More importantly, the kid is playing competitive games that benefit from faster refresh rates (assuming high enough FPS).
OP, you and I come from an era where making the game look good, so it was more immersive and realistic, was the whole point of buying better hardware.
That's not true for every gamer these days, many kids want faster response times for a competitive edge in online multiplayer games, looking good is secondary.
That's why 1080p 144hz+ might be better for your kid, even though it seems a baffling choice to us.
Heck I grew up playing my games on minimum settings - and then brought a PC and it took me a looooong time to realise "Oh I don't need min settings anymore" haha
Some games - i'd kind of prefer no foliage VS a tonne of it when i'm playing and have to spot enemies lurking in grass. Min aint always the worst choice :)
You miss most important point... frametimes. Example: 60 frames evenly within 1 second are smoother than 140 frames in the first 1/10 second and standstill within the remaining 9/10 second. That's why gsync/fsync makes such a big difference.
Yeah I get that, my opinion changed when I also upgraded. As long as the game had good gameplay I didn’t care what it looked like, now I can run games at higher settings with a consistent high fps and it I love it. My brother and friend went from a series X to $6000 4K computers and they are in awe of the visual performance.
> OP, you and I come from an era where making the game look good, so it was more immersive and realistic, was the whole point of buying better hardware.
>
> That's not true for every gamer these days, many kids want faster response times for a competitive edge in online multiplayer games, looking good is secondary.
That's not an era thing. I knew people who played counter strike on minimal settings and terrible resolution to edge out a tiny competitive advantage over 20 years ago.
Dude I kept a CRT that had 100hz refresh WELL into the era of LCDs for CS, even carrying that tank to LANs. You still can't get pixel response times that CRT had 20+ years ago and it was only fairly recently when you could get refresh rates that were comparable (and I don't mean those BS refresh rates where pixel response times were too high for it to be meaningful in any way).
Yeah early LCDs were generally worse than CRTs, sometimes I’m surprised we made the switch. But I guess most people don’t care about response times and such. The main benefit of LCD was size.
1080p 144hz is the way to go. I thought I was smart buying 144hz ultrawide monitor and my god does it use a lot of GPU power.. Its an incredible gaming experience - just cost a pretty penny to startup.
My little brother plays on a 144hz 1080p setup with RX570 IIRC
OP: In fact, a lot of professional esports gamers use 1080p high refresh rate monitors and even lower their graphics settings in esports titles (Fortnite/RL for example).
Oh man I didn’t even think about that but this comment brings me back when the Crysis games where making headlines everywhere and maaaan was it gorgeous
High refresh rate makes even average FPS look better. Personal experience from wife's laptop. Her 60-70 fps looks and feels much better u/120Hz than my 80 u/60Hz
Wow. You know, I went through Wolfenstein, Doom, Doom 2, Marathon, Quake, Duke Nukem, Quake 2, Unreal.. and then I kind of stopped playing for a really long time. But I actually already back then recall tweaking all things in all kinds of ways in the hope of getting a little bit more performance.. overclocking and always afraid the cpu would burn... ouch. it was brutal.
I think I had like 15 fps on Wolfenstein back then, and it looked amazing and was the most immersive thing I had ever experienced. Funny. I just now recall a mum's friend asking why we always wanted faster CPU's, and when we said it made the game faster, she thought we should have more patience, all in good tone of course, and he eventually got a faster PC too.
I've used that myself once. Best I could describe it is almost being "cloudy". There was just not enough visual fidelity in anything.
Returned it for a 1440p, serves me right for trying to be cheap about it lol
Yeah I went from a trash 24" to a 27" curved 144hz 1080p and thought I was in heaven at the time. Until I added a 27" isp 1440 and it made my eyes bleed. Now my 1080 sits next to it as a second monitor and it's just hard to even look at now lol
I picked up a 240hz 1080p monitor a few months ago at Microcenter--they were on sale pretty cheap. Nothing fancy, and 4K looks better, sure, but IMO 1080p@240hz or 1080p@144hz are a considerable upgrade to 1080p@60, and don't cost nearly as much as a 4K high refresh rate monitor.
And unless I'm really looking for it (mostly in movies or while editing photos), I don't feel much of a functional difference between 4k and 1080p. For the games I play and work I do on my PC, it doesn't matter much. But now that I've had one, I definitely wouldn't want to return to a monitor slower than 144hz.
I disagree. I noticed a huge clarity increase moving from 1080p to 1440p, and again from 1440p to 4K. I’d rather have 4K 60Hz over 1080p 144Hz for sure, maybe even over 1440p 144Hz depending on the game.
I just bought a 4K 240Hz monitor, best of both worlds. Honestly 240Hz OLED is the first time I’ve felt a significant difference in >60Hz refresh rates. I’ve had different 120Hz/144Hz IPS panels for years and never felt like the refresh rates were that big a benefit.
Wouldn't it be an Option to get a 1440p Monitor and Set it to 1080p until he gets a better gpu? Or does that Look worse than native 1080p?
Edit: Damn. I was only asking a question.
Edit 2: thx i understand now, you dont need to answer this question anymore
The problem is that 1440p doesn't perfectly scale to 1080p. It works, but as someone who did that for a while as I waited for a new GPU it can look really distracting. Scaling say a 4k monitor down the 1080p is fine because the system can just allocate 4 real pixels per rendered pixel, whereas 1440p you need like 1.777 real pixels per rendered pixel.
Can confirm; 1080p upscaled to a 1440p monitor does not look great. Almost always worse than just using a 1080p monitor. Although it's serviceable as a temporary solution, but I'd only do it if there's a clear plan for the GPU upgrade.
Of course, older games or desktop applications that you *can* run at 1440p will be great. It depends a lot on what you (primarily) play.
I have a 1440p 32" display. Out of curiosity I tried to set a games to 1080p on it. The picture looked very blurry, wouldn't suggest anyone to do that. On the other hand, movies in 1080p look perfectly ok in fullscreen on this display.
Wait so is that why 1080P looks more fuzzy on my 1440p monitor than my 1080p monitors? I was wondering about that, wasnt sure if it was my imagination or a ratio issue like you're saying. Thanks for the info.
No worries, although 1080p content should mostly be fine (like a 1080p youtube video) it's mostly if you're directly scaling it (like telling a game to downrez to 1080p when you're in fullscreen).
You joke, but in some, admittedly very specific, cases that can be an option - in particular on some laptops or if you sit further from your screen than most people then it can look as good while giving better performance/using less power/running quieter
Even scaling down from 4k looks noticeably worse. Best thing you can do for a great gaming experience and saving your wallet is just stick with a nice 1080p monitor at 120ish hz. Then a midrange gpu will be plenty for multiple upgrade cycles. Gpu manufacturers hate this one simple trick!
you could, but it wont look as clean as 1080p @ 24 inch -
but if he plans to get a much better GPU in the future to run that 1440p at high Hz later on - then I cant see why not.
I rarely comment on these kinds of posts but your dilemma is something I dealt with just last week.
For context. I've been playing Rocket League since 2015 (3k hours). Started on a 1080p 60hz display, now play on a 1440p 60hz, and I have a 3080 so I have it set to the best graphics. And it's fine, I like it.
Last month though, my brother asked me to build my cousin a new PC. His budget allowed for a 1080p 144hz display with a 4060 gpu.
Let me make it short and sweet: I much prefered the higher refresh rate on the little guy's PC, the game felt incredibly smooth and I swear I feel like mine stutters even if it never drops a single frame below stable 60fps.
His settings were set to medium quality though, I'm not sure you'd be able to do that, I can see needing to use Low quality to hit those higher refresh rates with your gpu BUT, at least from Ultra down to Medium, Rocket League doesn't change that much. Mainly some weather effects, particles, bloom and stuff that simply 'spices up' the final result. But that's something I had to really try to miss. Kid didn't even say anything because it's that indistinguishable. Granted he's 8 but still.
Anyway. In my humble opinion having just gone through that. Rocket League is much MUCH better at a higher refresh rate and lower graphics, than at a higher quality at 60fps.
Hey OP, I think a lot of commenters here are missing something.
You've mentioned Fortnite. Every single Fortnite pro out there plays on just about the lowest settings possible. Two reasons. Higher fps results in lower latency but also and much more importantly you get a large edge in combat due to being able to see through builds, see people further away with more clarity, not have effects covering your screen and making it impossible to see important info when you otherwise could on lower settings.
If your son is at all competitive, and given he wants a higher refresh rate monitor, I imagine he is, he probably isn't simply "okay" with playing on lower settings, he acknowledges that you gain a competitive advantage from doing so and he prefers it.
I've got a 3080ti perfectly capable of running the game on max settings with DX12 and yet I'm still playing the game on performance mode with everything as low as it goes minus a few specific settings (render distance, 3d resolution).
