Monitor Setup: Multiple 1080p, or one big'o 4/5k?

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What say you?

  • Multiple 1080p

    Votes: 5 19.2%

  • Single big arse 4/5k

    Votes: 13 50.0%

  • Neural link, you silly noob.

    Votes: 3 11.5%

  • One Ultra-wide

    Votes: 3 11.5%

  • Other (comment)

    Votes: 2 7.7%
  • Total voters
    26
SketchMaster

SketchMaster

Diamond Member
Feb 23, 2005
3,100
149
116
What do/would you prefer?

Thinking about upgrading my setup at home. Have three 22" 1080p monitors at work that suit me just fine, but wondering if I should do something fun for home. A 4/5k would be nice if I just wanted one big screen, and I could scale down to 1080p for gaming. I tried an ultra-wide before but found UI scaling in games to be really glitchy. Three 1080s would be cheaper, and I could get a 100hz+ for gaming.
 
Last edited:
Platypus

Platypus

Lifer
Apr 26, 2001
31,046
321
136
I went from 2 x 27inch 1080p monitors to one 34 inch 4K monitor and I've been relatively happy. I'd been using dual monitors since the 90s with giant ass CRTs and eventually I just got tired of the footprint and minor visual differences (I am very OCD about things looking right and even with identical monitors and color profiles there are always differences that would drive me nuts).
 
jlee

jlee

Lifer
Sep 12, 2001
48,518
223
106
Single 4k by FAR.

I have a 50" at home and it's a little big, but I use it as a TV as well so it's tolerable. I have a Dell 43" 4k at work and it is glorious. The combination of DisplayFusion Pro and a good 4k monitor is hard to beat.
 
Anubis

Anubis

No Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
78,712
427
126
tbqhwy.com
i vote neither

get 2 27-30 inch 1440p monitors


4k at a size under 38 inches is not a fun experience unless you have eyes like an eagle, also if you game you need to spend a couple grand on GFX cards
 
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repoman0

repoman0

Diamond Member
Jun 17, 2010
5,191
4,572
136
I'm really happy with 32" 4k, no scaling. I sit with it about 18-24 inches away and text is easy to make out.

I use 2 24" 1200p monitors at work and prefer the higher resolution by far.

edit: I guess I do have eyes like an eagle though :p
 
SKORPI0

SKORPI0

Lifer
Jan 18, 2000
18,482
2,418
136
I have 2 27" 2560x1440 monitors and a 43" 4K UHDTV which I can select sources from a cable box, blu-ray player and a PC.

With Windows 10
P1020053.JPG


With OSX Yosemite. my MacOS Sierra drive failed.
P1020056.JPG
 
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Sonikku

Sonikku

Lifer
Jun 23, 2005
15,901
4,927
136
I like the 4k approach but primarily because I like web browsing and gaming on a 65" tv from the comfy couch.
 
V

Viper GTS

Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
38,107
433
136
Big 4K. Every. Single. Time.

I went from three 27" 2560x1440 to a single 50" 4k and don't miss the extra pixels or space. Almost two years now on this display and still one of the best PC hardware purchases I have ever made.

Viper GTS
 
MrSquished

MrSquished

Lifer
Jan 14, 2013
26,067
24,397
136
1080P's are too small resolution wise - I have a 2560x1440 resolution and that's great. My laptop is like 3200x1800. You want 2560x1440 if you do multiple monitors. If you need multiple monitors you'd know it, based upon your usage habits.

I'd go for the bigger 4K monitor
 
Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
70,592
13,806
126
www.anyf.ca
I've been debating on that myself so interesting to see everyone's input. I've asked previously and the concensus seems to be that 4k is a good way to go. I'm starting to lean towards that, but I have not experienced it myself.

Cons of multiple monitors is OSes seem to handle them terribly. Linux and Windows. Apps opening on wrong monitor etc... I just want stuff to appear on the monitor I'm working on period, but it's random and anxiety inducing not knowing where something is going to come up. Seems each app handles it their own way. I've even seen menus show up on wrong monitor etc. It's really hit and miss. To solve that I went with a Synergy setup with two RPIs as side monitors and single centre one so it's basically 3 machines, but Synergy crashes like every 10 minutes so that's annoying. I'm thinking of scrapping this whole setup and going with a single 4k.

Now the question is, will that even work with a KVM. (I have two machines, one for main use one for gaming) but worse case scenario I move the gaming machine to the TV and build myself some kind of tray/table to play off of. KVMs are also very glitchy and unreliable so I could eliminate lot of problems by going 4k for the productivity machine and moving the Windows/gaming machine to the TV.
 
AznAnarchy99

AznAnarchy99

Lifer
Dec 6, 2004
14,695
117
106
I was gaming on my wall mounted 55in LG OLED but since things were so close I would window the game and have it run much smaller at eye level. It let me have movies and stuff on the side but felt like a waste of space.

I ordered a Dell 27in 1440p G sync monitor that should come soon. Gonna keep it separate again. Doing any kind of work/research on the TV was hard.
 
I

Insomniator

Diamond Member
Oct 23, 2002
6,294
171
106
I have 1 27"/1440p/96hz monitor for gaming with a 23" 1080p for productivity/work flanking it. Two 27's would be too big and unnecessary, but I feel at this point 1080p is not high enough for my main monitor. Don't care about matching sizes/screens/bezels since I only game on the single monitor.

Ultrawide is no good for competitive online and since I only play Sc2/Dota/Overwatch -- its kind of useless to me!

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unnamed.jpg
 
Kaido

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
51,579
7,248
136
If you do get a high-res monitor, check out DisplayFusion:

https://www.displayfusion.com/

$25 license. Feature specific to your application is that it lets you divide the screen into multiple virtual monitors, so you can split 4K resolution into 4 borderless virtual screens if you'd like (or 3 or 2 or whatever). Really nice for multi-tasking!
 
Kaido

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
51,579
7,248
136
Anubis said:
4k at a size under 38 inches is not a fun experience unless you have eyes like an eagle, also if you game you need to spend a couple grand on GFX cards
Click to expand...

I temporarily used a 24" 4K desktop LCD. Made me want to barf for real :p

I have like a 24" 2.5K-whatever right now, it's just on the edge of my vision, but is usable without scaling.
 
Anubis

Anubis

No Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
78,712
427
126
tbqhwy.com
Kaido said:
I temporarily used a 24" 4K desktop LCD. Made me want to barf for real :p

I have like a 24" 2.5K-whatever right now, it's just on the edge of my vision, but is usable without scaling.
Click to expand...
yea 4k on a 24 would be rough we have a 4k 28" at work on a machine and no one likes it, its now set to 1440p

personally 32-24" is the smallest i would go with a 4k and even that might be pushing it
 
S

SaltyNuts

Platinum Member
May 1, 2001
2,398
277
126
Are the Dell 43 inches someone mentioned actually monitors, or TVs? I wantdamn near the biggest 4k monitor I can find that doesn't suckfor gaming one way or another.
 
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