Monitor Upgrade advice - what did you value the most?

[Subressor]

Hey everyone,

I'd love to hear from some people who have upgraded from a standard 1080p / 60hz / TN / 27" and what you saw the real difference in. Did you go 1440p/4k? 144hz? IPS? Did you get G-Sync/Freesync?

I want to buy a new monitor that matches my graphics power now (1070) and will last. I'd ideally what all of the above but that's like £700! Is that seriously worth it or can I compromise on something? Is G-Sync just some expensive nVidia rubbish

I'd be really interested to hear how much better anyone thought a IPS panel was from TN for colour (For me, colour > 5ms response time).

Cheers

 

[coozie7]

Did exactly that upgrade: 27" 1080 60Hz TN to 1440 Freesync IPS.

First off Freesy6nc and Gsync do much the same thing: Dynamically sync the display to the GPU output giving a much smoother experience, the plus of Gsync is that it works better at low FPS. In your case to get the vey best out of the system, a Gsync display is the way to go.

There is not too much difference between IPS and TN for gaming, both usually offer similar colour gamut while IPS has better contrast (better in dark areas) and wider viewing angles, TN is cheaper but the image tends to 'colour shift' more as you move your viewpoint away from dead centre-it has lesser viewing angles.

At 27" you'll REALLY, really notice the change from 1080 to1440 rez, even with my ancient eyes the higher resolution combined with Freesync is nothing short of stunning.

Colour fidelity is up to you, most will find a TN panel good enough, personally hated the colour shift and paid more to secure an IPS panel, but the choice is yours to make.

In your shoes, I'd go for a TN Gsync display, but check prices carefully, the price difference between TN and IPS can be small, depending on where you shop

Finally: Edit your post and drop the swear word, the Mods don't like it and it's against the rules.

 

[Subressor]

Thanks for your answer; did you find G-Sync/Free-Sync made much difference for you? It looks like the nVidia variant (what I'd need) is costing an extra £100.

Re. IPS vs. TN; I know viewing angles are a thing but didn't you notice much of a difference from the "head-on viewing" colours? (I.e. not taking the angles into account) Or can you get TN panels that have near perfect colours?

 

[coozie7]

Hard call on the need for Gsync/Freesync, but if you play mainly fast paced games the extra smoothness and lack of tearing are, in my opinion worth it, seeing my fave FPS games like FEAR, DOOM and the METRO franchise running tear free at >100FPS is a thing of joy and glory to behold. If, on the other hand you mainly play slower paced games where every millisecond doesn't count then a cheaper 60Hz display running with Vsync enabled is a far cheaper option and better suited to your needs.

Most of the current TN panels run very close to IPS in colour accuracy, missing out only on the higher contrast of IPS, unless you could see both panels running side-by-side I doubt you'd notice any great differences apart from the viewing angles.
As with Gsync/Freesync, it's all down to personal choice and budget, I watch a fair number of movies and play mainly fast paced games on my system, so a Freesync IPS panel was best for my uses-but it wasn't cheap!

Size/rez: Up to about 24" 1080 is good, 1440 can result in ingame text becoming hard to read at this size and you'll have to resize the Windows interface as well to avoid eyestrain.
Over 24" up to about 28": At these larger sizes you'll want at least 1440 rez, 1080 is too coarse making text a little blocky and forcing higher levels of AA in games, with the attendant framerate hit, at 1440 the need for AA is much reduced but the higher rez inevitably results in a framerate drop, the good news is that your GTX1070 can handle it easily enough.
Awesome as it is 4K is too much for most systems, and ATM it's limited to 60FPS anyway, fine for professional use excellent for video/film production but of little real worth for gamers or more normal home users.