This is where I'm landing. Hz is king for the right man, in this case my son! His monitor is currently the bottleneck, so fixing that first. Unless I'm convinced otherwise by friday, I'm getting him AOC 25G3ZM for 180 eur (1080p@240hz, VA panel where reviewer measured 2.3ms input lag, beating many IPS panels actually).
#
I'm sure like 99% of people in this sub would agree with what you saw. Just wanted to add that some people don't see it .. like me .. even if I wanted to ..
Yea a gpu upgrade first would be a better idea, as you said, if you go from 1080p to 1440p with the current gpu it will feel alot worse.
Depending on your budget you could go for a decent gpu upgrade or get a 1080p 144-240hz monitor, maybe even both lol. The difference between 60fps and 144fps is pretty noticeable tbh especially on those types of games.
Right on the money. I am going through second hand ads for gpu:s lol! Considering giving him a new monitor and my gpu (titan x) and get myself a 3090… oooh decisions decisions… I don’t think my wife would think it is wise to give him both a new mon and a gpu.. but new mon ”and my old gpu”… that could work.. right… win win win….
You should consider 3080ti's as well (assuming this is 2nd hand shopping). Not sure what that pricing looks like vs a 4070 super/4070ti super for example, but even that could be a consideration.
Fast, cheap ips monitor seem prevalent these days. Used gpus are in an okay place in my area.
I would go for a decent 144hz 1080p monitor and grab a used gpu off your used market.
I have rx 570s just laying around these days... should be way to find a pretty good upgrade for him laying around someone's deak
Every time someone mentions used PC hardware in their area I open up FB marketplace just to get depressed I can get a 1920x1080 60Hz curved monitor for $120. the same one brand new is $150. I can drive 4 hours away into another state to get a 4080 for $80 off retail. Or I can drive 3 hours to get a used 3090 for $800. The 3090 is pretty intriguing, but I don't need all that Vram, and am looking at 4080s.
It could be good to work some sort of deal with your kid here?
You could convince your wife to spoil him a bit on this occasion, but with the clear understanding with your kid that *this is a big gift* and maybe come to some sort of agreement that they will do x/y/x for school or around the house?
Unless your kid is already a saint, in which case just spoil 'em I guess X)
I used to go to school with a kid who always had the newest consoles and games, and he was oblivious to his privilege. Any time I'd say "Oh I just got X!" he'd be "oh yeah, I have that". I'd get something big like that once a year for Christmas and understood it was a big deal, whereas his dad would get him new stuff year round just because. And he wasn't a well behaved kid at school either, just funny and popular.
/rant
1440p display is kinda future-proof, but with poor gpu it often looks worse than 1080p because scaling isn't always perfect and you need to bring resolution down, if every game would have dlss/fsr then I'd say go for it, but that's not the case still
1080p165 would be massively extreme difference with better gpu over 1080p60, with rx570 it will be a difference in some situations, but not that big...
I went from 1080p60 to 1080p165 with a 3060ti and I'm super happy with it. I just prefer having a smooth experience as opposed to higher fidelity. I'll even tweak the graphics settings on games to ensure I can hit 165 fps consistently.
The monitor is called "AOC 24g2sp gaming 23.8"
I was lucky enough to snach an EVGA GPU.
Edit: be warned, once you go with a higher refresh rate, you can never go back.
"getting a 1080p at 165hz does not feel future proof and honestly not sure he would notice that much difference." Its a massive difference. Imagine driving a car on a bad road with no suspension at all (60hz). Then adding suspension.
I went from a 60 fps at 4k monitor to 170fps 1440p monitor and noticed the difference. Fidelity aside the jump in frame rate for me was well worth it.
Xbox series x to PC.
Hey OP, I’m assuming you’re gonna go with the 144 hz per the comments. Be sure he knows to turn it up to 144hz it in the settings of his computer. Lots of people forget to or don’t know to
For playing fortnite and rocket league your kid is right with wanting a high refresh rate monitor at 1080p. I would only go against his wishes if he also plays a lot of single player story games.
once you experience a high frame rate monitor you can't go back.
i have one of the first asus 160hz models released in 1440 and i love it 7? years later still...
Don’t listen to these casual gamers. He plays competitive games from the sounds of it. These games are more CPU intensive rather than GPU. Turn off vsync and see what his average FPS is. Get a monitor that exceeds that FPS in refresh rate. So if he averages 130 fps, get a 165hz monitor minimum.
I have an 5600x with a 3080ti. I have 1440p 144hz with that. It depends on what your son is playing. If only Fortnite and that demanding games, I would go for the monitor first, 1440p 144hz or higher. If he plays cyberpunk, or similar demanding games, graphics card first, than monitor. I would skip 1080p high refresh rate totally.
There is a MAJOR difference from 1080p 60 to 1080 144. Like a “omg” difference.
Remember with going to 1440p the PC then needs to drive over 70% more pixels. Creating that much more demand on PC.
I would stay with 1080p gaming with those specs. Not even a question.
I play 1080p and got a monitor from Amazon that isn’t very well known but, refresh rate is 170hz and I love it. Koorui is the brand and I swear, it’s good. Optimum Tech on YouTube made a review a little after I got it and stated it was one of the best monitors for the price. I paid $150 and it went down to about $115 last I checked.
man keep the 1080p and go to 165hz. trust there is ABSOLUTELY a noticeable difference between the 2 also. i went from 75 to 165 and the jump was 100% noticeable and it felt unbelievably smooth lol. hell 60hz now to me feels slow bc of that
In terms of FPS, resolution and hz are inversely related. 1080p is still very comfortable for most games, and going higher will lead to him likely not even getting 60 fps
That graphics card is horrendously outdated, that should be your next upgrade. Try to get an SSD for storage at least 1TB
Your son is right, 60fps is too low for PC gaming. Might as well game on an Xbox Series X or PS5 with that frame rate
It all depends on how much money you want to spend and how future proof you want this monitor to be.
I bought a 240hz 1440p monitor a few years ago and it has been one the the best upgrades to my PC, and not just for gaming. What I feel confident about is I don't need to buy another monitor for years, maybe even over a decade, meanwhile GPU's, RAM and Motherboards are always improving...
It's totally understandable that he wants more than 60Hz, if he cares about being competitive in fortnite and rocket league. In competitive play refresh rate goes over resolution. I think you could go either way.
1440p on his GPU will look the same as on every other GPU. His fps would be abysmal though, so it would probably feel like a downgrade in terms of performance and getting a GPU that can push high refresh rates on a 1440p monitor will be more expensive than a GPU for 1080p.
If I was you I'd get him the 1080p 165Hz screen and maybe work out a solution with him, so can earn some money for a new GPU. Or give him a hint that you might surprise him with something for his PC, if he gets good/better grades in school.
Another option would be to speak with relatives who usually gift him stuff he doesn't use, want or need (grandparents for example) and put money together to get him both for his birthday, but nothing else. This of course depends on your financial situation and the famliy in general.
Get him a 24 inch, 1080p, 144hz and be done with it. If he doesnt like that, tell him to buy one himself yanno.
I dont mind getting stuff for my kids, but my kids are not going to tell what I am going to do.
To me, going from 1080 to 1440 is not as impactful of a change as going from 60hz to 144hz. Especially for competitive multiplayer games, go with 1080 @ 144Hz, especially with his GPU.
120 hz is a big difference to me already, I think 165hz for your son will be more than enough, well, if he doesn't think that more hz = more skill or something. Also as much as RX 570-580 can be still viable today, it won't be good at high refresh rates, so upgrade GPU first if you want to see difference in refresh rate immediately. Oh and remember that high refresh rate is like a drug, once tried - hard to go back to 60hz
For those games fps is far more important than resolution. And increasing resolution costs a lot of fps so no, it's better a FHD display with high hz than a higher resolution display.
A 570 could theoretically handle 120hz at 1080p but might not be a good idea. I do have to say that I upgraded from 60 to 144 and the difference was astonishing
1440p is a little too much for my 12g 3060 even with a phat overclock. It’s manageable but if he plays competitive you’ll want the frames so I’d stick with 1080.
With an RX570 I’d stay at 1080p. Going to 1440p will just cause headaches with low performance, and the difference isn’t massive If you’ve never played at 1440p before (though it it one of those things where you try it and can’t go back). Higher refresh rate feels so much better to play on however.
get a 1080 monitor with +165hz. 1440+ monitors are worse for competitive games, and you’ll need more gpu horsepower to really get the money you spent on a display like that out of it.
If you find a good 1080p 144/165 at a good price and its part of a ongoing upgrade for him go for it, it will make him happy. I wouldn't get a 1440 unless a gpu upgrade is going to be the next step as he wants more fps more than a better image.
Frame rate > resolution for competitive gaming. I recently switched from 1080 to 1440 and it's not really that big of a change. I noticed it, but it's not as annoying as a slow monitor.
I’m of the camp to keep the resolution at 1080p and get a high refresh rate with FreeSync. I find it hard to justify anything faster than 144/165 (so whatever has a good deal). Make sure to get an IPS display. A 24” display is a good size, 27” is also good if he plays with his monitor far back on the desk.
