Looking for a Gaming Monitor - 32', 4K & Able to Handle 120 FPS Etc.

Vivi-gamer · Oct 6, 2020

Hi,

I'm looking to upgrade to a gaming monitor because I find often that 4K HDTV's are too big for my sitting area!

I'm planning to get a PS5 this year (Pray with me on that one!) & I want to get a monitor which will really make the upgrade in console stand out.

I don't want anything bigger than 32 inches, but has to be smaller than 40 - I have an older 43' 4K TV but its far too big

But I also want to make sure it has a good refresh rate and can handle the 120 FPS we may see in years to come.

So any advice on the matter would be greatly appreciated.

danielmann861 · Oct 6, 2020

I'm running a budget 1080p AOC 27inch 144hz monitor at the moment. I must say, I'm pretty happy with AOC. Not a bad monitor for the price I paid. I also have my PS4 plugged into one of the HDMI ports and yeah, it's pretty sharp at 60HZ and pretty responsive. So much so that I can't really be assed to move my PS4 back to the TV after seeing it on the monitor.

What are you planning to plug in to get 120hz or more? PC? PS5? It seems PS5 is gonna be limited to HDMI 2.1 for 120hz output which might make your options a bit limited. I don't know who is supporting HDMI 2.1 at the moment in terms of gaming monitors.

I was hoping the PS5 would support Displayport as well for higher refresh rates, but I have no idea what's going on with that console when it comes to high frame rates. What about Xbox? Microsoft was generally very good supporting a wide range of outputs with the 360. I would hope that new consoles of theirs supports Displayport as well for higher refresh rates.

That's the problem, HDMI 2.1 is still kind of new and is limited to both newer sets and monitors.

But I do like my AOC for what it's worth. That 144 hz on PC is nothing short of wonderful.

Vivi-gamer · Oct 12, 2020

Thanks for your input Daniel, so I will have to get a 4K TV with a 2.1 HDMI port?

I have a Samsung 1080p at the moment which is great so I was looking into what they have and found this:

View Samsung High Resolution Monitors | Samsung UK

Browse our full range of high resolution monitors at Samsung UK. Compare by price & specs to find the best for you. Free Delivery & Returns.

www.samsung.com

A lot of them don't seem to have 120hz or even HDR...

danielmann861 · Oct 13, 2020

Vivi-gamer said:
Thanks for your input Daniel, so I will have to get a 4K TV with a 2.1 HDMI port?

I have a Samsung 1080p at the moment which is great so I was looking into what they have and found this:

View Samsung High Resolution Monitors | Samsung UK

Browse our full range of high resolution monitors at Samsung UK. Compare by price & specs to find the best for you. Free Delivery & Returns.

www.samsung.com

A lot of them don't seem to have 120hz or even HDR...

Pretty much. HDMI 2.1 is needed for 120hz gaming on these consoles. Unless someone figures out a way to do HDMI 2.1 to DisplayPort?

That's the thing, I don't even know how many sets widely support it? I know there are some out there, but one search on my local retailer JB brought up nothing. But I do know there are specific sets out there supporting it. Some newer OLED sets from LG supposedly support it (from memory)

Hence I see a lot of people running 60HZ on these consoles. I really don't think 120HZ is really gonna be all that widely adopted by the user base...unless they happen to have a set with HDMI 2.1.

It's unfortunate to me that they didn't just put a displayport on the motherboard as well and allowed that as an option.

Vivi-gamer · Oct 14, 2020

It just seems their aren't a lot on the market for a decent price - have been eyeing up this one.

But it doesn't have HDMI 2.1 wondering if I should just wait a year or 2 until reasonable TV's do.

PC Monitors | Computer Monitors & Screens | Samsung UK

Browse the full range of PC monitors, desktop computer monitors & screens at Samsung UK. Compare models by price & specs. Free Delivery & Returns.

www.samsung.com

Edit - Says it doesn't even have HDR...

Sheephead · Oct 14, 2020

As you guys have said, there really are not many HDMI 2.1 monitors at the moment, especially at this size. This is mainly due to the fact that PC users are used to using DisplayPort for years now, as it has offered the additional bandwidth over HDMI. At the same time, 32 inches is rather large for a PC monitor, although this is changing as 4K becomes more the norm.

As 2.1 is still rather new (and also hasn't really had a push from mass market consumer electronics - The new consoles will help with that for sure), there doesn't seem to be a lot of monitors that have it yet. At the same time, I'd honestly recommend waiting for a decent 32" TV that offers everything that you want for the new consoles. When it comes to HDR, it's still a bit of a mess when it comes to PC implementation, which is why it's not supported on a lot of monitors.

Ideally, you would wait for a TV is 4K and that has HDR, 120hz, HDMI 2.1, FreeSync (I believe this is only supported by the Xbox Series X & S though, not the PS5? Might be wrong) and the lowest response time (or a decent gaming mode). Once the new consoles come out, and as developers start to target 120hz (I believe Dirt is the only game I've seen that offers this mode yet - 1440p @120hz), I'm sure there will be a roll out of new TVs that meet the requirements.

It sucks as it would be great to have a new TV day 1 with the new consoles, but I don't think it's a great option right now

Tomato Convenience Store · Nov 27, 2020

Hey folks - I thought it would make sense to bump this thread since I'm looking to upgrade some monitors on Black Friday.

I have a GTX 1060 with 6GB RAM and was looking at replacing my current monitor set-up with dual 1440p monitors (I currently have two 1080p monitors that are almost 10 years old each and are not mountable or height adjustable, so that and the spaces the stands are taking up on my desk are driving me crazy! ) I suppose the questions I have are:

Would the graphics card work well for general productivity (some audio and video hobby projects for the most demanding stuff) while running two 1440p monitors? Perhaps even a third down the line?
Could I run games pretty well at 1440p? Honestly, for me gaming is secondary on PC as I usually do retro/indie stuff on PC and AAA on consoles. That being said, would playing games or any content at 1080p look like crap on a 1440p monitor?
If gaming is secondary, should I just look into lower end 4K monitors that might max out at 60hz or so, and can my graphics card handle that (2 or 3 monitors)? Would playing anything at 1080p look better on 4k instead of 1440p because of the even integer scales? (1920x1080 -> 3840x2160 vs 2560x1440)

Thanks!