Conclusion

The PC display industry is finally rolling after a decade of stagnation, and is heading in two particular directions—extremely high-resolution displays with a focus on image quality (think IPS, 30-bit color, etc.) and faster, reasonably high-resolution displays with scorching high refresh-rates and low response-times to keep up with fast-paced gaming that not only puts out hundreds of frames per second, but can also relay hundreds of "actions" per second to the server, which results in a level of smoothness never before experienced.

The ASUS ROG Swift PG278Q is the crown-jewel in most PC hardware ground stores, and is worth saving up for 120 Hz gaming. Bolstered by NVIDIA G-SYNC and a reasonably high 1440p resolution, it is an experience to be rivaled, but not bettered, by only 4K at 60 Hz.

To bring 1440p-120 Hz to life, we put together a balanced shopping list that doesn't require the very best hardware components out there, as upper-mid range stuff and one of the fastest single-GPU graphics cards out of the box, the ZOTAC GTX 980 Ti AMP! Extreme, will do.

At just over $2,500, this build should easily rival pre-built desktops by big companies while saving you close to a grand.

Between 4K-60 Hz and 1440p-120 Hz, we would recommend this build. The resolution won't be high, nor will the image quality, but the "warp-drive" of information and control it gives gamers more than makes up for it.

Below is the shopping list for your reference.

Could you have built a better machine for around this price? Tell us in the comments!

Disclaimer: Prices are sourced from Newegg.com, don't include taxes or shipping, and are for hardware only. TechPowerUp encourages the use of genuine software.