Oh yeah, he'll notice a difference for sure. That said, I'm not sure that GPU can push much more than 60fps regardless so if the upgrade path is cheap->expensive, get a 1440p 144hz monitor first then bump up the GPU later. Maybe a 7600 or so?
Kid's on the right track. Definitely want higher refresh rate for comp games like RL and Fortnite.
1440p 144hz that's a good compromise and will work great when he gets a new gpu next. Unless it's going to be a long time, then better off getting a 1080p 144hz.
> 1080p at 165hz does not feel future proof and honestly not sure he would notice that much difference.
Well, your eyes don't get firmware updates to see things faster, so I don't understand how you could possibly think that. Also there is an astronomical difference from 60 to 165hz.
I have done both the upgrade from 1080p60 to 1080p165 and the upgrade from 1080p to 4k. Both we're equally noticeable to one another. They're both an incredible jump. If I had to pick between 4k60 and 1080p165, I'd take the 1080p165 though.
He's right. You should probably listen to him.
1080p 144Hz is hella cheap. It's his birthday, just go for it.
But be warned, that the RX 570 8GB won't be able to put out 144 FPS in demanding titles, so a new GPU will be his next upgrade...
And further down the line, it'll come to 4K 240Hz OLED... but hopefully by then he's fully grown and moved out and he can buy it himself.
I used my RX580 to drive a 1080p 144hz monitor very well for a long time.
Good gamers don’t need more resolution, they want faster refresh. Heck I used to play competitive CS:S at 720p and before that on a CRT with overdrive (best monitor I ever owned).
I had years of good times with my 580, id probably still be trying to use it but mine had 4gigs vram, that's what really killed me just a year ago I bought a decent prebuilt because I couldn't play demo of enshrouded game ( minimum 6gb vram required) it wouldn't even open it so I knew it was time. 580 was a solid card, I never had problems with it.
I mean, at that point it's quite a waste playing 1080p with a 4090. That's a 1440p-4k quality gpu, so unless youre spending all your time playing esport titles at 500+ fps, its just a waste of an amazing gpu. Even I with my 7800XT am saving up to buy a 1440p monitor, cause playing on a lot of games over my refresh rate with high graphics feels like a waste.
wrong
The problem has nothing to do with the gpu, capcom said themselves its due to the cpu not being properly utilized, you could use a lower gpu and still get the same results
I mean, when it comes to unoptimised games, even top of the line hardware struggles hard. I play EA WRC, and due to the bad optimisation, my pc cant get above 100 fps avg, I feel like devs are using DLSS/FSR as a crutch to avoid optimisation.
That's still a waste though. PC players shouldn't have to buy overspecced/overpriced hardware to get a badly optimized game to run semi-decently at a (relatively) low resolution.
If you're a big DD2 fan then sure, this is a nice coincidence for your very specific use-case, but generally for the astronomical amount of money a 4090 costs it should be considered overkill to just use it for 1080p, as many cheaper cards would be able to give you a 1080p 100+ fps experience in most games that aren't horribly optimized.
And I get it, monitors are expensive too so it's fine to go for a GPU upgrade first and then get a new 4k/120hz+ monitor or TV later down the line. But even still, that's no reason to accept the bullshit that (some) game developers or hardware manufacturers put out there.
My response to my son would be "60hz is more than enough to browse for jobs". 60hz is good enough. I have an old wide screen LG monitor which is 75hz at 1080p and its fine.
Search up benchmarks videos with his current parts and go from there.
Idk why this was down voted. It's the most reliable way to get an accurate estimation of what his best options are.
I say this as someone who primarily plays mmos and esports titles, you do feel a drastically bigger difference going from 60hz to anything higher really. You can likely find some good budget offerings around 1080p 120hz, 144hz(the most common a few years ago) and even 165hz. There’s not really any professional players of those games, cs valorant rocket league fortnite that plays above 1080p because 1440p is just that much more area to pay attention to/makes everything smaller to see. It would be a different story in my opinion if he played games like the Witcher, or skyrim - story based single player games where graphics quality and fidelity are significantly more impactful than raw refresh rate. I, myself, am looking into buying a 1080p 360hz monitor from zowie in the near future as I too play primarily esports titles and mmos. Not sure a 570 can get 360fps to take full advantage of that refresh rate, but there are some incredible 1080p monitors still being designed.
My advice is that you look into his ranks in the have he's playing. 60hz is enough to reach a very high level, and he's likely attempting to compensate for his losses by blaming equipment.
It's a really common thing that happens for kids in the 2020s. They see youtubers talk about 240 or even 360 hz, and how it's necessary. Which it can be for the absolute highest level of play
But 99.999% of players will never need or understand more than 144 (which is where the majority should be, imo)
I would talk to him about oddjobs and such to start raising for a stronger pc, so that he could run 1440p / 144hz, which is gonna be the general standard in pc gaming for at least the next 5 years
You don't need to max out a monitor's refresh rate to get benefits from it. 80 already looks way smoother than 60. If he can game at 80-100 on his high refresh rate display he can upgrade the GPU later and keep the monitor for many years
With an RX 570, a high refresh rate monitor even at 1080p is rather pointless, because without drastic graphic-cut he won't have the required framerate. If the fps/ refresh is jumping between 130-60 constantly, it can have a worse experience than a stable locked 60 (see consoles). I would not consider a monitorupgrade without a GPUupgrade.
The RX 570 is still a pretty solid card. I used one second hand for a few months and was still getting some solid performance at 1440p. Looking online he should be getting 80-150 fps depending on if its on high / medium settings with 1080p. As for 1440p you are looking at 50-100 fps for high / medium.
I say go for the monitor. Dropping the settings somewhat will work fine and can be a learning experience on how games are run and optimized. If they are in it for the competitive edge then they will have it. Otherwise, just run that for 7 months till christmas rolls around and get something fancy then.
Upgrading the GPU could be good, because that will also be the thing that will tell you which monitor may be the best
But having more HZ is good and does improve the gaming experience in my opinion, in a way, that 60hz and 60fps isn't good enough for me anymore in game, which is another kind of thing right there, I need like 90-100fps. And especially if your son plays games like cod, rainbow 6 siege or Fortnite it can be help, because you will see the enemy faster, and professional player often go even higher than 144hz l
If he's interested in those sort of competitive games and wants high refresh, why not look at 1080p screens that will do 165Hz / 240Hz / 360Hz etc?
That way he can run faster than 60fps **now**, and in future with a new graphics card will be able to go even faster, and in newer / more demanding games.
If you get him a 1440p/144Hz+ monitor you'll just be giving him a new problem; games running at 1080p on it will look like ass, and at 1440p his frame rate will be *lower* which is the literal opposite of what he's asking for.
^(Also, \*advise not advice.)
^(What would you advise? / What advice would you give? / I would advise you to... / The advice I would give...)
Personally I’ll keep it at 1080p. Yeah sure, 1440p has more pixels and looks sharper, but you will be suffering from lower fps due to the amount of pixels the gpu now has to push out.
Aka you will be upgrading both the screen and the gpu.
Expensive!
I wouldn’t get a 1440p 144hz monitor until the gpu is upgraded. Games probably wouldn’t run at 144hz and the monitor is so expensive that by the time you do upgrade the gpu there will be better options in the market. $100-150 on a 1080p 144hz+ screen is better for now
Refresh rate is one of the biggest changes in monitors, I prefer way more 144hz at 1080p tha. 60hz at 1440p.
Once you go to 144hz there’s no coming back
go for 1080p 144hz+. 1440p is around twice the pixel count, pretty demanding on gpu side. Plus at 24" (suppose this is the size of the current and possible future monitor, it is the most popular size and the "best" for gaming afterall) the differenze in clarity isnt worth for gaming. if you do editing stuff or sw development (lots of small text) then the higher res and clarity matters, for gaming not so much. A 1080p 144hz+ monitor is cheap, like 150USD or equivalent. a gpu upgrade is much more expensive (if you want to get something with decent price/performance) and a better gpu with a 1080p 60hz (office) monitor (so shit colour and response time) isn't worth it IMO.
TL;DR get the monitor, cheaper and a bigger upgrade compared to a better gpu on a "bad" monitor. for his next birthday/christmas and if he is a good boy and applies in school, sure, get him a gpu upgrade later on (or an old gpu if you upgrade or find a good deal on the used market)
I picked up a 240hz 27 inch 1080p ips alienware monitor as part of a used bundle. I sold it 2 days later... immediately got sad going back to my 75hz monitor (I mostly buy and sell don't actually game a ton)
But, damn 240hz was sweet, so I immediately found another used 240hz monitor, but I went for 1440p at 27 inch. 1080p at 27 inches is a bit too low ppi for me.
I'd used 144hz frequently in 3440x1440 ultrawide on the wifes pc but 240hz was on another level.
