Advice please on my upgrade plan

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This is my first post on this Forum. You all seem very knowledgeable and helpful, so can I ask for your advice please?

I’m currently running a 4770k oc'd to 4.5 Ghz, Z87 Sabretooth mobo and EVGA GTX 780SC. When I built this a couple of years ago it was reasonably cutting edge… I kept the 24” Iiyama monitor I bought in 2009 from the previous build.

I mostly fly flight simulators, especially MS Flight Simulator X and BMS 4.33 (Falcon 4) at max settings, with the odd bout of Arma 2. But I’m open to becoming a bit more of a “gamer” and try some modern games with fabulous eye-candy!

I’ve just donated the Iiyama and the old E8400 rig to my wife so she can write her best-selling novel on it, so I’m without a monitor.

So my plan was to upgrade either to a 27” 2560x1440 with G-Sync, or maybe a 34” 21:9 3440x 1440 monitor, and drive it from the GTX780. If that proved inadequate, upgrade it to some flavour of EVGA GTX 1080.

However I’m dismayed at the legions of you guys (and not just on this Forum) who have been obliged to make one or more RMAs for “back-light bleed”, “bad pixels” etc. I’ve never seen so much dissatisfaction with any other class of PC component.

So while I appreciate the dangers of falling into the “just wait for the next big thing” syndrome, I wonder if I wouldn’t be better at this moment just buying a cheap (@£150) and cheerful 27” 1920x1080 TN monitor (eg AOC's E2770SH) from OCUK and waiting for say 12 months.

By this time hopefully (a) there’ll be more choice of 21:9 G-Sync monitors; (b) and cheaper (though price isn’t a primary consideration); and (c) quality assured. At the same time I could upgrade to a GTX 1080.

Is this dumb, or sensible? What would you advise me to do?

Many thanks

Alan
 
How deep are your pockets? There's a 4k @ 120 Hz GSync monitor in the offing. You'll need a 1080 minimum to drive it, and you should also wait for Nvidia's refresh of Pascal. Apparently it'll be a snip at £2000...

But it depends on how you calculate the cost: my Samsung 4K monitor cost me £500 33 months ago. Sound expensive? That's only £15 a month. Say that monitor does cost £2K and you plan on keeping it 5 years: that's £33 a month. If I keep my Samsung 4K monitor another 2 years it will have cost me less than a tenner a month.
 
This is my first post on this Forum. You all seem very knowledgeable and helpful, so can I ask for your advice please?

I’m currently running a 4770k oc'd to 4.5 Ghz, Z87 Sabretooth mobo and EVGA GTX 780SC. When I built this a couple of years ago it was reasonably cutting edge… I kept the 24” Iiyama monitor I bought in 2009 from the previous build.

I mostly fly flight simulators, especially MS Flight Simulator X and BMS 4.33 (Falcon 4) at max settings, with the odd bout of Arma 2. But I’m open to becoming a bit more of a “gamer” and try some modern games with fabulous eye-candy!

I’ve just donated the Iiyama and the old E8400 rig to my wife so she can write her best-selling novel on it, so I’m without a monitor.

So my plan was to upgrade either to a 27” 2560x1440 with G-Sync, or maybe a 34” 21:9 3440x 1440 monitor, and drive it from the GTX780. If that proved inadequate, upgrade it to some flavour of EVGA GTX 1080.

However I’m dismayed at the legions of you guys (and not just on this Forum) who have been obliged to make one or more RMAs for “back-light bleed”, “bad pixels” etc. I’ve never seen so much dissatisfaction with any other class of PC component.

So while I appreciate the dangers of falling into the “just wait for the next big thing” syndrome, I wonder if I wouldn’t be better at this moment just buying a cheap (@£150) and cheerful 27” 1920x1080 TN monitor (eg AOC's E2770SH) from OCUK and waiting for say 12 months.

By this time hopefully (a) there’ll be more choice of 21:9 G-Sync monitors; (b) and cheaper (though price isn’t a primary consideration); and (c) quality assured. At the same time I could upgrade to a GTX 1080.

Is this dumb, or sensible? What would you advise me to do?

Many thanks

Alan

Im in the same position as you.

-higher hz panels
-HDR
-OLED

the problem is the monitor game is so slow behind tech and so god damn expensive when things are introduced that waiting can be painful.

