When it comes to PC gaming, many players aspire to own a 4K-capable gaming PC. 4K is often treated as the ultimate gaming experience, saturating your eyes with pixels so that you can tell yourself that you’ve finally made it. To me, however, 4K gaming is a niche I still don’t care about. 1440p is the best resolution for gaming for a host of reasons, and I value things like a better and larger monitor much more than the jump to 4K. It also doesn’t hurt that building a 1440p gaming rig is far cheaper than a 4K one.
5 Better motherboard, storage, and power supply
A well-rounded 1440p rig is much better
Even if you can convince yourself that 4K looks way better than 1440p, the additional cost of building a decent 4K gaming PC is simply too much. And I’m not talking about a $1,200 rig with an RX 9070 XT (at MSRP) that can just about cross 60 FPS at 4K, on average. Most people who decide to build a 4K gaming PC opt for a high-end GPU costing upwards of $800 and a high-end CPU to pair it with. Factor in a premium mid-range motherboard, fast RAM and storage, and relatively quality components in the rest of the departments, and you’re easily looking at a budget of around $2,000.
If I were building a gaming PC today, I’d rather spend that premium on a better motherboard, more storage, and a slightly higher-spec PSU. Having a more robust I/O and additional M.2 ports on my motherboard would benefit me for years to come. And even a better cooler and case will last longer through multiple future builds. 4K gaming sounds great on paper, but you’ll get used to it sooner than you think. Opting for a 1440p rig can help you build a more well-rounded system that’ll benefit you in more ways than some extra pixels would.
4 Smoother gaming experience
The sweet spot of performance and visuals
A 1440p gaming PC is not only cheaper, but it also allows your GPU to pump out a higher framerate, enhancing your overall experience. A crystal-clear 4K image is worthless if you’re dissatisfied with the poor framerate, missing the smoothness of your older 1440p machine. The great thing about 1440p is that it’s a significant step up from 1080p, but isn’t a far cry from 4K, despite the numbers making it seem otherwise. You’re getting a sharp image with the benefit of a high framerate, something that’s far more difficult to achieve at 4K.
I’ve gotten used to triple-digit FPS in many of the games I play, so returning to a 60 FPS experience, even at a higher resolution, doesn’t sit right with me. I’d happily skip the resolution upgrade, opting instead for a faster graphics card that can keep up with the latest demanding titles. After all, ray tracing isn’t going anywhere, and games are consuming more VRAM than ever before. I can live with 1440p for several years to come without feeling any way about it.
3 Ultrawide immersion
What counts as a true upgrade?
There’s a reason I ordered the Alienware AW3423DWF last week (3 more weeks till it arrives) instead of upgrading to a 4K monitor. The 34″ 1440p 165Hz ultrawide display is the perfect blend of immersion, performance, and image clarity. Beyond 144Hz–165Hz, a higher refresh rate doesn’t really appeal to me, and the prices of 4K ultrawides are bonkers right now. The 1440p ultrawide panel of the Alienware is bound to be a major upgrade over my existing 27″ 1440p 144Hz monitor.
An ultrawide display covers enough of your field of view to completely immerse you in the game you’re playing. The additional clarity of 4K isn’t remotely as impressive as that. For simulation, racing, and open-world titles, curved ultrawide monitors offer a far more enjoyable experience compared to flat 16:9 displays. I truly believe that 1440p ultrawide monitors are superior to 4K displays if you’re more serious about immersion than raw numbers.
Alienware QD-OLED AW3423DWF
$550 $700 Save $150
This gaming monitor uses QD-OLED technology to reach a brightness up to 1,000 nits while having a smooth 165Hz refresh rate and ultra-fast response times of 0.1ms.
2 HDR and inky blacks of an OLED
This is what peak feels like
The Alienware monitor I mentioned? — it’s also an OLED display. I’ve finally joined the OLED club, convinced by countless owners who’ve loved this particular display over the last few years. I was convinced that my next monitor would not be an OLED, but the deal on the AW3423DWF was too good to pass up. Using a friend’s employee discount, I was able to get this one for around $630, which has historically been one of the lowest prices for this beauty.
The reason I wanted to experience what an OLED monitor feels like in gaming is the superior HDR experience, supported by the true blacks and high peak brightness. My existing IPS monitor always shows a hazy image when I’m playing a near-dark scene, even after I’ve eliminated all external light sources. It’s just the nature of the backlight of LED monitors. OLEDs, on the other hand, don’t have a backlight, using self-emitting pixels that give rise to per-pixel dimming. When my new monitor finally arrives in three weeks, I’ll know what true HDR feels like.
1 An affordable gaming rig
Performance per dollar
I mentioned how a 1440p gaming rig is cheaper than a 4K one, but it’s worth pointing out that you can also stop caring about high-end GPUs and CPUs altogether. In 2025, a $500–$550 graphics card and $180 CPU are all you need for excellent 1440p gaming. GPUs like the RX 9070 and RTX 5070 won’t be sweating at 1440p, even in demanding games, thanks to upscaling and frame generation. 1440p gaming isn’t just cheaper than 4K gaming; it’s downright affordable for the masses.
A value-for-money gaming rig is always one of my top priorities. More than 4K resolution, Gen5 storage, liquid cooling, or blazing-fast RAM, I care about true value and real immersion. If I can build a top-tier 1440p gaming PC for less than $1,300, I’d happily do so, and start saving up for an OLED or ultrawide monitor (or one that does both). Spending hundreds more to make 4K playable on my PC isn’t worth it, at least to me — there are far better features to spend on.
Nvidia RTX 5070 Founder’s Edition
- Brand
- Nvidia
- Cooling Method
- Dual-fan
- Interface
- PCIe 5.0 x16
- Memory
- 12GB GDDR7
The Nvidia RTX 5070 is a midrange graphics card that offers excellent 1440p gaming. and is around 20% faster than last-gen’s RTX 4070.
What do you value the most in a gaming PC?
If you’re building a gaming PC today, what are the things you’d spend the most money on? Will it be the fastest GPU you can buy, a Ryzen X3D CPU, a fancy AIO cooler, or a high-end OLED monitor? Different people have different priorities, but I think many of you will agree that building an immersive gaming PC ranks pretty high on everyone’s list. For me, that means an affordable machine that can easily run demanding games at 1440p with triple-digit FPS, doesn’t force me to compromise on component quality, and offers one of the best gaming displays on the market.