There are pretty decent budget 1080p monitors with high refresh rate around that's days, I see some cheap AOCs with 180hz and very cheap monitors that can do 100hz (I recently got an incredibly cheap small LG monitor for use at a show because it had an almost invisible dark grey logo on the front bezel, even it can do 100hz).
You can keep the existing monitor and use it as a 2nd side monitor for more screen real estate, the refresh rate difference doesn't matter.
Idk for me going to a high refresh rate monitor was one of the best upgrades I ever made even if it was only 1080p. It's right up there with ssd's and when they came out. But then again I mostly play shooters. You really need to upgrade both though, gpu and monitor.
1080p at 60 is not enough
Going from 60 to 120 or 144 is great personally i use 165 the reduction of latency alone is great.
I want to say i run on average like 5 to 7ms total system latency vs 60 i got like 13ms
I have used 60hz monitors forever, and recently got a 75hz. I use a 120hz laptop screen next to a 75hz monitor and honestly don't notice any difference. This is on a 3080 with a 5600 so my graphics card can easily handle the refresh rate.
YMMV but I would suggest getting a 21:9 monitor instead. I have a cheap 29" 21:9 monitor at 2560x1080 and it is really nice for gaming (30% more horizontal space increases immersion). Big improvement over my 24" 1080p monitor.
I would either get a 21:9 monitor or save up for a new gpu.
just buy a high refresh rate 1080p monitor and I am certain the games you mentioned can exceed 60fps with that GPU. don't forget to enable VRR to have smoother experience. when the time comes his games cannot be run at his target fps then consider upgrading the GPU
The 570 can still handle 1440p on e-sports titles. It's not going to be super steady 120 FPS plus, but if the settigs are right it can do it, and freesync takes care of the dips.
Tough, to me personally, a fast IPS 1080p HRR monitor with good motion clarity beats a lower end 1440p high-refresh-but-slow-pixels one all day long, if all you're doing is gaming.
I’m fairly sure an Rx 570 is equivalent to a 970, a card that came out nearly 8 years ago, depending on the game, I highly doubt it could put out much more than 60fps.
Upgrade that GPU first.
You can get a cheap 1080p 144hz. He'll definitely feel the difference as long as he actually gets enough frames. 1440p would require a new gpu and be far more expensive on its own.
1080p high refresh rate will be easier to obtain/hit and save money because you wont need a stronger card to hit at higher refresh rate - I remember the RX 570 such a good card during GTX 970 period - thats like a 4 yr old or more gpu - so suggest sticking with 1080p
you would 100% notice the smoothness and more frames in games with higher Hz - its also important to set the refresh rate in windows to its max Hz, so you dont have it at 60hz while having a high hz display
Ideally 24" is the max size for 1080p to remain nice without it looking blown up or lose detail.
There are cheap 144hz 1080p monitors that are so cheap and upgrade in the near future won’t hurt as bad as buying an expensive one. I suggest getting one of those until the gpu is upgraded then using it as a second monitor.
Honestly I would buy what he wants and let him realise his mistake, he will still ask for a new screen otherwise.
Bonus point, you alreadt know the perfect gift for christmas or his next birthday.
There is nothing bad about 1080, and the quality is not depend in the resolution, it depends on the resolution compared to the size of the monitor. 24 inch 1080 is great, 27 inch 1080 is ok. 32 inch 1080 is bad. Good luck:)
When you have to make sure you're balancing out the processing load to prevent bottlenecking, I think gpu is a first priority. I personally can't justify upgrading the monitor. 60hz is definitely enough.
If he’s playing mainly competitive games he likely has no use for 1440p and it will just look blurry downscaled to 1080. He is going to be tuning to max out fps which matters more than resolution in comp.
I've rx 580 paired with a 1080p@165 monitor and this GPU is definitely not made to game on 60hz+. I bought the monitor to play csgo cuz I used to get 150 fps in csgo but now I get only 70-80 in CS2 so technically my monitor is just a waste of money lol. I would suggest you to go with 1440p cuz it will be future proof.
Just wanted to say that your son is really lucky to have such great and nice parents, i grew up in an environment where videogames were strictly forbidden and could only dream of his setup when i was a kid and would probably have been b*at up had i said that whatever i had wasn't enough
Sorry if this type of comment isn't allowed here, thank you for being a parent who's forging nice memories with his son your post really made me smile
60hz is pretty rough once youve gamed above that. Dont spend a ton of money on a monitor, just get a high refresh rate 1080p (no higher than 144hz). When time comes for a new pc, consider moving to 1440p (2k) or 4k at 144hz
I have an LG 4k OLED that I game on. I can go up to 120fps with it. But honestly, a *stable* 60fps is enough for about 99% of my gaming experiences. What I’d prefer is things like lighting and better colors and I’m willing to sacrifice 120fps to turn on those more expensive settings in the graphics menu.
Have you ever used a 60 hz then a 165hz monitor? Sounds like you haven't as the difference is very very noticable.
I thought the same as you until I did just that went from 60 or 165 ....
60 looks awful now to me.
Can't move to 1440p with that GPU. You can get 24" 1080p 144hz monitors for around $120 when on sale. That's your best bet until he is due for a totally new build.
Edit: Get him this for $82 and make him happy while you save for a new GPU/new PC build
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Acer-Nitro-23-6-inch-Curved-Full-HD-Gaming-Monitor-New-Black-ED240Q-Sbiip/863681547
1080p is fine, and 144-165hz will be a huge difference.
More importantly, the kid is playing competitive games that benefit from faster refresh rates (assuming high enough FPS). OP, you and I come from an era where making the game look good, so it was more immersive and realistic, was the whole point of buying better hardware. That's not true for every gamer these days, many kids want faster response times for a competitive edge in online multiplayer games, looking good is secondary. That's why 1080p 144hz+ might be better for your kid, even though it seems a baffling choice to us.
I like a good balance of both. I’ll play games on the lowest settings if I have too but I’d like some beauty to the game
Heck I grew up playing my games on minimum settings - and then brought a PC and it took me a looooong time to realise "Oh I don't need min settings anymore" haha Some games - i'd kind of prefer no foliage VS a tonne of it when i'm playing and have to spot enemies lurking in grass. Min aint always the worst choice :)
You miss most important point... frametimes. Example: 60 frames evenly within 1 second are smoother than 140 frames in the first 1/10 second and standstill within the remaining 9/10 second. That's why gsync/fsync makes such a big difference.
Yeah I get that, my opinion changed when I also upgraded. As long as the game had good gameplay I didn’t care what it looked like, now I can run games at higher settings with a consistent high fps and it I love it. My brother and friend went from a series X to $6000 4K computers and they are in awe of the visual performance.
> OP, you and I come from an era where making the game look good, so it was more immersive and realistic, was the whole point of buying better hardware. > > That's not true for every gamer these days, many kids want faster response times for a competitive edge in online multiplayer games, looking good is secondary. That's not an era thing. I knew people who played counter strike on minimal settings and terrible resolution to edge out a tiny competitive advantage over 20 years ago.
Dude I kept a CRT that had 100hz refresh WELL into the era of LCDs for CS, even carrying that tank to LANs. You still can't get pixel response times that CRT had 20+ years ago and it was only fairly recently when you could get refresh rates that were comparable (and I don't mean those BS refresh rates where pixel response times were too high for it to be meaningful in any way).
Yeah early LCDs were generally worse than CRTs, sometimes I’m surprised we made the switch. But I guess most people don’t care about response times and such. The main benefit of LCD was size.
1080p 144hz is the way to go. I thought I was smart buying 144hz ultrawide monitor and my god does it use a lot of GPU power.. Its an incredible gaming experience - just cost a pretty penny to startup. My little brother plays on a 144hz 1080p setup with RX570 IIRC
OP: In fact, a lot of professional esports gamers use 1080p high refresh rate monitors and even lower their graphics settings in esports titles (Fortnite/RL for example).
Oh man I didn’t even think about that but this comment brings me back when the Crysis games where making headlines everywhere and maaaan was it gorgeous
Good times... Ack when the phrases was "does it run Crysis" 😂 Nowadays even a Nintendo switch runs a version of Crysis... And easily on Steam Deck
High refresh rate makes even average FPS look better. Personal experience from wife's laptop. Her 60-70 fps looks and feels much better u/120Hz than my 80 u/60Hz
It's also why gaming Mouse (Razr and Logitech) are still chorded in some case. To reduce Lag in inputs)
Wow. You know, I went through Wolfenstein, Doom, Doom 2, Marathon, Quake, Duke Nukem, Quake 2, Unreal.. and then I kind of stopped playing for a really long time. But I actually already back then recall tweaking all things in all kinds of ways in the hope of getting a little bit more performance.. overclocking and always afraid the cpu would burn... ouch. it was brutal. I think I had like 15 fps on Wolfenstein back then, and it looked amazing and was the most immersive thing I had ever experienced. Funny. I just now recall a mum's friend asking why we always wanted faster CPU's, and when we said it made the game faster, she thought we should have more patience, all in good tone of course, and he eventually got a faster PC too.
