34" - choice between G-Sync + Curved or 1440

Luggs · 8 Mar 2018 at 16:42

OK, the time has finally come to stop posting dumb questions on these forums, grow a pair and buy a monitor! (it's only taken 18 months)

So after thinking ultra-wide was sadly out of my price range, I saw these two deals today:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x AOC U3477PQU 34" 3440x1440 IPS WideScreen Super-Wide LED Monitor= £469.99
1 x LG 34UC89G 34" 2560x1080 IPS G-Sync 166Hz Gaming Widescreen Curved LED Monitor= £499.99

Total: £984.68 (includes shipping: £14.70)

So both down from £600 to a price I can stomach. Of course a compromise must be made (never get everything you want). I run a GTX 1080 and wondered whether G-Sync on the LG would be a better investment or if 1440 would be better bang for my buck? I do have a pref to curved at this size and also pref the cosmetics of the LG, but they are minor I guess to the other factors. Monitor purely for gaming.

Any feedback from owners? Probably going to have to last me for 6-8 years, so which is the better option?
Thanks in advance!

Stu · 8 Mar 2018 at 18:22

Tough question...

The AOC is 60 Hz and appears to have major input lag according to Trusted Reviews, and it is OOS at OcUK.

The LG has GSync and a high refresh rate, which is ideal for gaming, but the resolution isn't great at 34".

Neither is perfect, but I think the LG is probably better if gaming is your priority.

RichL · 8 Mar 2018 at 23:27

Neither, you want to get 100Hz+ for gaming really and at least 1440 vertical res at over 27". I'd get a 16:9 high refresh screen if I were you.

Luggs · 9 Mar 2018 at 07:46

Stu said:
Tough question...

The AOC is 60 Hz and appears to have major input lag according to Trusted Reviews, and it is OOS at OcUK.

The LG has GSync and a high refresh rate, which is ideal for gaming, but the resolution isn't great at 34".

Neither is perfect, but I think the LG is probably better if gaming is your priority.

Thanks for the feedback Stu, I hadn't seen that review on the AOC. Yeah, whilst higher PPI of 1440 is very desirable, I think G-Sync may give me a little more longevity in 2-3 years time when my 1080 may be struggling with future game requirements. Thanks for your thoughts!

Luggs · 9 Mar 2018 at 07:52

RichL said:
Neither, you want to get 100Hz+ for gaming really and at least 1440 vertical res at over 27". I'd get a 16:9 high refresh screen if I were you.

Well in an ideal world, I would get 1440, G-Sync and 100Hz in the one monitor, but then your talking nearly 4 digit price tag at ultra-wide!! Even at 27" 16:9 resolution, the cheapest monitor I can see that ticks all those boxes in the AOC AG271QG @ £650 unless I am missing something?

bimbleuk · 9 Mar 2018 at 09:21

Luggs said:
Well in an ideal world, I would get 1440, G-Sync and 100Hz in the one monitor, but then your talking nearly 4 digit price tag at ultra-wide!! Even at 27" 16:9 resolution, the cheapest monitor I can see that ticks all those boxes in the AOC AG271QG @ £650 unless I am missing something?

Excluding budget that is a good all round spec. Refresh/fps is more personal as I have a 100Hz panel but limit my games to 75fps usually as even with a 1080Ti the games I'm playing rarely average above 60-80 fps anyway so why waste power and heat on peaks. 75 fps is smooth enough for me. 60 fps is noticeably less smooth in fast pans or twitch gaming especially if the monitor refresh is also 60Hz max. 100Hz also has benefits on the Windows desktop for panning scrolling etc.

If it's purely for gaming the 2560x1080 UW is again a good choice as I had a similar 2nd monitor dedicated to race sims and that was a good choice for the RX480 connected to it. The desktop experience though not horrible was lacking in vertical pixels especially switching between the X34 3440x1440 and back. For casual browsing it was OK.

DomBruv · 9 Mar 2018 at 10:43

Just buy a X34A if you want that.

I picked one up for £400 second hand and its great. Sure if your spending 18 months on this thought you could have spent that time on ebay or gumtree looking for good deals.

Glanza · 9 Mar 2018 at 10:57

Save your money and wait, if your going 34" you want gsync and 100hz @ 3440x1440 anything under that your better off sticking with a 27" 1440p monitor.

Jasonst888 · 10 Mar 2018 at 02:44

Agree with most of the comments above. The 34" aoc is a lovely Monitor, good quality screen and stand but it is only 60hz and the extra bumpy to 100hz and beyond is worth it for gaming. That being said if you have never had it I suppose you wouldn't miss it and a 34" monitor is a lovely thing to play games on and watch movies....hell it is good for standard work as well!!

RichL · 10 Mar 2018 at 16:54

G sync is a nice to have, but high refresh rate and resolution are king imo.

