32" monitor - 4K or 1440p?

[schlange]

Hi Guys,

I am going to be buying a new pc and looking at a single GTX 1080 graphics card. I do play some games (Civ 6, Witcher 3, World of Warcaft), but I am not a heavy gamer. Rather, I am looking to get the max real estate space on a monitor but NOT having to squint to read or scale text in Windows to be able to read my spreadsheets, web pages, etc.

So my question is really which resolution should I go for with a GTX 1080 powered 32" monitor? 4K or 1440p? I have a 27" in 1080 now and find that without text scaling in Windows, everything is too small. Thus, 32" is the size I would like.

Thank you for the advice!

 

[Jim90]

The Creators Update build of W10 is supposed to improve things with 4k monitors re icon/font/scaling/etc (previously Windows didn't handle high res monitors as well as we'd like). You might want to check out some reviews on this just to bring you up to date. If there's still concern and you have physical space you could look at a multi monitor setup.
It's interesting that you say that a 27" 1080p monitor has readability issues unless scaling introduced. I'd think 4k, even at 32", would have more issues unless scaled. I have a 27" 1400p monitor and find this ok - I do sit very close though and my eyes are reasonable ok though quickly deteriorating with age.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

For most folks, with normal vision, you want a PPI (pixels per inch) close to 96 or better ... 4 changes that up a bit as goal there is much more dense pixels for sharper images. This makes text not look too jaggy and puts pixels close enough that the person with normal vision won't see the "space" between individual pixels which can make images look grainy.

Of course you can scale icons and text in Windows so the ability to read text should be solvable pretty easiy.

https/www.sven.de/dpi/

1080p (23.6") ~ 93.34 PPI
1080p (24") ~ 91.79 PPI
1440p (27") ~ 108.79 PPI
1440p (30") ~ 97.91 PPI
1440p (32") ~ 91.79 PPI
2560p (30") ~ 146.86 PPI
2560p (32") ~ 137.68 PPI
2560p (36") ~ 122.38 PPI

To my eyes, 1440p would look a bit grainy at 1440p at 32". I prefer 27" and scale my program text to make it comfy. recommended cards for various screen resolutions (assuming 60 fps gaming is on the agenda):

1080p 144 Hz = GTX 1060
1440p 165 Hz = GTX 1070 ==> 1080 *
2160p 144 Hz = GTX 1080 Ti ==> 1080 Ti SLI *

* 1st card 40 - 70 fps ==> 2nd card(s) consistent > 60 fps

 

[schlange]

Thank you, this helps greatly. I meant to refer to the 1080 resolution on my 17" laptop monitor. That is very small and hard to read text if I am 3-4 foot away. 1080 on the 27" monitor is great and does not need to be scaled, however, windows can only scale or not scale text and does not do it by monitor.

Sounds like I need to go with a 1080 card and 34" 4k monitor to be comfortable. The 34" monitor would be oversized if I am only running 1440 is sounds like.

For most folks, with normal vision, you want a PPI (pixels per inch) close to 96 or better ... 4 changes that up a bit as goal there is much more dense pixels for sharper images. This makes text not look too jaggy and puts pixels close enough that the person with normal vision won't see the "space" between individual pixels which can make images look grainy.

Of course you can scale icons and text in Windows so the ability to read text should be solvable pretty easiy.

https/www.sven.de/dpi/

1080p (23.6") ~ 93.34 PPI
1080p (24") ~ 91.79 PPI
1440p (27") ~ 108.79 PPI
1440p (30") ~ 97.91 PPI
1440p (32") ~ 91.79 PPI
2560p (30") ~ 146.86 PPI
2560p (32") ~ 137.68 PPI
2560p (36") ~ 122.38 PPI

To my eyes, 1440p would look a bit grainy at 1440p at 32". I prefer 27" and scale my program text to make it comfy. recommended cards for various screen resolutions (assuming 60 fps gaming is on the agenda):

1080p 144 Hz = GTX 1060
1440p 165 Hz = GTX 1070 ==> 1080 *
2160p 144 Hz = GTX 1080 Ti ==> 1080 Ti SLI *

* 1st card 40 - 70 fps ==> 2nd card(s) consistent > 60 fps

 

[JackNaylorPE]

You buy a 4k monitor to run 4k ... not 1440p. Flat screens don't scale very well to non native resolutions.

Proper viewing distance for a laptop screen is 14-22". At 5'-10", my arms reach about 26" from my shoulder. I a typical "arms bent" typing position, it's 16". So at 36-48" away from screen, I wouldn't be able to type very well

I don't understand the scaling comments ... Text is normally scaled by program, what I use for spreadsheets is different than I use in word processing or in AutoCAD

 

[Clovis559]

If your building a new system you may want to wait for the X299 platform if you like Intel. It's coming this year sometime fingers crossed.

 

[Graybush]

Hi there!

Your question was selected for this weeks "Help Me, Tom's Guide!" found here: http/www.tomsguide.com/us/should-i-get-4k-1440p,review-4323.html

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