Which monitor for Racing Sim?

[TherealWalkman]

Hello,

now after years of enjoying and actually using my HP w2207h for my photography job I want to put it into my office while I need a monitor for gaming or to be more precise Assetto Corsa since its the only game I play besides Pro Pinball Ultra and Battletech.
Since my old one uses 60 hz I had a look on Amazon and saw that now I could buy monitors that work with 240hz but are they any good for sim racers? Since I don´t have a rig one monitor will be enough for me. But I need one that doesn´t hurt my eyes lowers input lag and doesn´t overtrow me with silly apps and gizmos with funny names. I don´t need a connection to facetunes and I don´t want an extra washing machine.
My specs so far are:
i7-4790K CPU @ 4.00GHz, motherboard: Z97X-Gaming 5, graphics: MSI GTX 970, 16 GB Ram, Sound card: Asus Xonar STX II
If anybody could help me find my way I would be very thankful.

 

[PaulH]

Buy as big as your budget allows, go for at least 144hz once you have gone above that 60hz you will never go back. Buttery smooth...I went from 60hz to 120hz now 144hz
I have a 35" 144hz Monitor and Assetto Corsa looks sublime and I haven't long upgraded from a GTX 970 to a GTX1080.
I know there is gysnc & freesync monitors available(gsync for nvidia cards) but I have no experience with them, but I'm sure someone can help with advice on them

 

[Beef36]

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[Jeremy Ford]

With a GTX 970 and seeking higher refresh rate you need stick with 1080 x 1920 resolution. Going up to a 27 inch or an ultrawide at 1080 x 2560 would still be good. I'd recommend my 35" Predator 1080 x 2560 monitor as it's the one I own. The G SYNC feature would be useful for your GPU as you will experience quite a fluctuation of FPS which G SYNC is designed to smooth out.

But the problem with asking the community is the sample size of experience with an individual monitor models is limited. As long as you know what resolution and refresh rate is in your range of specifications, just Google it. Bookmark the models that fit your requirements/budget, then search for reviews of those models. And look on eBay as secondhand monitors are heavily discounted.

 

[Emery]

Beef36 & Jeremy Ford echo my thoughts, but I'll add one reminder that an ultrawide 35" monitor is really nothing more than a 27" stretched wider, so it won't give you a greater vertical field of view.

If you want to future-proof a bit & get a larger monitor at the same time, consider a standard width 32" 1440p monitor with a GTX 1070 or 1080.

Curved monitors are a toss-up. Don't pay extra just to get a curved one and if you work in precise graphics where you have to judge if lines are straight in a picture, you probably don't want one.

 

[bigbawmcgraw]

Oculus Rifts are about the same price as a decent screen right now. I've seen guys with similar rig to yours that play AC with it.

 

[TherealWalkman]

Thank you all for those very helpful answers so far. Some mention gsync but Wonder how the input lag which it comes with will interfere with my driving. Any experience with that?

 

[Jeremy Ford]

Thank you all for those very helpful answers so far. Some mention gsync but Wonder how the input lag which it comes with will interfere with my driving. Any experience with that?

Do you mean input lag with G SYNC? There isn't any perceivable input lag. It's nothing like Vsync.

 

[Jens Roos]

I have triples 27" 7680x1440 with gsync, if nvidia is your card of choice select an monitor with gsync. Otherwise you will experince tearing and non smooth gameplay unless you can reach your monitor hz.

And as mention, there is no noticble input lag. But 1440p may put some strain on your gpu, but that can always be upgraded as well

 

[Motowntom]

Just get VR, and work your way toward the best settings you can get, I can no longer race on a flat screen.
Cheers

 

[Jens Roos]

Just get VR, and work your way toward the best settings you can get, I can no longer race on a flat screen.
Cheers

for many vr in its current state is not an attractive option compared to triples, and for some even over single screen.

 

[Andy_J]

Agreed. I use my Pc for more than just Sim Racing. And I'm not wanting VR yet. I recommend a good 34" 2560x1080 screen. I only paid £299 for my LG Freesync version. And I love it.

 

[Beef36]

.

 

[Andy_J]

I also use my PC for more than just sim racing. For example my 7680*1080 monitors can only render X Plane 11 between 20-50fps at high (not Max) resolution and low AA. I have a i7-8700K and GTX-1080Ti but this hardware just can't handle handle higher resolutions right now; thankfully this is where G-Sync really shines.

I used to have triples. I prefer a single monitor these days. In Xplane 11 I get over 100 fps with max. I love it.

 

[Pouls1]

No doubt if 1080 27" is the best, at that size. Above that you need to go 1440 or pixels get too big and picture is not your best. And that is what you want for the money, isn't it - the best? Spoke with the Acer product manager today and he told me how Gsync was the most important, not the 144hz. If you had a 34xa with 60hz, overclockable to 100hz, that was one of their more proven monitors now being replaced by 34xp with a few more hz, but the importance laid in the sync. (You should get the "a", I was told....). So,try to get a 100hz out of it, Gsync, and you'll be fine. As he said, "all the gamers will protest, but in reality... they can't see it, no matter what they say... , but they will protest wildly..... haha, haha! P

 

[Jens Roos]

I'll running triples 27" 2560x1440 144hz gsync and 1080ti SLI, motherboard with 2xPCIx16
With minor step back in settings I have solid 100 fps in AC and rF2 with 15-20 AI:s
With AMS I have 180-230 fps everything on max but have it locked to 120 fps.

Agree on 100hz/fps, above that the visual difference is minor but gsync is an good feature (or freesync if you on an amd)

 

[Jacco van der Zaag]

Kinda handy to have two PCIe slots when running SLI. But you get nice fps with that

 

[Jens Roos]

Yes In benchmarks 2xPCIx16 and 2xPCIx8 which is more common, there is no advantage.
But I got an gain from 120 to 156 avg fps in AC using the same gfx settings, cpu, memory etc.

And many claims that rF2 is more demanding on the PCI bus as well, there I had fps gains too but journey there has been a bit tricky so its hard to put an number on it.

 

[guidofoc]

I bought a cheap 21:9 LG display and it's just great for simracing. I would say that if VR is not your thing (I tried it and at the moment wearing that thing is not worthwhile for me) and you don't have the space, the time or the budget to set up a triple screen rig, just go for a 21:9 display 2560x1080, 29" or 34". The other thing I did was lowering the FOV in Assetto Corsa to around 30 (default is more than 50) to have a more realistic view. It's like a new game for me now.

 

[TherealWalkman]

Agreed. I use my Pc for more than just Sim Racing. And I'm not wanting VR yet. I recommend a good 34" 2560x1080 screen. I only paid £299 for my LG Freesync version. And I love it.

Such a large monitor is a no go in my current room, since all furniture is self designed and is based on wood and glass. Rather steampunkish. Every modern piece of technology needs to be implemented or hidden. With my current HP w2207h its okay and I would go a bit larger if it helps but 35" are way over the limit