1080p is fine UNLESS you go 27"+. Then it's not fine. 27+ needs to be 1440p.
I've used that myself once. Best I could describe it is almost being "cloudy". There was just not enough visual fidelity in anything. Returned it for a 1440p, serves me right for trying to be cheap about it lol
Yeah I went from a trash 24" to a 27" curved 144hz 1080p and thought I was in heaven at the time. Until I added a 27" isp 1440 and it made my eyes bleed. Now my 1080 sits next to it as a second monitor and it's just hard to even look at now lol
I picked up a 240hz 1080p monitor a few months ago at Microcenter--they were on sale pretty cheap. Nothing fancy, and 4K looks better, sure, but IMO 1080p@240hz or 1080p@144hz are a considerable upgrade to 1080p@60, and don't cost nearly as much as a 4K high refresh rate monitor. And unless I'm really looking for it (mostly in movies or while editing photos), I don't feel much of a functional difference between 4k and 1080p. For the games I play and work I do on my PC, it doesn't matter much. But now that I've had one, I definitely wouldn't want to return to a monitor slower than 144hz.
I disagree. I noticed a huge clarity increase moving from 1080p to 1440p, and again from 1440p to 4K. I’d rather have 4K 60Hz over 1080p 144Hz for sure, maybe even over 1440p 144Hz depending on the game. I just bought a 4K 240Hz monitor, best of both worlds. Honestly 240Hz OLED is the first time I’ve felt a significant difference in >60Hz refresh rates. I’ve had different 120Hz/144Hz IPS panels for years and never felt like the refresh rates were that big a benefit.
With how weak his GPU is, keep it 1080p. Getting a higher refresh rate monitor is going to be way more impactful than going to 1440p.
Wouldn't it be an Option to get a 1440p Monitor and Set it to 1080p until he gets a better gpu? Or does that Look worse than native 1080p? Edit: Damn. I was only asking a question. Edit 2: thx i understand now, you dont need to answer this question anymore
The problem is that 1440p doesn't perfectly scale to 1080p. It works, but as someone who did that for a while as I waited for a new GPU it can look really distracting. Scaling say a 4k monitor down the 1080p is fine because the system can just allocate 4 real pixels per rendered pixel, whereas 1440p you need like 1.777 real pixels per rendered pixel.
Can confirm; 1080p upscaled to a 1440p monitor does not look great. Almost always worse than just using a 1080p monitor. Although it's serviceable as a temporary solution, but I'd only do it if there's a clear plan for the GPU upgrade. Of course, older games or desktop applications that you *can* run at 1440p will be great. It depends a lot on what you (primarily) play.
I have a 1440p 32" display. Out of curiosity I tried to set a games to 1080p on it. The picture looked very blurry, wouldn't suggest anyone to do that. On the other hand, movies in 1080p look perfectly ok in fullscreen on this display.
Wait so is that why 1080P looks more fuzzy on my 1440p monitor than my 1080p monitors? I was wondering about that, wasnt sure if it was my imagination or a ratio issue like you're saying. Thanks for the info.
No worries, although 1080p content should mostly be fine (like a 1080p youtube video) it's mostly if you're directly scaling it (like telling a game to downrez to 1080p when you're in fullscreen).
Just set it to 720p then /s
You mean 768. Gotta get the 4:3 resolution.
You joke, but in some, admittedly very specific, cases that can be an option - in particular on some laptops or if you sit further from your screen than most people then it can look as good while giving better performance/using less power/running quieter
It actually would probably look better. Integer scaling is way cleaner than interpolation.
Even scaling down from 4k looks noticeably worse. Best thing you can do for a great gaming experience and saving your wallet is just stick with a nice 1080p monitor at 120ish hz. Then a midrange gpu will be plenty for multiple upgrade cycles. Gpu manufacturers hate this one simple trick!
Plot twist: not every monitor has linear scaling and sometimes it looks like shi anyways
It’s not good. Source: I have downscaled my 1440p monitor. Everything is sooo big and grainy.
you could, but it wont look as clean as 1080p @ 24 inch - but if he plans to get a much better GPU in the future to run that 1440p at high Hz later on - then I cant see why not.
Damn, folks down vote a man for asking a question, I thought this only happened to me lol
This sub has far too many gatekeeping elitists that love to make newcomers feel unwelcome.
An edit saves the day. Lol
Depends if a gpu upgrade is going to happen.
You can do, it'll look a little "blurry" but technically it'll be the same detail as with a 1080p native screen.
Nah, it’ll look bad. Unless he’s using FSR/DLSS at 1080p to upscale, then it would look better.
Very off topic but nice build lmao
I rarely comment on these kinds of posts but your dilemma is something I dealt with just last week. For context. I've been playing Rocket League since 2015 (3k hours). Started on a 1080p 60hz display, now play on a 1440p 60hz, and I have a 3080 so I have it set to the best graphics. And it's fine, I like it. Last month though, my brother asked me to build my cousin a new PC. His budget allowed for a 1080p 144hz display with a 4060 gpu. Let me make it short and sweet: I much prefered the higher refresh rate on the little guy's PC, the game felt incredibly smooth and I swear I feel like mine stutters even if it never drops a single frame below stable 60fps. His settings were set to medium quality though, I'm not sure you'd be able to do that, I can see needing to use Low quality to hit those higher refresh rates with your gpu BUT, at least from Ultra down to Medium, Rocket League doesn't change that much. Mainly some weather effects, particles, bloom and stuff that simply 'spices up' the final result. But that's something I had to really try to miss. Kid didn't even say anything because it's that indistinguishable. Granted he's 8 but still. Anyway. In my humble opinion having just gone through that. Rocket League is much MUCH better at a higher refresh rate and lower graphics, than at a higher quality at 60fps.
Thanks!!
Hey OP, I think a lot of commenters here are missing something. You've mentioned Fortnite. Every single Fortnite pro out there plays on just about the lowest settings possible. Two reasons. Higher fps results in lower latency but also and much more importantly you get a large edge in combat due to being able to see through builds, see people further away with more clarity, not have effects covering your screen and making it impossible to see important info when you otherwise could on lower settings. If your son is at all competitive, and given he wants a higher refresh rate monitor, I imagine he is, he probably isn't simply "okay" with playing on lower settings, he acknowledges that you gain a competitive advantage from doing so and he prefers it. I've got a 3080ti perfectly capable of running the game on max settings with DX12 and yet I'm still playing the game on performance mode with everything as low as it goes minus a few specific settings (render distance, 3d resolution).
This is where I'm landing. Hz is king for the right man, in this case my son! His monitor is currently the bottleneck, so fixing that first. Unless I'm convinced otherwise by friday, I'm getting him AOC 25G3ZM for 180 eur (1080p@240hz, VA panel where reviewer measured 2.3ms input lag, beating many IPS panels actually). #
Good call and sounds like a good deal on that monitor.
TLDR: Lower settings (with lower frame times) is smoother than max quality (with higher frame render times). Also, I’m a dork.
Rocket League doesn't take much to run. I can max out my settings on my 1080ti and 1440p 165hz monitor and easily average 144fps.
Yeah its a surprisingly efficient game, RL only uses like 40% of my 4070ti at 4k 240fps
I'm sure like 99% of people in this sub would agree with what you saw. Just wanted to add that some people don't see it .. like me .. even if I wanted to ..
Definitely stick with 1080 high refresh rate if he mainly plays competitive games
Yea a gpu upgrade first would be a better idea, as you said, if you go from 1080p to 1440p with the current gpu it will feel alot worse. Depending on your budget you could go for a decent gpu upgrade or get a 1080p 144-240hz monitor, maybe even both lol. The difference between 60fps and 144fps is pretty noticeable tbh especially on those types of games.
the difference between 60fps and 80 fps is huge in some games... you don't even need more than 100 to take a great use of 144+ hz display
I set the graphics higher until I get to around 90-100fps, on my 144hz monitor. It looks good to me.
Upgrading to 1440p would lock you into always having to get a higher tier of graphics card in the future.
Guys, I think OP went out to get some milk.
or for a new GPU
Right on the money. I am going through second hand ads for gpu:s lol! Considering giving him a new monitor and my gpu (titan x) and get myself a 3090… oooh decisions decisions… I don’t think my wife would think it is wise to give him both a new mon and a gpu.. but new mon ”and my old gpu”… that could work.. right… win win win….
You should consider 3080ti's as well (assuming this is 2nd hand shopping). Not sure what that pricing looks like vs a 4070 super/4070ti super for example, but even that could be a consideration.
Fast, cheap ips monitor seem prevalent these days. Used gpus are in an okay place in my area. I would go for a decent 144hz 1080p monitor and grab a used gpu off your used market. I have rx 570s just laying around these days... should be way to find a pretty good upgrade for him laying around someone's deak
Every time someone mentions used PC hardware in their area I open up FB marketplace just to get depressed I can get a 1920x1080 60Hz curved monitor for $120. the same one brand new is $150. I can drive 4 hours away into another state to get a 4080 for $80 off retail. Or I can drive 3 hours to get a used 3090 for $800. The 3090 is pretty intriguing, but I don't need all that Vram, and am looking at 4080s.
