HIgh resolution monitor (games, text, web)

gui0312

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Mar 15, 2017
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Hi guys, I am looking for a monitor to go with a new PC I am building. I am coming from an iMac 27 5K display (5120x2880 Max). I wanted to get something good for games (FFXIV, Mass Effect, light fps) but I didn't want to sacrifice resolution. The problem I am seeing is that it is looking really expensive to get all this, notably $700+. I am ok with a smaller screen size than 27" but would prefer to stay at 27. The issue I notice most is when I scale down my resolution on the iMac (windows 10 bootcamp) to lets say 2560x1440 (matching a monitor of that res.) the text on documents and websites starts to get blurry, not as crisp as the higher resolution (obviously). Is there any other options you guys can think of and steer me in the right direction? FYI I will be running a GTX1070 as of now.

Thanks!
 

itsmedatguy

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Aug 25, 2016
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The issue with high resolutions on a small screen size is that the density of pixels becomes too high, making text hard to read without using windows scaling (which doesn't always look great, or work properly in all software environments). How many pixels per inch (PPI) you prefer depends on what you like and how far away you plan to sit from your monitor. For example, the Apple Retina 5k @ 27" has a PPI of ~217. That seems absurdly high and almost unusable in the Windows environment, but having never used one, I assume Apple scales it well in OSX and that it looks great. For the windows environment, I'd tend to think 100-110 PPI is a good place. You will also notice that running a 4k/5k monitor at a lower resolution like 1440p will look somewhat blurry, and not as good as a monitor that is natively 1440p at the same screen size.

I use this monitor: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1N858T4925&ignorebbr=1&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleMKP-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleMKP-PC-_-pla-_-Monitors+-+LCD+Flat+Panel-_-9SIA1N858T4925&gclid=Cj0KEQjw-73GBRCC7KODl9zToJMBEiQAj1Jgf732-CANdpz-DQBfhM3ZULzF3rVNPBP0I36Yb-yytJsaArJZ8P8HAQ&gclsrc=aw.ds

It's expensive and gigantic, but I don't sacrifice any resolution or color accuracy with it being 4K and IPS. At 43", I get ~103 PPI, which in my opinion is the sweet spot in Windows 10. Basically, if you want to hit a higher resolution and not be forced to use windows scaling, you have to get a bigger screen. If you want to stay at 27", I'd recommend a 1440p resolution which will produce ~108 PPI.
 

gui0312

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Mar 15, 2017
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I am not sure, but I use Windows 10 Bootcamp on the iMac 5k at 5120x2880 and it looks amazing, it does scale the text, apps etc, to 200% which allows for adequate viewing or else it is way too small. I believe OSX does the same thing, except it displays it as a default though you can adjust it.

That being said, 43" is going to be way too big for my desk setup. Also I will be sitting approximately 3 feet from the screen