My New Year’s Tech Resolution Is to Buy the Monitors of My Dreams (and a PC Powerful Enough for Them)

My PC setup is very important to me, both as a freelance writer working from home and as someone who plays a lot of video games.

As much as I’d love to upgrade all my components and tackle the cable monster under my desk, neither of those tasks are at the top of my list when it comes to my New Year’s technology resolutions. Instead, this honor comes down to finally buying the screens of my dreams.

Since I reviewed (and shortly after purchased for myself) a laptop with a 4K OLED display, any display with lesser specs seems incredibly “meh.” Of course, if I go with a 4K OLED monitor, I’ll probably have to upgrade a few PC components as well.

If you have a similar goal for your PC setup, read on to hear my plan.

What specifications am I looking for in my dream displays?

(Image credit: Shutterstock / True Touch Lifestyle)

Currently, my PC setup includes two 27-inch Acer SB272 monitors mounted with a Huanuo dual monitor stand. Each monitor offers a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, an IPS panel, and a 100Hz refresh rate, and while they aren’t bad monitors, I’m in dire need of an upgrade.

The first decision to make is whether to choose between OLED and QLED display technology. Although QLED displays are exceptionally bright and a good alternative to OLED, I think the vivid colors and deep, rich blacks produced by OLED displays are simply unbeatable, especially for gaming.

Next, the resolution. In the debate between 4K and QHD monitors, many gamers consider QHD resolution to be the best, as you will get a slightly sharper image compared to 1080p monitors while still handling higher refresh rates on average compared to 4K monitors . However, for photo editing and gaming that doesn’t require such a high refresh rate, I want at least one of my monitors to have 4K resolution.

As for size, I’ve seen a lot of people mention that you can’t fully appreciate 4K resolution on smaller screens and recommend going with a 32-inch monitor if you want 4K. Whether this is true or not, adding a 32-inch monitor to my setup sounds pretty cool. However, adding two 32-inch monitors seems a bit excessive for my office.

For this reason, I landed on my dream display setup, featuring a 32-inch 4K OLED monitor and a 27-inch QHD OLED monitor, both featuring a minimum refresh rate of 144Hz.

What upgrades does my PC need to get the most out of my displays?

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Running a game at 4K resolution and 60Hz requires a lot of graphics power, so I should definitely upgrade to one of the best graphics cards I can get.

I currently have an AMD PowerColor 6700 XT GPU which would not be able to seamlessly handle 4K gaming. Upgrading to a beefier GPU also means I’ll need a larger case, as my existing mid-sized tower can only accommodate a GPU length of 300 millimeters.

After upgrading my GPU and case, the only thing I might want to upgrade for fear of bottleneck issues is my CPU. I currently have an AMD Ryzen 5 5600X processor and would probably prefer to upgrade to a Ryzen 7 series chip instead.

Other than that, there’s no need to touch my existing AM4 motherboard, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB of SSD storage. I also ran all the potential parts through PC Part Picker, and it doesn’t even look like I would need to upgrade my power supply.

Here are the specific improvements I plan to make in 2025

(Image credit: AMD)

With all of these desires in mind, here is exactly what I plan to budget for in the new year.

Upgrading my PC is a priority because I can’t enjoy the great visuals that new monitors have to offer until my components can handle the strain. I’m planning to swap out my PowerColor Fighter AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT GPU for a more powerful PowerColor Fighter 7800 XT GPU (or the 7800 XT Hellhound variant if the Fighter is out of stock).

For a new CPU, I’m looking at the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X to replace my Ryzen 5 5600X. As far as cases go, I’m not going to pick anything specific right now. I’ll probably just see what’s on sale when I buy my new GPU and CPU and see what the best value is to accommodate a larger GPU.

My opinion on the specific monitors I want might change by the time I have enough savings to upgrade, but the specs I want are clear. I’m looking for monitors with a minimum refresh rate of 144Hz, one being a 32-inch 4K OLED monitor and the other being a 27-inch QHD OLED monitor.

Right now, my top picks are the 32-inch Samsung Odyssey OLED G8 monitor with 4K resolution and up to 240Hz refresh rate support and the 27-inch Samsung Odyssey OLED G6 monitor with QHD and up to 360Hz refresh rate support. I know I’ll pay extra for Samsung monitors, but it’s worth it with the specs display that I am looking for.

Now I just need to start saving money for my very expensive 2025 upgrade and figure out if I want to add a monitor light bar to my wish list as well.