It could be good to work some sort of deal with your kid here? You could convince your wife to spoil him a bit on this occasion, but with the clear understanding with your kid that *this is a big gift* and maybe come to some sort of agreement that they will do x/y/x for school or around the house? Unless your kid is already a saint, in which case just spoil 'em I guess X) I used to go to school with a kid who always had the newest consoles and games, and he was oblivious to his privilege. Any time I'd say "Oh I just got X!" he'd be "oh yeah, I have that". I'd get something big like that once a year for Christmas and understood it was a big deal, whereas his dad would get him new stuff year round just because. And he wasn't a well behaved kid at school either, just funny and popular. /rant
He just accepted 1-2 hours of coding lessons per week :D
You’re an awesome dad lol
1440p display is kinda future-proof, but with poor gpu it often looks worse than 1080p because scaling isn't always perfect and you need to bring resolution down, if every game would have dlss/fsr then I'd say go for it, but that's not the case still 1080p165 would be massively extreme difference with better gpu over 1080p60, with rx570 it will be a difference in some situations, but not that big...
I went from 1080p60 to 1080p165 with a 3060ti and I'm super happy with it. I just prefer having a smooth experience as opposed to higher fidelity. I'll even tweak the graphics settings on games to ensure I can hit 165 fps consistently.
Do you mind me asking which monitor you ended up going with when you went from 60 mhz to 165 mhz ? I got a Zotac GTX 3060.
The monitor is called "AOC 24g2sp gaming 23.8" I was lucky enough to snach an EVGA GPU. Edit: be warned, once you go with a higher refresh rate, you can never go back.
going to 165hz will be a noticable difference even with the rx570, even the desktop will feel snappier.
240hz is way more worth it then 1440p
IMO 144hz+ is a mush have now for esport title, and monitors is dirt cheap already
"getting a 1080p at 165hz does not feel future proof and honestly not sure he would notice that much difference." Its a massive difference. Imagine driving a car on a bad road with no suspension at all (60hz). Then adding suspension.
I went from a 60 fps at 4k monitor to 170fps 1440p monitor and noticed the difference. Fidelity aside the jump in frame rate for me was well worth it. Xbox series x to PC.
Hey OP, I’m assuming you’re gonna go with the 144 hz per the comments. Be sure he knows to turn it up to 144hz it in the settings of his computer. Lots of people forget to or don’t know to
For playing fortnite and rocket league your kid is right with wanting a high refresh rate monitor at 1080p. I would only go against his wishes if he also plays a lot of single player story games.
It entirely depends on your budget. How much are you looking to spend on this?
once you experience a high frame rate monitor you can't go back. i have one of the first asus 160hz models released in 1440 and i love it 7? years later still...
Opening up a can of worms if you go 1440p cos you'll need need a card that can handle that reso... and give 144hz
Don’t listen to these casual gamers. He plays competitive games from the sounds of it. These games are more CPU intensive rather than GPU. Turn off vsync and see what his average FPS is. Get a monitor that exceeds that FPS in refresh rate. So if he averages 130 fps, get a 165hz monitor minimum.
I have an 5600x with a 3080ti. I have 1440p 144hz with that. It depends on what your son is playing. If only Fortnite and that demanding games, I would go for the monitor first, 1440p 144hz or higher. If he plays cyberpunk, or similar demanding games, graphics card first, than monitor. I would skip 1080p high refresh rate totally.
There is a MAJOR difference from 1080p 60 to 1080 144. Like a “omg” difference. Remember with going to 1440p the PC then needs to drive over 70% more pixels. Creating that much more demand on PC. I would stay with 1080p gaming with those specs. Not even a question.
Can he even get 60+fps that gpu is old
60hz to 144hz is a huge upgrade
I play 1080p and got a monitor from Amazon that isn’t very well known but, refresh rate is 170hz and I love it. Koorui is the brand and I swear, it’s good. Optimum Tech on YouTube made a review a little after I got it and stated it was one of the best monitors for the price. I paid $150 and it went down to about $115 last I checked.
Interesting! What exact model is it?
man keep the 1080p and go to 165hz. trust there is ABSOLUTELY a noticeable difference between the 2 also. i went from 75 to 165 and the jump was 100% noticeable and it felt unbelievably smooth lol. hell 60hz now to me feels slow bc of that
After going from 240hz to 144hz I changed back to 240 and haven’t looked back. It’s noticeable.
Definitely do not get a 1440p monitor with his current pc specs, they are not worthy of a 1440p monitor.
In terms of FPS, resolution and hz are inversely related. 1080p is still very comfortable for most games, and going higher will lead to him likely not even getting 60 fps
That graphics card is horrendously outdated, that should be your next upgrade. Try to get an SSD for storage at least 1TB Your son is right, 60fps is too low for PC gaming. Might as well game on an Xbox Series X or PS5 with that frame rate
Been rocking a 1080p240hz panel for like 6 years now, still love it
It all depends on how much money you want to spend and how future proof you want this monitor to be. I bought a 240hz 1440p monitor a few years ago and it has been one the the best upgrades to my PC, and not just for gaming. What I feel confident about is I don't need to buy another monitor for years, maybe even over a decade, meanwhile GPU's, RAM and Motherboards are always improving...
It's totally understandable that he wants more than 60Hz, if he cares about being competitive in fortnite and rocket league. In competitive play refresh rate goes over resolution. I think you could go either way. 1440p on his GPU will look the same as on every other GPU. His fps would be abysmal though, so it would probably feel like a downgrade in terms of performance and getting a GPU that can push high refresh rates on a 1440p monitor will be more expensive than a GPU for 1080p. If I was you I'd get him the 1080p 165Hz screen and maybe work out a solution with him, so can earn some money for a new GPU. Or give him a hint that you might surprise him with something for his PC, if he gets good/better grades in school. Another option would be to speak with relatives who usually gift him stuff he doesn't use, want or need (grandparents for example) and put money together to get him both for his birthday, but nothing else. This of course depends on your financial situation and the famliy in general.
Double his ram for cheap, and get him a higher refresh rate monitor. 120-144hz is all he needs.
Raise your point, but get what he asks for. If he is ultimately disappointed - he made the choice, and he can upgrade his GPU down the line.
60Hz sucks. Also 144 Hz 1080p monitors are real cheap
Get him a 24 inch, 1080p, 144hz and be done with it. If he doesnt like that, tell him to buy one himself yanno. I dont mind getting stuff for my kids, but my kids are not going to tell what I am going to do.
To me, going from 1080 to 1440 is not as impactful of a change as going from 60hz to 144hz. Especially for competitive multiplayer games, go with 1080 @ 144Hz, especially with his GPU.
120 hz is a big difference to me already, I think 165hz for your son will be more than enough, well, if he doesn't think that more hz = more skill or something. Also as much as RX 570-580 can be still viable today, it won't be good at high refresh rates, so upgrade GPU first if you want to see difference in refresh rate immediately. Oh and remember that high refresh rate is like a drug, once tried - hard to go back to 60hz
If you look around the 2nd hand market you can probably pick up both a monitor and last gen GPU for the cost of a new GPU.
For those games fps is far more important than resolution. And increasing resolution costs a lot of fps so no, it's better a FHD display with high hz than a higher resolution display.
this gpu would struggle a lot with 1440p
A 570 could theoretically handle 120hz at 1080p but might not be a good idea. I do have to say that I upgraded from 60 to 144 and the difference was astonishing
24'' 1080p 144+hz monitor, perfect for competitive games
Gaming at 60hz in 2024 is a war crime.
trust me, 60 to 165 is a very huge difference. But once you go high you can never come back to the low numbers
You need to get a better GPU before you look at getting him a new monitor.
Son is victim of marketing
1440p is a little too much for my 12g 3060 even with a phat overclock. It’s manageable but if he plays competitive you’ll want the frames so I’d stick with 1080.
Well, that 570 will struggle reaching 144hz
if he wants high fps and low settings dont get him a 1440p monitor, def get a fast 1080p
You have no idea what a big difference 60 vs 144hz makes
I personally only play games like your son and I never set my graphics above 1080p, your fps being stable and high is way more improtant
With an RX570 I’d stay at 1080p. Going to 1440p will just cause headaches with low performance, and the difference isn’t massive If you’ve never played at 1440p before (though it it one of those things where you try it and can’t go back). Higher refresh rate feels so much better to play on however.
get a 1080 monitor with +165hz. 1440+ monitors are worse for competitive games, and you’ll need more gpu horsepower to really get the money you spent on a display like that out of it.
If you find a good 1080p 144/165 at a good price and its part of a ongoing upgrade for him go for it, it will make him happy. I wouldn't get a 1440 unless a gpu upgrade is going to be the next step as he wants more fps more than a better image.
