy two GPUs instead of one for the price of the 144 Hz 1440p monitors). I also don't think that would be a good choice for me because it seems like you would need to replace GPUs more often to keep the FPS above 144.

Right now I sit just over 2 ft. from my monitor and sometimes I lean in to just under 2 ft. I play a wide range of games, but I would say I care most about my performance in games like Battlefield. So I am willing to sacrifice a tiny bit of visual fidelity for performance. But I also don't want to play on low settings just to have insane FPS.

So I guess I have three questions to narrow down my selection:

-Does a 1440p 27 in. 75 Hz monitor look better than a 1080p 27 in. 144 Hz monitor at a view distance of 2 ft?
-With such a short view distance, would a 24 in. monitor still be better than even a 1440p 27 in. monitor?
-How critical is it to keep a 144 FPS with a 144 Hz monitor? Would the game look worse if I was at 102 FPS on a 144 Hz monitor vs. 102 FPS on a 60 Hz monitor?

Thank you in advance for any advice or comments!

 

[Isokolon]

just to bring to your attention, Acer just released something that I'd call promising: the Acer Predator XB241YU
2560x1440 on a 24' display (ultra sharp), with ULMB & G-Sync. 144Hz, oc to 165Hz possible according to Acer. I'm waiting for reviews currently.

to answer some of your questions:

1920x1080 on a 27'' is just wrong and doesn't look good
personally for 2 feet I think 27'' is too big but this is personal preference.
you can tune 144Hz monitors down to 120/100Hz as well. most people say there's little to no difference between 60-75 Hz and between 100-144Hz, 100 being kind of the threshold.
but of course: a 144Hz display can physically show 144 frames per second, while a 60Hz display can only display 60 fps really. if you can really see the difference differs from person to person and eye to eye. some people say, once they've seen 144Hz in action, they can never go back. others barely notice the difference. it's very individual.
also for battlefield you don't really need an ultrafast screen. this is more necessary for competitive games like csgo or overwatch even. battlefield is more about looks and constrasts. you could even go for a nice IPS imo. but again, personal preference

 

[ChaoticRambo]

just to bring to your attention, Acer just released something that I'd call promising: the Acer Predator XB241YU
2560x1440 on a 24' display (ultra sharp), with ULMB & G-Sync. 144Hz, oc to 165Hz possible according to Acer. I'm waiting for reviews currently.

to answer some of your questions:

1920x1080 on a 27'' is just wrong and doesn't look good
personally for 2 feet I think 27'' is too big but this is personal preference.
you can tune 144Hz monitors down to 120/100Hz as well. most people say there's little to no difference between 60-75 Hz and between 100-144Hz, 100 being kind of the threshold.
but of course: a 144Hz display can physically show 144 frames per second, while a 60Hz display can only display 60 fps really. if you can really see the difference differs from person to person and eye to eye. some people say, once they've seen 144Hz in action, they can never go back. others barely notice the difference. it's very individual.
also for battlefield you don't really need an ultrafast screen. this is more necessary for competitive games like csgo or overwatch even. battlefield is more about looks and constrasts. you could even go for a nice IPS imo. but again, personal preference

Isokolon,

Thank you for your input. Unfortunately I think that Acer monitor is outside of my price range, I am trying to stay under $350.00 for this go around.

I did not realize that 144Hz monitors could be adjusted to lower Hz. If using Vsync (assuming into the future as my hardware ages) could a 144Hz monitor still display correctly down to 60Hz if needed?

For fast paced gaming, assuming optimal view distance, would 1440p at 75 Hz still look better than 1080p at 144 Hz?

Thanks again

 

[Isokolon]

in shooters like battlefield you don't use V-Sync as it adds significant lag.
as for V-Sync, it will always sync it to the monitors refresh rate. so if you set it for 144Hz V-Sync will try to sync it to 144fps
if you adjust it to 85Hz, V-Sync will cap at 85fps

the refresh rate makes things smoother.
the resolution makes things sharper (usually bigger bcs there are like 3 1440p 24'' displays, they're usually 27'')
so "better" is kind of an unfitting term

if you want a bigger screen, 27'' 1440p is the way to go
if your screen size is fine as it is, 24'' 1080p is still nice

also 1080p/144Hz is less demanding for your GPU than 1440p/75Hz
(although it's heavier on the CPU)

 

[ChaoticRambo]

Assuming I want to play games on ultra settings most of the time, is it unrealistic to even consider 144 Hz with a single GPU? It seems like even a GTX 1070 can't play most high end games above 100 FPS.

I guess the only exception would be if I shelled out the money for G-sync, or if I constantly monitored my FPS and tweaked my monitor settings down. Theoretically, could I turn a 144 Hz monitor all the way down to 60 Hz manually through the settings?

 

[Isokolon]

144Hz @1080p is no problem usually
When I play BF1 I don't drop below 117fps and this game is seriously demanding.
You might have to tweak some settings here and there, bit things like MSAA do very little difference for a very high price in terms of load on the GPU.
A 1070 can easily provide 144fps in today's games on decently very high to ultra settings.

 

[ChaoticRambo]

Isokolon,

Thanks again for your help. I think through all of this I have managed to convince myself to spend way more money than I was originally intending to so that I can get a monitor that I will not need to upgrade for a long time. I am considering buying the ASUS ROG PG278Q. I chose this because I want a 1440p monitor with 144 Hz, however I don't want tearing if my FPS isn't at 144 Hz. For instance, there may be games I am perfectly happy with at 60 FPS while other games I want to crank up to 144 FPS. While I am sure I could manage this with monitor settings, that becomes a pain that I am hoping G-Sync solves.