Advice for monitor 4K or 1440?

I just purchased a new DS computer, I ended up paying more to get the 1080Ti video card now I am trying to decide if I should get a gaming monitor but can't decide between a high refresh rate 1440 or a better resolution 4K.

Will be used for gaming but also to watch video content.

Thanks for any advice.

here is my PC build
System Configuration:

Chassis Model: Corsair Carbide Quiet 600Q
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i7-8700K (6-Core) 3.70GHz
Motherboard: ASUS ROG STRIX Z370-H GAMING (Intel Z370 Chipset) (Up to 3x PCI-E Devices)
System Memory: 16GB DDR4 3000MHz Digital Storm Performance Series
Power Supply: 1000W EVGA SuperNOVA G2
Expansion Bay: - No Thanks
Optical Drive: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x) (Internal)
Storage Set 1: 1x SSD M.2 (500GB Samsung 960 EVO) (NVM Express)
Storage Set 2: 1x Storage (3TB Seagate / Toshiba)
Storage Set 3: - No Thanks
RAID Config: - No Thanks
RAID Card: - No Thanks
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Graphics Card(s): 1x GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB (Performance Edition) (VR Ready)
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
HPC Processor: - No Thanks
Extreme Cooling: H20: Stage 2: Corsair H110i GT - 280mm Liquid CPU Cooler (Fully Sealed + No Maintenance)
HydroLux Tubing Style: - Not Applicable, I do not have a custom HydroLux liquid cooling system selected
HydroLux Fluid Color: - Not Applicable, I do not have a custom HydroLux liquid cooling system selected
Cable Management: Premium Cable Management (Strategically Routed & Organized for Airflow)
Chassis Fans: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: - No Thanks
Airflow Control: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Noise Reduction: - No Thanks
LaserMark: - No Thanks
CPU Boost: Stock Factory Turbo Boost Advanced Automatic Overclocking
Graphics Boost: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
OS Boost: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-Bit Edition)
Recovery Tools: Windows 10 Installation CD Only (Clean Install with No Drivers)
Virus Protection: Windows Defender Antivirus (Built-in to Windows 10)
Office: - No Thanks
Game: - No Thanks
Display: - No Thanks
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: - No Thanks
Mouse: - No Thanks
Branded Gear: - No Thanks
Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 10-15 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed
Warranty: Life-time Expert Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty (3 Year Labor & 1 Year Part Replacement)

Sub-Total: $2,768.00

thanks looking around and see that 1440p may be the way to go, what is a recommended monitor?

Hi Rai-Zero

I would disagree with the comment from bprat22 that 4k needs an SLI 1080 Ti setup. I am not sure if bprat32 actually owns a GTX 1080 Ti and has used it for 4k gaming or if he is just borrowing other opinions that he has read. I ACTUALLY have a single 1080 Ti that I bought last March and it runs 95% of my games fine at max settings at 4k where i get to 60hz or better. (It actually does better than the 3 Titan X Maxwells that I had in SLI before it). I gave up on SLI after that since most AAA games scale poorly with SLI and some do'nt scale at all. I personally will NEVER go back to SLI. You would be better off and more cost effective just to continuously upgrade your single card to the best every 12 months.

Back to the 1080 Ti,sure there are a few games that force it to 40 or 50 fps at max settings but that is fine for me since i want to see all the 4k beauty. For a monitor i have 2 DELL 32 inch (UP3216Q) 60hz monitors but only use 1 for gaming.   

In terms of preference I will always go for 4k versus a higher refresh rate above 60hz. To me the holy grail has always been getting to PHOTO REALISTIC in gaming. 60hz is fine for me, unless you are a pro gamer i suspect your gaming will not improve with a higher refresh rate. However, the 4k display will make everything look amazing including those 4k youtube videos you can watch these days.   Crysis 3 in 4k amazing! Your jaw will drop in ah.   I vote for photo realistic everyday, but again that is my preference and your's may differ. In the past i have games at as low as 40fps without feeling that my game was being impacted. Don't forget live TV is only 24/30fps and even blue ray movies are just 30fps.

Edited by Corvette_Dude - 25 Nov 2017 at 5:10pm

I am still on the fence, I love the idea of high resolution for photographs but doing a lot of research saying the high refresh is better for gaming.