Pocah · 12 Mar 2018 at 08:24

The problem is here that everyone is going to have a different opinion. I think it's fair to say that the AOC is the general purpose monitor and the LG is the pure gaming monitor. It all comes down to your priority. If you spend most of your time NOT gaming, then the AOC. If you spend most of your time gaming, then the LG. It's not that clear cut, though, because it also depends on the type of games you play. Relatively slow paced games that concentrate on great scenery will most likely benefit from a high resolution. Fast paced games that concentrate on the action benefit more from a high refresh rate. I would also not recommend curved for stuff other than games. Also, while your 1080 will drive either display, the AOC is also a 3.5K monitor as opposed to the 2.5K LG so I think there will be a noticeable difference under extreme loading. The LG will be just that bit more snappy, which is exactly what you want for fast paced games.

oldbanana · 12 Mar 2018 at 21:53

would you jóin the rest of us in 2018 ? Your story is from 2003

Davanius · 13 Mar 2018 at 07:33

Pocah said:
The problem is here that everyone is going to have a different opinion. I think it's fair to say that the AOC is the general purpose monitor and the LG is the pure gaming monitor. It all comes down to your priority. If you spend most of your time NOT gaming, then the AOC. If you spend most of your time gaming, then the LG. It's not that clear cut, though, because it also depends on the type of games you play. Relatively slow paced games that concentrate on great scenery will most likely benefit from a high resolution. Fast paced games that concentrate on the action benefit more from a high refresh rate. I would also not recommend curved for stuff other than games. Also, while your 1080 will drive either display, the AOC is also a 3.5K monitor as opposed to the 2.5K LG so I think there will be a noticeable difference under extreme loading. The LG will be just that bit more snappy, which is exactly what you want for fast paced games.

I agree with this totally. I had the Freesync version of the LG and for gaming it was awesome.

The resolution was not a problem for me while gaming and the immersion factor was impressive.

Contrast was high and colours were great. I can't imagine this Gsync version to be that much different if not better.

Luggs · 13 Mar 2018 at 11:51

Thanks for all the replies, spent all my free time (except watching England lose at rugby again - grrrr) watching youtube reviews on these monitors. Still none the wiser

Yes, I guess ideally I want 1440p at 100-120hz and I think my pref would also be for a VA screen. Partially due to IPS lottery but mainly because if Star Citizen is ever released, I probably won't be playing any other games for 4-5 years! I currently play a mix of games from Warframe and Diablo 3 to World of Warships and Elite. Defo not a competitive FPS gamer...

@DomBruv just saw Bailey put a second hand 2+ yr old (no warranty) X34A up on mm for £700. Guessing you got a cracking deal? That's too rich for me, ideally don't want to spend more than £500

@Pocah Hardware Canuks review basically said exactly the same thing. I'm worried that my 1080, whilst an ok gpu now, may struggle to drive that many pixels in years to come? Whereas 1080p + G-Sync could make for a longer-term investment? I'm currently on a 24" Samsung Syncmaster that isn't even full 1080! (1050?) so anything is an upgrade for me

My only other thought is that with the large range of new LG monitors being released soon, whether something like the LG 34UM88-C 34" - 1440p / 75hz (tho FreeSync not G-Sync) may drop a £100 or so and bring it into my budget... But then I could miss out on these current deals.

@Davanius thanks for feedback, all reviews on LG were very positive apart from 1080 res being questioned and it's rather high initial price tag of circa £1k!!

Can't believe monitors are such a difficult decision to make, think I may just pull the trigger on the LG to stop myself going crazy. I dreamt about monitors last night for gods sake!

Luggs · 14 Mar 2018 at 09:27

Final option to throw in the mix before I buy:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Samsung C27HG70 27" 2560x1440 VA FREESYNC 144Hz Gaming Quantum DOT HDR Widescreen Curved Monitor= £548.99

Total: £560.69 (includes shipping: £11.70)

I'll stretch by £50 if it gets me a better monitor. I lose G-Sync in favour of FreeSync which is annoying with my nVidia card and lose immersion of ultrawide.

On the upside, I get VA panel (my personal pref for better blacks in elite / star citizen), curved screen, 1440p res, 144Hz

It's the LG or this...

Stu · 14 Mar 2018 at 11:49

This Samsung is significantly better than the other 2 monitors you have been considering, IMHO. Gibbo reports that the inherent performance of the monitor negates the need for variable refresh tech, but I don't have personal experience of these monitors. Lots of discussion here.

Luggs · 14 Mar 2018 at 15:44

Stu said:
This Samsung is significantly better than the other 2 monitors you have been considering, IMHO. Gibbo reports that the inherent performance of the monitor negates the need for variable refresh tech, but I don't have personal experience of these monitors. Lots of discussion here.

Thanks Stu, ordered at last

Stu · 14 Mar 2018 at 17:27

I think dropping Gsync may have been a good move to get a monitor with better base specs... add Gsync to that Samsung and you would be looking at £750 or more.

mrbazmondo · 15 Mar 2018 at 14:21

I wish I hadn't seen this thread - it lead me to seeing https://www.overclockers.co.uk/sams...quantum-dot-widescreen-monitor-mo-232-sa.html which would burn a big hole in my wallet.

Luggs · 16 Mar 2018 at 11:18

Stu said:
I think dropping Gsync may have been a good move to get a monitor with better base specs... add Gsync to that Samsung and you would be looking at £750 or more.

Indeed mate, even more so for an ultrawide screen. I guess I have all my preferences covered with the Samsung minus G-Sync, so probably the best compromise and only went £150 over budget...

mrbazmondo said:
I wish I hadn't seen this thread - it lead me to seeing https://www.overclockers.co.uk/sams...quantum-dot-widescreen-monitor-mo-232-sa.html which would burn a big hole in my wallet.

Yup £800 and still no G-Sync! It is a lovely panel tho, think IvanDobskey will pop up now you posted that link, he loves his!!