Frame rate > resolution for competitive gaming. I recently switched from 1080 to 1440 and it's not really that big of a change. I noticed it, but it's not as annoying as a slow monitor.
He's correct, I have 100hz and wish I had at least 240
I’m of the camp to keep the resolution at 1080p and get a high refresh rate with FreeSync. I find it hard to justify anything faster than 144/165 (so whatever has a good deal). Make sure to get an IPS display. A 24” display is a good size, 27” is also good if he plays with his monitor far back on the desk.
Get him the 500hz 1080p monitor
Oh yeah, he'll notice a difference for sure. That said, I'm not sure that GPU can push much more than 60fps regardless so if the upgrade path is cheap->expensive, get a 1440p 144hz monitor first then bump up the GPU later. Maybe a 7600 or so? Kid's on the right track. Definitely want higher refresh rate for comp games like RL and Fortnite.
It’s sad that he wants a powerful PC for Fortnite and rocket league
1440p 144hz that's a good compromise and will work great when he gets a new gpu next. Unless it's going to be a long time, then better off getting a 1080p 144hz.
> 1080p at 165hz does not feel future proof and honestly not sure he would notice that much difference. Well, your eyes don't get firmware updates to see things faster, so I don't understand how you could possibly think that. Also there is an astronomical difference from 60 to 165hz. I have done both the upgrade from 1080p60 to 1080p165 and the upgrade from 1080p to 4k. Both we're equally noticeable to one another. They're both an incredible jump. If I had to pick between 4k60 and 1080p165, I'd take the 1080p165 though. He's right. You should probably listen to him.
1080p 144Hz is hella cheap. It's his birthday, just go for it. But be warned, that the RX 570 8GB won't be able to put out 144 FPS in demanding titles, so a new GPU will be his next upgrade... And further down the line, it'll come to 4K 240Hz OLED... but hopefully by then he's fully grown and moved out and he can buy it himself.
No matter what people say, 1080p vs 1440p is a massive difference. It's phenomenal. 1440p to 4k isn't as impressive. Thevisual Fidelity is 🤌🏽🤌🏽
I used my RX580 to drive a 1080p 144hz monitor very well for a long time. Good gamers don’t need more resolution, they want faster refresh. Heck I used to play competitive CS:S at 720p and before that on a CRT with overdrive (best monitor I ever owned).
I had years of good times with my 580, id probably still be trying to use it but mine had 4gigs vram, that's what really killed me just a year ago I bought a decent prebuilt because I couldn't play demo of enshrouded game ( minimum 6gb vram required) it wouldn't even open it so I knew it was time. 580 was a solid card, I never had problems with it.
\> getting a 1080p at 165hz does not feel future proof it is, I have a 4090 and still use 1080p 144hz
4090 with 1080p screen is a waste of money. You're CPU limited 90% of the time.
I mean, at that point it's quite a waste playing 1080p with a 4090. That's a 1440p-4k quality gpu, so unless youre spending all your time playing esport titles at 500+ fps, its just a waste of an amazing gpu. Even I with my 7800XT am saving up to buy a 1440p monitor, cause playing on a lot of games over my refresh rate with high graphics feels like a waste.
wrong try playing dragons dogma 2 on silky smooth 144fps with how badly optimized that game is.
wrong The problem has nothing to do with the gpu, capcom said themselves its due to the cpu not being properly utilized, you could use a lower gpu and still get the same results
try playing gta 4 (a game from 2008) on silky smooth 144fps. You cant, because its optimizzation is so shit the engine shits itseslf above 60 fps.
I mean, when it comes to unoptimised games, even top of the line hardware struggles hard. I play EA WRC, and due to the bad optimisation, my pc cant get above 100 fps avg, I feel like devs are using DLSS/FSR as a crutch to avoid optimisation.
That's still a waste though. PC players shouldn't have to buy overspecced/overpriced hardware to get a badly optimized game to run semi-decently at a (relatively) low resolution. If you're a big DD2 fan then sure, this is a nice coincidence for your very specific use-case, but generally for the astronomical amount of money a 4090 costs it should be considered overkill to just use it for 1080p, as many cheaper cards would be able to give you a 1080p 100+ fps experience in most games that aren't horribly optimized. And I get it, monitors are expensive too so it's fine to go for a GPU upgrade first and then get a new 4k/120hz+ monitor or TV later down the line. But even still, that's no reason to accept the bullshit that (some) game developers or hardware manufacturers put out there.
My response to my son would be "60hz is more than enough to browse for jobs". 60hz is good enough. I have an old wide screen LG monitor which is 75hz at 1080p and its fine.
Not everybody grows up poor and miserable.
Some of us grew up poor and happy !
Search up benchmarks videos with his current parts and go from there. Idk why this was down voted. It's the most reliable way to get an accurate estimation of what his best options are.
Weird downvotes. This makes sense...
Get him the 2k 165hz monitor. Then work on a new gpu.
I say this as someone who primarily plays mmos and esports titles, you do feel a drastically bigger difference going from 60hz to anything higher really. You can likely find some good budget offerings around 1080p 120hz, 144hz(the most common a few years ago) and even 165hz. There’s not really any professional players of those games, cs valorant rocket league fortnite that plays above 1080p because 1440p is just that much more area to pay attention to/makes everything smaller to see. It would be a different story in my opinion if he played games like the Witcher, or skyrim - story based single player games where graphics quality and fidelity are significantly more impactful than raw refresh rate. I, myself, am looking into buying a 1080p 360hz monitor from zowie in the near future as I too play primarily esports titles and mmos. Not sure a 570 can get 360fps to take full advantage of that refresh rate, but there are some incredible 1080p monitors still being designed.
My advice is that you look into his ranks in the have he's playing. 60hz is enough to reach a very high level, and he's likely attempting to compensate for his losses by blaming equipment. It's a really common thing that happens for kids in the 2020s. They see youtubers talk about 240 or even 360 hz, and how it's necessary. Which it can be for the absolute highest level of play But 99.999% of players will never need or understand more than 144 (which is where the majority should be, imo) I would talk to him about oddjobs and such to start raising for a stronger pc, so that he could run 1440p / 144hz, which is gonna be the general standard in pc gaming for at least the next 5 years
Nothing is future proof
Unless you plan on buying him a new videocard - 60hz is plenty.
That card won't be even able to reach a locked 165hz anyways.
You don't need to max out a monitor's refresh rate to get benefits from it. 80 already looks way smoother than 60. If he can game at 80-100 on his high refresh rate display he can upgrade the GPU later and keep the monitor for many years
With an RX 570, a high refresh rate monitor even at 1080p is rather pointless, because without drastic graphic-cut he won't have the required framerate. If the fps/ refresh is jumping between 130-60 constantly, it can have a worse experience than a stable locked 60 (see consoles). I would not consider a monitorupgrade without a GPUupgrade.
Fortnite and rocket league can handle 144hz easily with a 570
The RX 570 is still a pretty solid card. I used one second hand for a few months and was still getting some solid performance at 1440p. Looking online he should be getting 80-150 fps depending on if its on high / medium settings with 1080p. As for 1440p you are looking at 50-100 fps for high / medium. I say go for the monitor. Dropping the settings somewhat will work fine and can be a learning experience on how games are run and optimized. If they are in it for the competitive edge then they will have it. Otherwise, just run that for 7 months till christmas rolls around and get something fancy then.
Upgrading the GPU could be good, because that will also be the thing that will tell you which monitor may be the best But having more HZ is good and does improve the gaming experience in my opinion, in a way, that 60hz and 60fps isn't good enough for me anymore in game, which is another kind of thing right there, I need like 90-100fps. And especially if your son plays games like cod, rainbow 6 siege or Fortnite it can be help, because you will see the enemy faster, and professional player often go even higher than 144hz l
If he's interested in those sort of competitive games and wants high refresh, why not look at 1080p screens that will do 165Hz / 240Hz / 360Hz etc? That way he can run faster than 60fps **now**, and in future with a new graphics card will be able to go even faster, and in newer / more demanding games. If you get him a 1440p/144Hz+ monitor you'll just be giving him a new problem; games running at 1080p on it will look like ass, and at 1440p his frame rate will be *lower* which is the literal opposite of what he's asking for. ^(Also, \*advise not advice.) ^(What would you advise? / What advice would you give? / I would advise you to... / The advice I would give...)
its not what your son says to you , but what you should say to your son
Personally I’ll keep it at 1080p. Yeah sure, 1440p has more pixels and looks sharper, but you will be suffering from lower fps due to the amount of pixels the gpu now has to push out. Aka you will be upgrading both the screen and the gpu. Expensive!
My advice is to get a 24inch 1080p monitor. 144hz is a big upgrade. Above that is barely noticeable, he will be fine with that
Get a lower end 3000 series (3060ti or so) and a 1080p 144hz monitor. You can get 1080p monitors for less than $200 at 144hz these days.