Edited by rai-zero - 25 Nov 2017 at 7:23pm

I wanted to get the top rated gaming monitor that was 27 inches, 1440P ROG ISP monitor that is the top rated gaming monitor on almost every review, but has a high price tag and can suffer from backlight bleed.

I was apprehensive to spend so much on a monitor that might have backlight bleed they say it's hit or miss.

Anyway also was looking at a cheaper TN display the Dell gaming 27", but at first the price difference was not significant.    The TN has the advantage of higher response time (less blur) and no complaint of backlight bleed which is said to be mostly the problem with ISP

Anyway looking at Best Buy I saw the Dell there at $399 (rather than $599) so got that one was almost half the price of the more expensive ROG monitor, saving me $370 which I rationalize that was used as spending on the 1080 Ti on my DS rig.

decided on a 1440P instead of 4K because I want to have higher refresh rate and higher frame rates.



Edited by rai-zero - 26 Nov 2017 at 4:56pm

I always sit in front of my monitor so that's not an issue.

Guess it'll be a long two weeks to wait. My prior PC was a DS real budget build back in 2013 $999 total build.

Intel Core i5 3570K 3.40 GHz
1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti

my old PC died on me 4-5 months ago and I've been waiting for Coffee Lake than for Black Friday sale.

Needless to say I'm expecting great things from this new rig and will post a review.

Edited by rai-zero - 26 Nov 2017 at 6:30pm

Have both, the Asus 278 and 279 and the IPS (279) is just (subjectively)  a little better with contrast and blacks. Don't know what monitor bleed  is  so I guess I don't have it.  Right now in my limited personal opinion the 4K monitors are not fast enough. Next year we'll see some new ones and then.....

Edited by hoserator - 27 Nov 2017 at 2:18am

Originally posted by hoserator Have both, the Asus 278 and 279 and the IPS (279) is just (subjectively)  a little better with contrast and blacks.

I thought about the TN panel from ROG but it’s also $700 so the Dell has around the same specs but a good bit cheaper.   I spent more than I wanted (was thinking to spend $2400) but spent a bit more on the graphics card than I was planning, so saving some on the display.

I went back and forth regarding 4K but decided that I’d prefer faster smoother gameplay instead of higher resolution.

Edited by rai-zero - 27 Nov 2017 at 5:05am

Originally posted by DST4ME It is not a lottery, what it is, is that not all ips panels are the same, there are quality ips panels and there are cheap ones, there is a reason one 24" ips is $399 and another $799, the 799 has better panel/technology making it the best ips can offer while the 399 does not have the same panel / technology thus suffering from bleeding, ghosting, etc.

Not to be arguing but there are countless threads, videos and discussions about specially the ROG 27 monitor having this issue see my link above.   I’m not making this up. One video had a team unbox 20 diffent monitors to show how each one is different.

I would not have known about this issue at all unless it was an issue with this expense panel.   I am not making anything up if you do a search you will see.

Again it may be something hard to notice unless you look for it, but I have seen one reviewer say it was very notable if he put a window up in one corner and it was maddening to spend so much and not be happy.

ROG has a policy they will replace one time only. Not sure about the individual stores but that’s just one reason I decided to go for the TN display.

Edited by rai-zero - 27 Nov 2017 at 6:11am

Also next time remember a few things.

1. Happy people most times don't come to the forums to report, unhappy people do, so forums tend to lean more negative.

2. Other users experience is limited to my decision, I can't tell you how many times I have seen people complain about something on a product in reviews only to get the product and find out what i have no idea what they are talking about.

3. Always have a few good sources to check for reviews, for monitors its TFTCentral, a quick visit there would have told you it Suffers from ips glow, but its screen is still better than tn, now personally after reading this review I would hit couple of other sites and then Amazon, once you put all of those together, that tells me this ips panel is not for me, so on to a better ips panel.

Lastly while tn can argue glow against ips, ips can easily argue superior image quality, superior screen quality and superior viewing angle. Now it comes down to choice. I can tell you one thing, I have a hard time finding people that owned ips willing to go to tn, have not seen anyone not love going from tn to ips.(not ROG)



Edited by DST4ME - 27 Nov 2017 at 6:33am

Look at acer also i believe they had some decent monitors also.

That monitor looks good for tn panel

Rog is asus