For example the X34 IPS has not been surpassed yet and nothing on the horizon looks like properly surpassing it (x34p increased curve, the VA 35 inch variations native 100hz) both i'd say are just good alternatives with the curve vs curve debate and the va vs ips debate.

I think real reason to wait is just to see what is happening with vega. If vegas provides some good quality powerfulish cards at a very good price point, then you can save yourself a tonne of cash with a freesync monitor + AMD card which may age better.

If youre in the NVIDIA camp and convinced to stay, I'd grab a 1070 and a 21:9 monitor if you play old games or a 1440p/1080p if you player newer games and wait what the next NVIDIA refresh offers. We're not too far away from fluid 21:9 or 4k so...
 
Thanks guys for your replies, much appreciated.

Quartz, you put "cost" into perspective, thanks! See below.

Aoaaron, your thoughts on X34 IPS were very helpful. I had a really useful webnote exchange with Benjamin at OCUK, on the basis that if I called in to the shop - I'm quite often in the Stoke area - not only could I look at the various options with them, but they'd unbox an example of whatever I chose and I could check it out on the spot. That is consistent with my experience of their excellent customer service. That should deal with any "dead pixel/back-light blees" anxieties. On that basis I'm inclined to go for the X34A Predator. The price seems a bit eye-watering and I suppose I could wait for them to come down but (a) maybe they won't, or not significantly? and (b) currently I haven't got a monitor and withdrawal symptoms are showing already... and (c) what the hell.

I've been an NVidia chap for a long while, after one bad experience with a factory oc'd AMD card which blew up a month out of guarantee. But I will keep an open mind especially when the Vega cards appear and are bedded in. In the meantime I'm inclined to "invest" in an EVGA GTX 1080 SC to replace my 780.

Does that make sense?

Alan

PS so if you were to recommend one "modern game" which would show off the visual awesomeness of an X34A and GTX1080, what should I get?
 
My main issue with the X34A is price.

for 1k, you can now get via a 55 inch LG OLED TV w/HDR.


I"m asking myself the question, do I want to spend 1k on a 21:9 monitor which is NOT perfect, but probably the best we're going to get for a long while, or use that money to invest in a 65'' OLED HDR enabled behemoth of a TV.
 
Heh, my thinking is the same. Screw paying 1k for a PC monitor when I could get the LG B6 instead, because nothing comes close. And I know for a fact that none of the ultrawides at the moment are any kind of mindblowing. They're good, but meh. That's my next upgrade for sure, I'm just waiting for them to drop closer to £1k.
 
Heh, my thinking is the same. Screw paying 1k for a PC monitor when I could get the LG B6 instead, because nothing comes close. And I know for a fact that none of the ultrawides at the moment are any kind of mindblowing. They're good, but meh. That's my next upgrade for sure, I'm just waiting for them to drop closer to £1k.


Exactly, I saw a groupon deal for a 999 55' B6 day.

I'm personally eyeing up the 65'' B7. I wouldn't mind stretching the price I'd pay given I think a 65'' OLED DR enabled dolby vision with good audio screen is probably not going to be outdated or topped for at least 3-5 years now.


However I see a 21:9 monitor being comfortably outdated in a few years.


4k TVs I believe can do custom resolution 21:9 too.




I do love the mouse & KB tho.. I just wish 21:9 monitors were more affordable. When it comes to upgrade time for my iMac, I will think carefully whether I opt for one or invest in my rig instead.
 
Yup don't get bent over by these monitor manufacturers/etailers, no current LCD monitor is worth more than £500, let alone £1000 lel... They are just milking the monitor market with outdated panel tech.
 
Aoaaron, thanks for those Dark Souls 3/Dishonoured 2 suggestions! I looked at some Youtube footage and even at that resolution etc. they were just mind-blowing. I really had no idea what was possible. When I make my mind up about a new monitor/GPU I'm going to widen my horizons beyond flying Cessna 172s and F16s..... I'm watching the ongoing discussion you're having on monitors v tvs with much interest. Sounds like we're just on the edge of a new and better technology, but maybe just not there yet. Which makes doing something right now a bit tricky. I either do £150 27" cheapie and chuck it away in a year, or X34A and chuck it in 3, do you think?

BTW I've had a 55" Samsung telly for 4 years, awesome picture, no dead pixels, no backlight bleed.....

