4K or 1440p 144Hz for 24" monitor?

[steffeeh]

I currently have dual monitors for my setup, which is in an audio editing studio. The screens are 24" 1080p.

However I'm into gaming as well, and that's why I'm planning on getting a GTX 1080 -GPU, along with replacing my main monitor and upgrade it to either a 4k monitor, or a 1440p 120-144 Hz monitor, also at 24". Note that I can't get any bigger monitors as the speakers must not get blocked by the screen, nor moved (this is very important as I'm in a homestudio environment) - so I can't go beyond 24", not to mention it would look awful with 2 screens at different sizes next to eachother. Anyhow, I sit rather close to my screens, so I'm actually happy with the percieved size of the screens.

First off I was thinking that 4K monitors would be great, to get a sharp image and remove all those horrible jagged lines (which I really hate by the way), and I would achieve 60 FPS on pretty much all games except one as I've checked them. On the other hand I have 144 Hz monitors at 1440p, where I could get really smooth gameplay (around 100 ish Hz). So there's a bit of a dilemma for me. But an important aspect is... can you really tell the difference between 60 and 144 FPS?? No just kidding ;D No but can you really tell the difference between 4K and 1440p on a 24" screen - including the jagged lines?

The types of games that I play are mixed, but I tend to lean more towards singleplayer, non-competitive games where 144 Hz isn't vital but more of a nice feature just like crisp image. Basically we're talking about Ark (a lot), racing games, Just Cause, Minecraft and other sandbox games, different indie story mode and first person puzzle games, Age Of Empires, Cities Skylines, Rocket League, and so on.

 

[steffeeh]

Anyone?

 

[steffeeh]

One thing that struck me just now is that I don't really pay much attention to smoothness of the game.
I play games that run at both 72 FPS (my screens being 72 Hz screens), some at 60 FPS as they're capped, and others at 30-40 FPS.
While 72 and 60 FPS looks great and better than 30-40 FPS, and while I clearly can even tell the difference between just 60 and 72 FPS, it still don't bother me playing some games at 30-40 FPS.
Surely that depends on the game, racing games are horrible below 55 FPS for me, but running around in a singleplayer open world I sure don't get bothered if it's at 30-40 FPS only, even if I've played a game at 60 or 72 FPS right before switching game.
Don't get me wrong, 60-72 FPS always looks way better than 30-40 FPS, it's just that I don't pay that much attention to it as soon as I'm more into the game.

But on the other hand I regurarly wish that I could get rid of that aliasing in textures and those jagged lines.
I don't know, feels like I'm the kind of guy who's more bothered about texture smoothness and jagged lines, rather than movement smoothness (the very reason I'm considering 4k vs 1440p 144Hz in the first place).

However, of course this doesn't really matter if I can't really see the difference between 1440p and 4k on a 24" display. If I can however, well then it's +1 to 4k for me personally. I mean I won't even be able to run most of my games above 100 FPS unless I grab a 1080ti when it's out.

 

[Sarofendor]

I'd recommend a 1440p monitor as at 4k your framerates just won't be that good. Also 1440 should be fine for jagged edges and stuff like that. For the most part the jagged edges is the fault of the game not the monitor.