Hey Guys and Gals, got a quick question for you. I'm looking to build a new PC, but I want the monitor to be the LG 34UC97 or the 34UM95. I want to play any game (as of now) on max settings. I'm just not sure what its going to take to run this monitor. I'd prefer it to be as budget conscious as possible. I'm also all right with waiting for a little while, hopefully the new intel I5 processors will be out soon. This PC's use will be Gaming, also media consumption ( i.e. Youtube, movies and the like.) I would like to get a over-clockable CPU, it would be my first time in that arena, but i will cross that bridge when it comes up. What kind of advantages are there in gaming when you compare the I5-4690k, i7-4790k, and the I7-5820k? Will it need to have a GTX 980 to run it? If you guys have any advice as far as parts for the PC or different set ups that i might like, please let me know.
If you want to play games maxed at an ultra-wide 1440 resolution, you're definitely going to some serious horsepower. To put things in perspective, my GTX 760 Superclocked can barely manage Dragon Age 2 maxed at the standard 1440p without filters (i.e. multi-sample anti-aliasing, anisotropic filtering). The ultra-wide resolution has about 25% more pixels than standard 1440. Also Dragon Age 2 isn't that demanding of a game, and is fairly dated. I don't think the 780 will be able to max out every single game, but that is definitely a minimum for what you want to do with the GPU.
These are benches for a MSI Twin Frozr 780. The resolution is about 17% less than 3440x1440. Note that Bioshock Infinite doesn't have AA; if AA were enabled, framerate would likely tank well below 60FPS. Also note that at that resolution, pixel density also increases, making aliasing less apparent, thus reducing the need for anti-aliasing. You could away with not running MSAA at all, but I suppose that isn't technically "maxed settings." In DA2, I've found that 1440 downscaled to 1080 monitor looks better with MSAA off and FXAA forced via driver. You could use both types of AA, but FXAA should be sufficient for that resolution and does very little to penalize performance.
Would using a i7-5820k rather than a i5-4690k help in the gaming department? I know games haven't yet started using hyper-threading to their advantage, but would the extra cores help? How will a single GTX 980 perform here? Are computer components just not up to snuff for this resolution yet?
No, CPU won't help you there. You need a more powerful graphics card.
Perhaps a GTX 980 would be able to push the display, but you still might need some extra graphics power.
Here is a video of Crysis 3 running pretty well on a similar panel with a single GTX 780, So perhaps even a single 970 could hand the panel well.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze4VOfmjA24
Not at all. Gaming is mostly GPU bound meaning the GPU is the main factor in determining gaming performance; as long as you have any decent quad-core CPU, you shouldn't be running into CPU bottlenecks. Increasing resolution only puts more load on the GPU which essentially squeezes the GPU bottleneck; CPU has zero impact on performance in regards to resolution.
My advice is either opt for a more powerful GPU, or consider settling for high details instead of Ultra/Maxed. A Single 980 should be enough - in Bioshock Infinite, it's about 20% faster compared to the 780, however, you're still going to be running into the same issue: as soon as crank MSAA, most games will dip below 60FPS, and in the case of Crysis 3, will dip below 30FPS. Again, not needed as much with higher resolution/pixel density as aliasing becomes less noticeable, and if AA is needed, you can use FXAA with minimal performance impact.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_980/
If you want the high standard of PC gaming (i.e. ultra details and 60+ FPS), then no, no single-GPU solution is up to the task, but if you're willing to give a little in either details or frame-rate, it is quite feasible. Alternatively, you can throw in a second GPU via SLI or CrossFire, or consider the dual-GPU cards, such as the R9 295X or Titan Z.
The R9 290X 8GB from Sapphire would work with that monitor well. I am curretly running this card and it pushes 3 1080p 144h monitors like a champ in games but the 2 card will be onto for my next monitor setup.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202129&cm_re=R9_290x-_-14-202-129-_-Product
Will a single GTX 970 be able to push this resolution?
I ask this because the 970 has 85% of the performance of the 980, but for 65% of the cost.