Much thanks to all contributors

Alan
 
I bought now rather than waiting because my old monitor died but even without that happening I probably would have. Mainly because I'm not holding my breath on HDR and OLED happening any time soon - both have been in the pipeline for years. I don't want to wait another year or two, and I also don't think that current monitors will suddenly lose a lot of value in that time either. It was still a decent upgrade for me regardless: more pixels, higher refresh rate, and FreeSync.

It is rather annoying that monitor tech is outstripping GPU tech though, even though GPUs are still getting decently faster every generation (unlike CPUs).
 
I'm more of a TV gamer than a monitor gamer, hence why I'm not too bothered to just wait.

Its not that monitor technology is even that far behind. HDR isn't the be-all and end-all given not many games support it, OLED is a game changer but one which isn't in any mainstream monitors so I'm not too bothered by that

The issue is the ridiculous PRICES.




If you PC game via monitor consistently and know you'll rack up the hours, I'd still get a 21:9 screen. They're beautiful and I'm honestly jealous of them.

However if you aren't into gaming everyday and you do TV game, I'd consider an OLED TV and a cheap monitor for when you want KB+M. In truth, if I don't go ultrawide I really want a monitor for old school games *Dues ex etc.* where controller support is crappy.

21:9 offers something incredible though which I haven't seen anyone doing on OLED TVs. I'd love to see a video of a 21:9 custom resolution on a 65'' OLED TV.
 
21:9 is too new to bother with, at least for me. Most of the games I play don't have proper support and never will. It'd basically have to get to the point where 21:9 is nearly the de facto PC gaming aspect ratio for games to consistently give you more view area compared to 16:9. Basically I think I'd be waiting longer to go 21:9 (for gaming) than HDR.
 
21:9 is too new to bother with, at least for me. Most of the games I play don't have proper support and never will. It'd basically have to get to the point where 21:9 is nearly the de facto PC gaming aspect ratio for games to consistently give you more view area compared to 16:9. Basically I think I'd be waiting longer to go 21:9 (for gaming) than HDR.

What games?

I have played a ton, mainly AAA titles and if they haven't had official support... a quick google and 5 minutes doing a fix (if there is a profile in flawless widescreen, it won't even take 2 minutes) and it is working.

I don't follow many of the lesser known games so the only 2 big ones that I know of which have no proper 21.9 support are overwatch and resident evil 7 (although some seem to be able to get this working fine via HEX editor)

Support was very sketchy in 2014 when I got mine but the last 1-2 years have been great in my experience.

No doubt HDR uptake will be far quicker given that consoles can also benefit from it.
 
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What games?

I have played a ton, mainly AAA titles and if they haven't had official support... a quick google and 5 minutes doing a fix (if there is a profile in flawless widescreen, it won't even take 2 minutes) and it is working.

I don't follow many of the lesser known games so the only 2 big ones that I know of which have no proper 21.9 support are overwatch and resident evil 7 (although some seem to be able to get this working fine via HEX editor)

Support was very sketchy in 2014 when I got mine but the last 1-2 years have been great in my experience.

No doubt HDR uptake will be far quicker given that consoles can also benefit from it.
Yep, for the last year or so I've spent most of my time playing Blizzard games. They don't like 21:9 (right now at least).
 
I thought they added 21.9 support for the likes of hearthstone and heroes of the storm?

But yeah, there isn't much you can do when companies like them refuse to support 21.9 because:

- unfair advantage
- goes against their art direction
 
I do feel their pain though. For a long while many aspect ratios existed for gaming and it was a bit of a nightmare (4:3, 5:4, 15:9, 16:9, and 16:10 all had decent market share). This decade the industry finally settled on 16:9 as the de facto standard (largely due to HDTV standards) and it's being all changed up again, bringing back the compromises from the past.
 
Just to bring this thread up to date, I finally came off the fence and bought an Acer X34A Predator superwide monitor from OCUK. I just have some woodwork to do to adapt my "cockpit" to accommodate this fearsome amount of monitor, and then I'm awaiting the (hopefully soon) arrival of the EVGA GTX 1080 Ti to make it go properly. My current EVGA GTX 780 SC probably isn't worthy to be connected to such a beast of a monitor. I'll report on the results when it's all done. I so appreciate the input from everyone who responded to this thread, thank you. And a shout for excellent advice and customer service from the guys at OCUK too!

Alan
 
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