Need help w/ specs for new monitor

[XAiracobraX]

Getting tired of using a single 22" (1680x1050 res) for flight sims, mainly DCS and IL2-BOS.    I am interested in two things: 1, upgrading to a single 2k monitor, 2 what do I need to upgrade to run such monitor.  Was wanting to get at least a 27" 1440p 144hz monitor, but looking into things turns out they have curved ultrawide monitors now and G-sync is interesting to me.  I don't live in a city that has a computer store to see these things.  Largest size I could fit on desk would be a 34" monitor, but would have to have speakers at weird angles to do so, a 27" would fit nicely without having to put speakers off weird.  While I don't need to play on ultra I would like to play on high settings.  Looking into things seems like i might need to at least upgrade video card, was thinking getting a GTX 1070 could run a single 2K monitor. 

 

Currently I have i5-4690k at stock 3.5 ghz, ASUS Z97-A, 32 Gb ram, EVGA GTX 770 dual super-clocked 4GB, with both games installed on OS SSD.

 

What do you guys think 27" or 34"?  What will i need for other upgrades to run?

 

(Will post similar in DCS forum)

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Firstly, the GTX 770 is inadequate for 1440p. That's roughly 2.1 times the pixel count of your current monitor, so expect performance to drop dramatically. For smooth performance (60+ fps at ultra settings), the GTX 1070 is a great choice.

 

The stock i5-4690K is adequate for generally smooth (60 fps) gameplay assuming the default Turbo to 3.9 GHz is enabled. As you have a "K" CPU and a Z97 chipset, you could try overclocking. It would improve performance when CPU-bound.

 

Don't worry too much about monitor size; you can generally compensate by sitting at the correct distance as long as everything fits on your desk. 34" is nice, but it makes no sense if you'll only end up sitting uncomfortably close. Keep in mind that 27" is still rather large for a monitor.

 

G-Sync is nice, but it's not necessarily worth it as G-Sync monitors are generally more expensive. Putting that money towards other hardware can sometimes have a greater effect. Good explanation of some monitor technologies can be found here.

Edited October 11, 2018 by Mitthrawnuruodo

[Remontti]

I'm pleased with my predator 34" monitor. Prevuous was 27".

 

Somehow monitors start to seem smaller longer you use them. So I would choose the biggest if it otherwise meets your specs.

[w00dy]

Like Mitthrawnuruodo said, you need a GPU upgrade before getting a new 1440 monitor, especially if you want a 144hz one.

 

I have a 27" monitor (Asus MG279Q) and with my old 1070 I was getting a 100+ fps on ultra settings no problem, so something like that would be perfect. As for G-Sync I think the premium is to much and not worth the money, it would of added over a £100 to the cost of my monitor. Also what panel technology are you going for TN, IPS, VA?

 

They all have their good and bad points, but that is up to you.

 

This is worth a read and gives you the pros and cons of each panel. 

https://techguided.com/display-panel-types-tn-ips-va/

[Donik]

I have been an ultrawide user since 2015.  The absolute minimum GPU I would recommend for 3440x1440 resolution at this time would be a GTX 1070.  I personally have a 1080 Ti (I used to have a 1070).

 

Performance wise, you will notice an average of around 20 FPS drop in performance on 3440x1440 vs 2560x1440.  So for example, if you are getting 80FPS @ 2560x1440, then expect to see about 60FPS @ 3440x1440.  This isn't gospel, but from what I've found it's a general rule of thumb to allow you to estimate performance based on benchmarks you'll see in GPU reviews, etc.

 

I will add here that the extra viewing space you get with ultrawides is a beautiful thing when it comes to flight sims.  See this post by @SeaW0lf for a good comparison of ultrawide vs standard monitors.

Edited October 11, 2018 by Donik

[XAiracobraX]

So measuring things out I think I'll go with the 2560x1440 as the ultrawide requires my big speakers to point 45 degs off from optimal.  I have tried this and it is noticeable.  I also like that it will be less taxing on my computer.  I would love to have a 3440x1440 ultra wide but I think cramming it in my space makes other things too goofy.  I am not a competitive gamer, I play flight sims with limited single player fps but stopped playing fps in mp years ago.  So I lean towards an IPS but my current is a TN and I am hoping I won't notice a major difference.  I am very curious about the freesync/gsync since it minimizes tearing which when the screen tears I often loose track of target in flight sim.  Also interested since it can help when computer outputs lower frames per second.

[w00dy]

I have to say my personal preference in panels is IPS, the difference in the colours and viewing angles compared to a TN is like comparing night and day to day to me. I also think a lot of your screen tearing is probably down to your 770 being pushed. I don't remember having screen tearing with my 1070 and my current 144hz monitor. G-Sync would be nice,. but like I said the premium is not worth it in my eyes and for freesync you need a AMD graphics card for that.

 

My monitor preferences would go like this. IPS, 1440, 144hz, then G-Sync.

 

I have to admit after saying all this, I now playing the game in VR 

   

 

 

[XAiracobraX]

So while I have been looking around for 27" monitors the ASUS ROG Swift PG279Q (Newegg $699) keeps coming up as top recommendation on review sites.  However I have been looking at the Samsung C27hg70 (Newegg $499).  The main differences is the samsung sports QLED, curved screen, HDR, and freesync 2.  The QLED and the curved screen sound nice.  While I like the idea behind adaptive sync I have no experience of it working.  It should be noted this uses Freesync 2, rather than g-sync.  Review sites say that Freesync 2 is supposed to fix the problems with freesync 1.  I have found older reviews stating that freesync had flickering problems in both IL2 and DCS but some of which may have been fixed with later patches.  Anyone have a recent experience with freesync 1 or 2?  Does it work in IL2 and DCS?  I am trying to find a 27" 1440p 144hz monitor with nice color, open to suggestions.

Edited October 12, 2018 by XAiracobraX

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

1 hour ago, XAiracobraX said:

The main differences is the samsung sports QLED, curved screen, HDR, and freesync 2

The most important thing to consider is that FreeSync does not work with Nvidia GPUs (and G-Sync only works with Nvidia GPUs).

 

As long as you have G-Sync + Nvidia GPU or FreeSync + AMD GPU, you’ll get the benefits of adaptive refresh in any game.

 

 

[XAiracobraX]

As I am going to have to upgrade my video card regardless I was planning on the correct pairing.  My question is: do freesync and g-sync work about the same?  Are the issues that several people posted regarding flickering with freesync solved?

 

Specifically I am looking at pairing the samsung c27hg60 with a Radeon RX Vega 56 OC.  Will this work well, or do I need to use a RX vega 64, or should I buy a nvidia 1070 ti?

Edited October 13, 2018 by XAiracobraX

[Ehret]

2 hours ago, XAiracobraX said:

As I am going to have to upgrade my video card regardless I was planning on the correct pairing.  My question is: do freesync and g-sync work about the same?  Are the issues that several people posted regarding flickering with freesync solved?

 

Don't know detailed differences between them but the G-sync is a more advanced and more expensive tech. The G-sync has the hardware to duplicate frames all the way down to 1 frame/s. Perhaps, the free-sync can not and resorts to inserting blank frames, instead, thus generating flicker?

 

You can approach the problem from a different perspective, as well. One can settle for constant refresh rate (50, 60, or more Hz - still a smooth experience) and get a computer with enough performance reserve to maintain sync-on most of the time.

Edited October 13, 2018 by Ehret

[XAiracobraX]

No one has experience with freesync in IL2 or DCS?