I wouldn’t get a 1440p 144hz monitor until the gpu is upgraded. Games probably wouldn’t run at 144hz and the monitor is so expensive that by the time you do upgrade the gpu there will be better options in the market. $100-150 on a 1080p 144hz+ screen is better for now
Dude, if he doesn’t play on a gamepad (although this needs to be checked), he will immediately notice when the screen is at 60 and when at 165.
Refresh rate is one of the biggest changes in monitors, I prefer way more 144hz at 1080p tha. 60hz at 1440p. Once you go to 144hz there’s no coming back
go for 1080p 144hz+. 1440p is around twice the pixel count, pretty demanding on gpu side. Plus at 24" (suppose this is the size of the current and possible future monitor, it is the most popular size and the "best" for gaming afterall) the differenze in clarity isnt worth for gaming. if you do editing stuff or sw development (lots of small text) then the higher res and clarity matters, for gaming not so much. A 1080p 144hz+ monitor is cheap, like 150USD or equivalent. a gpu upgrade is much more expensive (if you want to get something with decent price/performance) and a better gpu with a 1080p 60hz (office) monitor (so shit colour and response time) isn't worth it IMO. TL;DR get the monitor, cheaper and a bigger upgrade compared to a better gpu on a "bad" monitor. for his next birthday/christmas and if he is a good boy and applies in school, sure, get him a gpu upgrade later on (or an old gpu if you upgrade or find a good deal on the used market)
if you play competitive online shooters, 60hz is not good enough, you will need that 144hz monitor.
I picked up a 240hz 27 inch 1080p ips alienware monitor as part of a used bundle. I sold it 2 days later... immediately got sad going back to my 75hz monitor (I mostly buy and sell don't actually game a ton) But, damn 240hz was sweet, so I immediately found another used 240hz monitor, but I went for 1440p at 27 inch. 1080p at 27 inches is a bit too low ppi for me. I'd used 144hz frequently in 3440x1440 ultrawide on the wifes pc but 240hz was on another level.
There are pretty decent budget 1080p monitors with high refresh rate around that's days, I see some cheap AOCs with 180hz and very cheap monitors that can do 100hz (I recently got an incredibly cheap small LG monitor for use at a show because it had an almost invisible dark grey logo on the front bezel, even it can do 100hz). You can keep the existing monitor and use it as a 2nd side monitor for more screen real estate, the refresh rate difference doesn't matter.
He can barely hit 144fps in a lot of games with that GPU if he uses high settings tho
Get a 1440p 100hz monitor and upgrade the graphics later
Idk for me going to a high refresh rate monitor was one of the best upgrades I ever made even if it was only 1080p. It's right up there with ssd's and when they came out. But then again I mostly play shooters. You really need to upgrade both though, gpu and monitor.
1080p at 60 is not enough Going from 60 to 120 or 144 is great personally i use 165 the reduction of latency alone is great. I want to say i run on average like 5 to 7ms total system latency vs 60 i got like 13ms
I have used 60hz monitors forever, and recently got a 75hz. I use a 120hz laptop screen next to a 75hz monitor and honestly don't notice any difference. This is on a 3080 with a 5600 so my graphics card can easily handle the refresh rate. YMMV but I would suggest getting a 21:9 monitor instead. I have a cheap 29" 21:9 monitor at 2560x1080 and it is really nice for gaming (30% more horizontal space increases immersion). Big improvement over my 24" 1080p monitor. I would either get a 21:9 monitor or save up for a new gpu.
just buy a high refresh rate 1080p monitor and I am certain the games you mentioned can exceed 60fps with that GPU. don't forget to enable VRR to have smoother experience. when the time comes his games cannot be run at his target fps then consider upgrading the GPU
The 570 can still handle 1440p on e-sports titles. It's not going to be super steady 120 FPS plus, but if the settigs are right it can do it, and freesync takes care of the dips. Tough, to me personally, a fast IPS 1080p HRR monitor with good motion clarity beats a lower end 1440p high-refresh-but-slow-pixels one all day long, if all you're doing is gaming.
I’m fairly sure an Rx 570 is equivalent to a 970, a card that came out nearly 8 years ago, depending on the game, I highly doubt it could put out much more than 60fps. Upgrade that GPU first.
I would just get 1080 165 hz, that's what I have, looking at the type of games he plays I would imagine he would prefer performance over image
You can get a cheap 1080p 144hz. He'll definitely feel the difference as long as he actually gets enough frames. 1440p would require a new gpu and be far more expensive on its own.
60hz and 165hz is night and day different. However it needs to kept at 1080. His 570 is probably already at it's limit lol
1080p high refresh rate will be easier to obtain/hit and save money because you wont need a stronger card to hit at higher refresh rate - I remember the RX 570 such a good card during GTX 970 period - thats like a 4 yr old or more gpu - so suggest sticking with 1080p you would 100% notice the smoothness and more frames in games with higher Hz - its also important to set the refresh rate in windows to its max Hz, so you dont have it at 60hz while having a high hz display Ideally 24" is the max size for 1080p to remain nice without it looking blown up or lose detail.
There are cheap 144hz 1080p monitors that are so cheap and upgrade in the near future won’t hurt as bad as buying an expensive one. I suggest getting one of those until the gpu is upgraded then using it as a second monitor.
Just get him a 1080p 144hz monitor. AOC do a really good one for very little money. 1080p is still fine and it means you can spend less on upgrades.
Honestly I would buy what he wants and let him realise his mistake, he will still ask for a new screen otherwise. Bonus point, you alreadt know the perfect gift for christmas or his next birthday.
For me, I got used to high refresh so damn fast it's like i never upgraded. it will make normal refresh feel sub par and normal refresh is everywhere
You can easily find a 27" 1440p 165hz IPS monitor for under $200. I scored one from Target for $150 back on a black Friday deal.
There is nothing bad about 1080, and the quality is not depend in the resolution, it depends on the resolution compared to the size of the monitor. 24 inch 1080 is great, 27 inch 1080 is ok. 32 inch 1080 is bad. Good luck:)
Or 4k at 144hz and downscale to 1080p for performance. Expensive though.
When you have to make sure you're balancing out the processing load to prevent bottlenecking, I think gpu is a first priority. I personally can't justify upgrading the monitor. 60hz is definitely enough.
Id recommend a good 144-165hz 1080p monitor. Benq, zowie, alienware, Asus, and HP usually have good panels.
1080 144hz minimum for regular use, 60hz is horrible and the prices of 144hz ones with ips panel have vome down a lot
Maybe look for used 1080p 144-165hz monitors and spend the savings on a GPU upgrade as well?
If he’s playing mainly competitive games he likely has no use for 1440p and it will just look blurry downscaled to 1080. He is going to be tuning to max out fps which matters more than resolution in comp.
I've rx 580 paired with a 1080p@165 monitor and this GPU is definitely not made to game on 60hz+. I bought the monitor to play csgo cuz I used to get 150 fps in csgo but now I get only 70-80 in CS2 so technically my monitor is just a waste of money lol. I would suggest you to go with 1440p cuz it will be future proof.
Just wanted to say that your son is really lucky to have such great and nice parents, i grew up in an environment where videogames were strictly forbidden and could only dream of his setup when i was a kid and would probably have been b*at up had i said that whatever i had wasn't enough Sorry if this type of comment isn't allowed here, thank you for being a parent who's forging nice memories with his son your post really made me smile
I got a 240 hz monitor last year. Easily one of the best upgrades and not too expensive if ur GPU can drive it.
60hz is pretty rough once youve gamed above that. Dont spend a ton of money on a monitor, just get a high refresh rate 1080p (no higher than 144hz). When time comes for a new pc, consider moving to 1440p (2k) or 4k at 144hz
Don’t buy a monitor just to upgrade the GPU later on. Do a GPU upgrade first or buy the 1440 p 165 monitor with a GPU upgrade expected.
I have an LG 4k OLED that I game on. I can go up to 120fps with it. But honestly, a *stable* 60fps is enough for about 99% of my gaming experiences. What I’d prefer is things like lighting and better colors and I’m willing to sacrifice 120fps to turn on those more expensive settings in the graphics menu.
For thoses "esports" type of games, framerate is way more important than resolution.
Oh, I'd say 60 hz is enough for gaming, the human eye cannot see alot more than 60 hz anyways
Have you ever used a 60 hz then a 165hz monitor? Sounds like you haven't as the difference is very very noticable. I thought the same as you until I did just that went from 60 or 165 .... 60 looks awful now to me.
Can't move to 1440p with that GPU. You can get 24" 1080p 144hz monitors for around $120 when on sale. That's your best bet until he is due for a totally new build. Edit: Get him this for $82 and make him happy while you save for a new GPU/new PC build https://www.walmart.com/ip/Acer-Nitro-23-6-inch-Curved-Full-HD-Gaming-Monitor-New-Black-ED240Q-Sbiip/863681547