Why 1440p instead of 4k ?

CalcuttaSada

Disciple
Guys i need your opinion on something, i noticed something strange, most people i realised even with top of the line rig, game on 1440p instead of 4k, why is that ? I was seeing setup wars on yt i must have seen 50-60 rigs and almost every rig with best of the best GPU have 1440p instead of 4k, why is that ?
 
1. Good 4K monitors are expensive compared to good 1440p monitors
2. 4K gaming needs higher processing power while giving lower frame rate compared to 1440p
while i do agree about monitors, but 1440 or 1080p is more CPU bound than 4k, I am using 4k TV with i5 12400 with 6800xt to game on 4k Native high settings 60 fps atleast, (latest 2023 games hogwarts, tlou, deadspace, re4) and i do not feel any bottleneck. ( i mean i am not that deeply into it so long as i get 60 fps coz my TV is 60hz, i am fine)

So monitors are the only reason ? But 1440p 144hz monitors are 25k range and 4k 144hz are 40k range so for someone who has lets say a 2 lac build, 15k wouldnt be make or break decision imho.

Is expensive monitor the only reason or is it that 4k isnt a major bump over 1440p in terms of gaming visuals ? it is a major bump over 1080 i saw that myself.
 
while i do agree about monitors, but 1440 or 1080p is more CPU bound than 4k, I am using 4k TV with i5 12400 with 6800xt to game on 4k Native high settings 60 fps atleast, (latest 2023 games hogwarts, tlou, deadspace, re4) and i do not feel any bottleneck. ( i mean i am not that deeply into it so long as i get 60 fps coz my TV is 60hz, i am fine)
Similar here. I use a 3080 but my 4k tv is 120 Hz. No bottleneck at all with a 5600x. High/Ultra mixed settings depending on the game and all games work great.
So monitors are the only reason ? But 1440p 144hz monitors are 25k range and 4k 144hz are 40k range so for someone who has lets say a 2 lac build, 15k wouldnt be make or break decision imho.
It is just a habit. People spend truckloads of money on a brand new GPU which is still fine but then they spend even more on so called balanced configuration comprising of a cpu and expensive mobo which were never needed, while totally forgetting about the monitor. A decent GPU is more than enough but a large and good monitor is a must for the best gaming experience.
Is expensive monitor the only reason or is it that 4k isnt a major bump over 1440p in terms of gaming visuals ? it is a major bump over 1080 i saw that myself.
4k is a major jump dude. Gaming on a large tv is exponentially better than gaming on a small monitor unless one plays competitive fps. Tv's have outstanding HDR too, even contrast of a IPS TV is way better than a IPS monitor.

The biggest reason 1440p is popular because it has replaced 1080p as a standard pc monitor. 1440p is also less taxing on a GPU. Space is a major issue too. I have seen people using a 4090 while their gaming desk is so small that there is barely any space left on the desk. So, 27 inch 1440p seems like an ideal size for most.
 
The biggest reason 1440p is popular because it has replaced 1080p as a standard pc monitor. 1440p is also less taxing on a GPU. Space is a major issue too. I have seen people using a 4090 while their gaming desk is so small that there is barely any space left on the desk. So, 27 inch 1440p seems like an ideal size for most.
yeah i guess. I also saw major people using 4080 and 4090 and using it on a 1440p monitor. I guess their motivation is the frame rate as its far too difficult to drive 4k 100+ fps than 1440p 100+ fps.
My main concern was that i am planning to change my monitor so it shouldnt happen that i take a 4k and do not see major bump over 1440p coz 4k monitors are atleast 15-20k more expensive than 1440p ( IPS 1ms 144hz )

and yea playing on my 55" 4k TV was a life changing experience lol albeit 60hz, even a very high end monitor wouldnt be able to match it i guess. unless its OLED. when i bought the TV i.e. 4 years back, i hadnt realised 60 and 120 hz otherwise i would have taken 120 hz, i did spend a fortune on it.
 
The main reason is pricing. 144 hz is the ideal refresh rate imo if you're playing a mixture of single and multiplayer games. Getting a 4k 144hz monitor is twice as much as a high end 1440p 144 hz monitor. If you add to that the fact that pretty only the 4090 can deliver that level of performance without compromise setting up for 4k is not really an option
 
Many cards today might be good for 4k 60 FPS, but very few will be able to go 4k 120 FPS. Even with DLSS/FSR, the cards will be really taxed. By staying at 1440p, it's easier to maintain a high FPS.

And this might be my personal opinion, but the difference between 1440p and 4k is not that perceptible, especially on 27" or 32" monitors.

So it might just be the case that beyond that point (1440p), gamers start valuing FPS more than sharpness.
 
yeah so i guess this boils down to resolution vs fps.

but cant you game 1440p on a 4k monitor ?
On LCD/LED screens, using native resolution gives you the sharpest images.
If you disable scaling, then 1440p can be shown with letter boxes all around at native 1:1 sharpness. However this is useful only on a large (32 inch +) monitor that is placeed a bit too close.

For eg: If showing 1080p without scaling on a 32" 1440p monitor, it will be the same size as a 24" inch monior.
Black = full 4k area. White = 1440p unscaled content
4k 1440p.png


The advantage here is that the apparent FOV reduces, so that I don't need to put too much effort to look at the sides/corners to check HUD/chat while playing fast paced FPS games.

This way you get a big desktop with lot of screen area for multi-tasking and you can trade in that resolution for higher fps while gaming.
 
If you disable scaling, then 1440p can be shown with letter boxes all around at native 1:1 sharpness. However this is useful only on a large (32 inch +) monitor that is placeed a bit too close.

For eg: If showing 1080p without scaling on a 32" 1440p monitor, it will be the same size as a 24" inch monior.
Black = full 4k area. White = 1440p unscaled content
View attachment 169153

The advantage here is that the apparent FOV reduces, so that I don't need to put too much effort to look at the sides/corners to check HUD/chat while playing fast paced FPS games.

This way you get a big desktop with lot of screen area for multi-tasking and you can trade in that resolution for higher fps while gaming.
i think this would look pretty bad, i recently exchanged my 1080p for a 2160p and going to use it now for a while, lets see whats the performance!
 
You mean White=1080p unscaled content on 1440p screen?
Nope, that's two separate examples. I knew the numbers off the top of my head for 1080 & 1440, so went with that

Here's a pic showing relative frame sizes for unscaled 1080p & 1440p on a 4k screen:

4k 1440p 1080p.png


Black = full 4k = 48"
White = unscaled 1440p = 32"
Red = unscaled 1080p = 24"

Since the DPI doesn't change, only the display area used changes, the sharpness will remain the same
 
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