Don’t Buy a 1440p Gaming Monitor - Here’s Why

Thank you to Ruipro for sponsoring this video!

Don’t Buy a 1440p Gaming Monitor - Here’s Why
Alright look before you start yelling at me in the comments and pulling the 9, yes there are perfectly legitimate reasons to buy a 1440p monitor and it’s been called the “sweet spot” in PC gaming for a long time for a reason.

But guys, fellas, we need to talk about 1440p, because I’m not so sure it is the sweet spot for everyone anymore, and in today’s video I’m going to try and convince you to move to 4K for your next monitor, even if you think your PC can’t handle it.

And in order to do that first we need to establish the difference between these common resolutions and why you might or might not have cataracts.

So like many of you I started off with 1080p yyyyuck which is

1920x1080 or 2,073,600 pixels

From there most gamers will move to 1440p which is

2560x1440 or 3,686,400 pixels (77% more)

And then the crazies like me have moved on to 4K which is

3840x2160 or 8,294,400 pixels (4x 1080p or 2.25x 1440p)

And therein lies the first reason I’m twisting my BLANK and gnashing my teeth at 1440p. Sure it’s a big jump over 1080p which looks very pixelated, but in my opinion it operates in this goofy ah middle ground where it’s not pixelated, but it still looks very blurry to me regardless of how large or small the screen is.

And only once you reach 4K do games really start to look crisp and clear, and at 8K it looks nearly perfect, but I think we can all agree native 8K is definitely a waste of resources in 2023.

But speaking of native that brings me to the second reason I just don’t really like 1440p anymore and this has everything to do with upscaling. All modern GPUs have access to upscaling technologies like DLSS, FSR, or XeSS which allow us to render a much lower res and then output to our native resolution without much loss in quality (at least when it's done well) and with almost all new games having one of these options, and considering that not only does it work much better on higher resolution screens, but even rendering at 1080p and upscaling to 4K looks much better than native 1440p in my opinion, it begs the question. What’s the point of 1440p?

Now sure for all you pro gamers native resolution will always be best so you can eliminate any possibility of ghosting or artifacting, but for everyone else honestly… what the BLANK are we doing here?

I mean I even ran 4K games reasonably well on a mobile RTX 4050 with upscaling and reduced settings, so again I have to ask from a quality perspective is there really a good reason to stick with 1440p, and I think the answer for many will be no.

And with the trend of all media like games with high resolution assets, movies, streaming services, consoles, TVs, ect all having 4K as the standard, it feels really bizarre to be left behind on PC which funnily enough can be the most powerful platform.

And I think you have to consider that not just gaming benefits from a higher resolution. Everything you do on PC will immediately look better and from a utility perspective can make working easier. For example it’s much easier to get high quality screenshots or recordings on a 4K image than 1440p.

But before you start yelling, as I mentioned at the beginning, yes there is still at least one good reason to consider 1440p and it's a big one. Price.

Let’s face it, good 4k monitors are not only more expensive, but if you're set on running max settings it’s also going to require a more expensive GPU especially for games that don’t support upscaling.

Now my opinion is 4K with lower settings looks much better than 1440p with max settings, but not everyone is going to agree, so that’s why even though I personally wouldn’t run 1440p in today i’m definitely going to continue to review 1440p monitors, especially since they tend to have higher refresh rates at lower prices.

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Music

[thedisplayguy]

Thank you to Ruipro for sponsoring this video!

[falc.]

The reason he made this video is so all his opponents run 7 fps

[thejekky_br]

"4k lower settings looks better than 1440p max settings in most games"

you have worms in your brain dawg

[pot-shot-scott]

Is it just me or is this a really bad take?

[enyemberthduarte]

"I even ran 4K games reasonably well on a mobile RTX 4050 with upscaling and reduced settings" That part made me think, we are done here that's just dumb...

[Sora]

This video has been sponsored by 4K lobbyists

[dakrawnik]

Stay away from giving computer advice. Thanks.

[Clickbaitclicker]

The science is settled, all the experts agree 4k at 12fps is a dream compared to 1440 at 60fps

[peterbobski]

this guy really has the most shit takes on monitors

[the_sound_of_art]

As someone that uses both 4k, and QHD I agree to an extent but the main reason gamers want QHD is due to being able to achieve higher FPS than 4k while still looking at least better than FHD.

[Submersed]

1440p at 240hz is a whole 400$. 4k at anything close to that is 800+. Monitor prices are so damn high

[cotneit]

My guy did you really just complain about blurry 1440p only to pitch upscaling to switch to 4k...?

[elyesfayache]

You are misleading viewers. Resolution sweet spots depends on screen size. No need to go higher than 1440p if you have a 27” monitor, no need to go higher than 1080p with a 24”. If you plan for a too big monitor then only then 4K should be an option.
And please stop the 8K garbage

[fewchsia]

i thought he was gonna say stick with 1080p or something this is way worse than i thought

[TheMaztercom]

Sure bro, i will spend 700+ dollars on some 4k monitor just to play at 1080p reescalated cuz performance is sht

[danebeee]

I mean hard disagree with 4K at low settings looking better than 1440p at high settings, especially when you factor in things like raytracing. Meaning a 1440p game with good raytracing and high settings will look worlds better than a game rendered at 4K with low settings.

[RicochetForce]

Simple: Price

On a 1440p monitor you don't have to spend much to get a 1440p 60fps experience with high settings.
This means your GPU and CPU last far longer before you're looking at <60fps performance even with heavy tweaking. And for lighter games it achieves high FPS easier due to fewer pixels to drive.

4K is not only dramatically more expensive upfront, the cost of building a machine that can properly feed a 4K gaming GPU is far more than a 1440p machine.

[BobboNaught-YT]

I have had two different 4K screens and this video is rage bait. I went back to 1440p for gaming mostly because some games scale poorly unless your 4K screen is 42”, which limits your ability to have multiple monitors without harming your neck.

[Adam-crqe]

This video isnt relevent unless you have a 4080/4090. I have a 3090ti, and whilst its a 4k targeted card, higher frame rates at 1440p just looks and feels cleaner. Any forum will recommend 1440p 240hz at this moment in time for 90% of pc gamers

[SugarFreeTargets]

This guy sounds like the person who counts every thread of his bed sheets. As someone who owns a 4K Oled monitor, I'm still playing at 1080p without super resolution or DLSS and it honestly looks great. ( I do use integer scaling but all that really does is insure it's a 1:1 pixel ratio for a sharper image)