I have been using Linux Mint for about four months and currently run Cinnamon alongside an i3 session. My setup has two 60 Hz monitors: one at 1920×1080 and another at 1280×1024. I am considering replacing them with two 1440p monitors running at 120–144 Hz.
My hardware is an RTX 4060 8 GB, Ryzen 5 5600X, and 16 GB of RAM. I would like to use VRR for gaming, possibly while keeping a browser or video on the second monitor. Some games may not maintain 144 FPS, so I am also wondering how variable frame rates and fullscreen gaming behave with a second display active.
Would two high-refresh 1440p monitors work reliably under X11, including both displays at 144 Hz and VRR in games? Are mixed refresh rates or fullscreen applications likely to cause problems? Would Wayland make VRR, high-DPI or fractional scaling, and multi-monitor support easier? Mint's Wayland support appears limited, so I might need to change distributions.
I currently use i3 and picom, including window and workspace animations. I am considering Sway as a Wayland replacement. What functionality would I lose by moving from X11 to Wayland, and can Sway reproduce those animations?
4 Answers
Sway is the natural Wayland alternative if you already know i3: its configuration and workflow are very similar. You may need replacements for tools that rely on X11, such as utilities that move or inspect arbitrary windows, inject global input, or capture the whole desktop in older ways. Most normal applications work either natively on Wayland or through XWayland, but a few programs and automation tools can still have limitations. Screen sharing and recording also depend on PipeWire and portal support rather than the old X11 model.
Changing distributions solely for two high-refresh monitors is not automatically necessary. Check the actual kernel, Mesa or NVIDIA driver, compositor, and desktop versions you would be using rather than judging only by the distribution name. Fedora or an up-to-date Arch-based setup may expose newer Wayland features sooner, while Mint can be a more conservative and predictable X11 environment. If stability matters most, keep the current system and test a Wayland desktop from a live USB or separate installation before committing.
X11 should handle two 1440p displays at the same refresh rate without the resolution itself being a problem. It tends to become more awkward when monitors use different refresh rates or need different scaling factors. VRR also depends on the graphics driver, compositor, and game, so matching refresh rates does not guarantee that every VRR setup will behave perfectly. If both displays are 144 Hz, your proposed arrangement is generally much less troublesome than mixing, for example, 60 Hz and 144 Hz.
That helps. In a setup where both monitors are 144 Hz, would VRR normally still work while a game is running on one screen and a browser or video is active on the other?
There is no strong reason you must switch immediately. X11 is still usable for this hardware, and it may be the lower-risk choice on a distribution whose Wayland session is not mature yet. On Wayland, VRR and mixed-monitor handling are improving and can work well, but the exact experience depends heavily on the compositor, driver version, desktop environment, and whether the game runs natively or through XWayland. A newer distribution with a well-supported compositor may provide a better experience than enabling an experimental session on an older installation.
The main catch is that standard Sway is intentionally minimal and does not provide the same compositor animation features as picom. You would need a Sway-compatible fork or additional tools for animated window and workspace transitions, and feature compatibility may vary.