Question Should I get a 27" 4k 60Hz or a 27" 2560x1440 165Hz monitor?

[Dave3000]

I right now have an RTX 4090 for my graphics card connected to a 23" 1080p 60Hz monitor. I'm in the market for a new monitor. 27" is the largest I want to get, anything larger than that and then my PC speakers will be blocked and too large for my viewing distance. Games I play most are MSFS 2020 and Forza Horizon 5. My frames per second don't reach anywhere near 165 fps in MSFS 2020, and will often dip below 60 fps with 3rd party aircraft so I cap it at 30 fps (1/2 refresh rate), so I don't think I will be taking advantage of a high refresh rate monitor there. Would I be better off with a 27" 4k 60Hz monitor than a 27" 2560x1440 165Hz monitor? If the fonts are too small for a 27" at 4k couldn't I just enable scaling and still maintain the 4k resolution? Would cockpits in MSFS 2020 benefit from 4k more than they would with a 165Hz refresh rate at 2560x1440?

 

[DigDog]

middle ground.
120/144hz is enough, but a nice IPS panel is really worth the extra buxx.

 

[DeathReborn]

Why not go 4k, 160Hz, HDR600 all in a 27" package...

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16824012061?Item=N82E16824012061

 

[Dave3000]

Well today I tried out an LG 27GP83B-B and I was have severe backlight bleeding in the bottom near the middle and the right near the top. I also was having the "screendoor effect" lasting for like 1/16 of a second or so sometimes when and image appears after a black screen. I'm not talking about the normal "screendoor effect" that shows the pixel grid if your eyes are close enough to the screen to see it as my eyes were about 2 ft away and it only lasted about 1/16 of a second that "screen-door effect". I'm not sure if it was caused by one of the monitor's settings as it was on factory defaults. Anyways the backlight bleeding was serious enough for me to return the monitor for a refund that I did not care to find out if that "screen-door effect" was caused by a setting in the monitor.

 

[Brainonska511]

Interested to hear what you eventually settle on.

I have 2 Dell 24" 1080/60Hz monitors, and am interested in replacing the primary with a 27" 1440/(some higher refresh) to use for some gaming, office, and photo editing, but also not spending too much at the same time (eg, <$400).

 

[DigDog]

realistically, anything over 100hz takes care of any refresh-rate-related issues, and my source for that statement is : trust me bro, i've been a compulsive quake player for 15 years.
having said that, the $470 Gygabyte that @DeathReborn posted is pretty damn good, i wouldnt mind one myself.

 

[mindless1]

On my smaller desk/cart system, I could not settle for a mere 32", so I put a piece of plywood across the back of the desk, extending beyond the monitor on both sides, and put the speakers on that.

I don't think 4K is worth the bother on a 27" unless you're practically sitting with your nose to the screen, and then your width of vision is just as limiting as if you had a larger screen, but were sitting further back from it.

 

[Dave3000]

On my smaller desk/cart system, I could not settle for a mere 32", so I put a piece of plywood across the back of the desk, extending beyond the monitor on both sides, and put the speakers on that.

I don't think 4K is worth the bother on a 27" unless you're practically sitting with your nose to the screen, and then your width of vision is just as limiting as if you had a larger screen, but were sitting further back from it.

If the fonts and icons are too small on a 4k 27" screen without scaling at a normal viewing distance can't I just set the scaling % in Windows to make the UI of a 27" 4k monitor equivalent proportions to a 1080p 23" monitor and still get the 4k resolution in gaming?

 

[WelshBloke]

Interested to hear what you eventually settle on.

I have 2 Dell 24" 1080/60Hz monitors, and am interested in replacing the primary with a 27" 1440/(some higher refresh) to use for some gaming, office, and photo editing, but also not spending too much at the same time (eg, <$400).

I went from a 1920*1200@60hz dell 24" to a 2560*1440@144hz dell 34" and ran them next to each other for a bit.
The 60hz became pretty unusable next to the 144hz even on the desktop. I was surprised how much you could notice it just dragging around windows.
I'd very much recommend a higher refresh rate even if you are just on the desktop (particularly with a monitor that supports a variable refresh rate).

I got the Dell 34 Curved Gaming Monitor – S3422DWG, which is about your budget and have been pretty pleased with it. It has a bit of backlight bleed in the corners if you put up a black image but apart from that I've been pretty happy with it.

 

[Brainonska511]

I went from a 1920*1200@60hz dell 24" to a 2560*1440@144hz dell 34" and ran them next to each other for a bit.
The 60hz became pretty unusable next to the 144hz even on the desktop. I was surprised how much you could notice it just dragging around windows.
I'd very much recommend a higher refresh rate even if you are just on the desktop (particularly with a monitor that supports a variable refresh rate).

I got the Dell 34 Curved Gaming Monitor – S3422DWG, which is about your budget and have been pretty pleased with it. It has a bit of backlight bleed in the corners if you put up a black image but apart from that I've been pretty happy with it.

Because of the type of work I do, I think I'd still need 2 monitors. Often times, at least when using my work-provided laptop, I have 2 PowerPoint windows open, one on each screen, or a reference PDF and some MSOffice program. I also don't bother with dual screens when I'm using my attached desktop - that's only attached to the primary, so all that is also playing into my research/decision making.

 

[mindless1]

If the fonts and icons are too small on a 4k 27" screen without scaling at a normal viewing distance can't I just set the scaling % in Windows to make the UI of a 27" 4k monitor equivalent proportions to a 1080p 23" monitor and still get the 4k resolution in gaming?

Yes, for Windows (Vista or newer?) GUI itself and most applications (using vector rendering) you can do that. For very old ones using raster rendering you can't because those remain at a 1:1 pixel ratio. I might have my terminology wrong, there may be a more appropriate description than vector rendering vs raster.

I suppose it depends on what you're doing on the desktop (besides gaming) but I could never go back to only having the real estate present from scaling a monitor to where everything was the size it would be on a 23" 1080p. The desktop benefit of the increase in pixels is to be able to make use of them, to be able to display more information on screen... at least IMO, I'm far more productive on a larger 4K screen that isn't scaled that much.

 

[WelshBloke]

Because of the type of work I do, I think I'd still need 2 monitors. Often times, at least when using my work-provided laptop, I have 2 PowerPoint windows open, one on each screen, or a reference PDF and some MSOffice program. I also don't bother with dual screens when I'm using my attached desktop - that's only attached to the primary, so all that is also playing into my research/decision making.

I would not get a super wide if you are using two monitors, the windows 11 snap thing is a godsend for windows management on a super wide. Otherwise just a single one can I've you neck ache!