Filthy upgrades & OLED screens: 21:9 vs 32:9 vs a shiny 4k 16:9

[Caber10]

So I'm doing my once-every 10 yrs give me the shiny things upgrade. 4090 (and PSU), plus a tasty screen.

Currently on a simple LG IPS 4k 60Hz, with 2nd screen an IPS 1440p also 60Hz. My LG replaced a ROG 144Hz 1440p (I still have that around). I thought screen space would be great, and it is for productivity, but the screen is kinda meh for gaming.

I want quality and a stonking visual experience more than anything else, so I'm keen on OLED/QD-OLED. I've been looking at Samsung G8 21:9, Samsung G9 32:9 and also asking myself if a really nice 4k would be better. I just don't know if I'd feel vertically challenged

I play no competitive fps. My games are a mix of things like Starfield/RDR/Horizon ZD/Cyberpunk, etc and plain strategy (which I guess is irrelevant other than knowing how hard it is to support ultrawide).

32:9 would let me get rid of both current monitors, this sounds great. 21:9 I'd probably keep my 1440p in portrait for Discord, etc.

What would you do?

Thanks!

 

[Caber10]

Personally I love 21:9 gaming and I think 32:9 is a bit silly. But I also like the best of both worlds in having a large 16:9 screen for non gaming stuff. So I went for a 48" 16:9 4k OLED monitor, not TV (Gigabyte FO48U) and then run custom 21:9 resolutions on it for gaming and use full 16:9 screen for everything else.

I'd not thought of that at all - thanks. Do you game at a desk or further away from the screen? 48" sounds gigantic if it's at a desk! I measured out a 42" LG C2 yesterday, and it almost fills my desk width (not considering buying one; I just wanted to know how big it was). 42" is workable though for me; I'll have a look at monitors for some ideas. This would make the 21:9 image quite a bit smaller than your 48", though.

[maths break]

Oh, still looks like even at 3440x1440 it'd be 35.5" diag, which sounds pretty good.

So it'd come down to a dedicated curved screen vs the flexibility of switching to 16:9 whenever.

Yeah, I'm definitely going OLED HDR; I'll have a think about your idea today - I really appreciate it.

 

[Caber10]

That's literally perfect timing - I just put my 4k into 21:9 to experiment and was about to go play with HDR

 

[Caber10]

I went for the dwf - for a while I didn't really see the point in ultra wide, it just felt like you were losing the vertical space. In really it actually does feel like getting more space on the sides, and it's great for productivity

I liked @wunkley's suggestion earlier about trying a widescreen resolution on a large 16:9 screen, been thinking about that today. I played a bit of BG3 last night in 3840x1620, and it worked immediately: same vertical detail and a lot of extra horizontal detail, so as long as the screen's a decent size, it sounds pretty nice and leaves you options.

This was a useful read, and I'm looking at what might be coming, but I haven't seen any 2nd-gen QD-OLED 42" screens yet - I think this is the best size for me.

If I was to buy now, I'm leaning towards the ROG PG42UQ.