Backing up the rise of importance in visual fidelity is the ever-increasing popularity of gaming monitors. These high-resolution displays have taken the community by storm with their accurate color reproductions and features for gaming. High refresh rates, lower response times and anti-tearing technologies are some of the few ingredients which discern gaming monitors over regular displays. However, buying a display can be quite a confusing task for a lot of people. Even after you’ve decided what panel type you want and what screen size you prefer, the most difficult question remains: High Refresh Rate or High Resolution? We’ll be answering that question for you and helping you decide.
1080p at 144Hz: What’s Good and What’s Bad
Full HD (1920 x 1080) has been the industry standard for gaming displays for a while now. The resolution is more than enough for most people and considering you have a 22″ or 24″ monitor, the image should be pretty sharp on the display. 1080p displays should also be pretty easy to power with even a budget GPU. That’s the resolution part covered. Let’s talk about the more exciting aspect here. The high refresh rate. Just ignore all the debates and arguments for one minute and trust us, high refresh rate does pay off, especially in competitive games. It provides a more fluid and smooth experience overall and allows you to react faster. Of course, this doesn’t magically make you a better gamer but it does give you a slight competitive edge overall. The ability to react faster can help out a lot in first person shooters. 144hz is miles ahead of 60hz. So that’s all the positives, let’s talk negatives. While the higher refresh rate is definitely great for competitive games, the 1080p resolution lacks the visual flair a 1440p and especially a 4K monitor can provide. Don’t get us wrong, 1080p is an easy to drive resolution and looks decent to the average consumer but once you try a higher resolution, it’s difficult to go back.
1440p at 75Hz: What’s Good and What’s Bad
Resolution is something that directly correlates to the screen size and viewing distance. But at 24-27″ (the most common gaming monitor size) WQHD or 2560 x 1440p looks sharper and crispier than 1080p in any scenario. Be it movies, tv shows or video games, you just can’t deny the extra visual flair this resolution provides. If you put them both side by side the difference is easy to notice, especially in a 27″ display. If you play a lot of single player games and love the detail in visual quality, you would surely benefit from a 1440p display. If you are that sort of person, then in single player games, where the main focus is the story, 60Hz is still sufficient. 1440p is also a bit more difficult to power than 1080p. The slight issue here is that unless you pay more than what a 1080p 144hz monitor would cost, you’ll probably be stuck with the decision between framerate and resolution. Although 1440p does look absolutely stunning, you would be stuck with a 75Hz or 60Hz panel at a price point similar to 1080p 144hz. The decision entirely depends on what type of games you play. If you are someone who enjoys visual flair over framerate. Go with a 1440p 75Hz display. If you play mostly competitive games and want that a competitive edge over your opponents, 1080p 144hz is your go to.
Our Recommendation
If you are looking for any type of monitor be it a high resolution or high refresh rate one, or even the best of both worlds, we recently covered 5 of the best monitors on the market in the following article. At a limited budget, you can only do so much with your choice of monitors in the low-end range. You are either stuck with the standard resolution of 1080p at a high framerate or a high-resolution 1440p monitor capped at 60-75Hz. As explained before, the decision purely comes down to your choice of games and your PC’s performance. 1440p even at 60Hz can still be a demanding display to drive. Even though you might not get exactly 144 Fps in 1080p it’s relatively easy to achieve with most GPUs. That’s the main question answered, but what if you’re a fan of both high resolution and high framerate. Well then go with 1440p 144hz which is absolutely stunning. You get the crispiness of 1440p along with the high refresh rate. Of course, that resolution is much more difficult to drive at a higher framerate but if your graphics power can handle it and your wallet allows it, its the best experience you can get for now.
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