Monitor and gfx card options - UW or 16:9, G-sync or Freesync?

[strumpusplunket]

I want a new monitor, ideally before Christmas, but am a bit stuck with the available choices, none of which seems straightforwardly ideal.

I use my PC for work (mostly), gaming (well, not that much this year, but I want to get back to it at some point, including the AAA titles I've missed this year) and watching films, and I want it to be able to handle all three as well as possible.

I was thinking an ultra-wide would be great for work as I could have lots of screen real estate, and I'd get a more immersive gaming and movie experience to boot.

BUT - from what I can see, all of the ultra-wides currently available have terrible problems with quality control, BLB, IPS glow with IPS panels, VA smearing with VA ones, etc. Most of the photos and videos I've seen posted on here and other forums/review sites look horrendous, and I wouldn't want to put up with that level of glow or bleed on dark backgrounds or that degree of smearing in games.

Also, whilst I currently have a 980Ti, I notice there is such disparity between pricing for G-sync and Freesync versions of the same make that it might be more cost-efficient to sell it and buy a Vega 64 and a Freesync monitor rather than a G-sync one. I would be open to considering that as well

So, my questions are:

Is there a decent 34" 3440x1440 monitor with good gaming chops and good overall image quality at the moment?
Are there just better quality displays for gaming in the 27" 2560x1440 bracket? (I could get a cheaper secondary monitor for extra space for work if this is the case)
Will I need an uber-expensive graphics card as well for 3440x1440 gaming?
If I have a budget of around £1000, what would give me the best experience based on my usage?

I'd like the best value I can get, but happy to go to around £1000 if there's a stand-out option.

Have I been over-influenced by the more vocal consumers displeased with their purchases? Or is this just a bad time to be buying?

 

[Twyst]

I'm coming from a GTX770 + ROG Swift 27" TN with GSync.
However, the constant flickering with GSync, generally poor image quality and overly inflated prices prompted me to jump ship to a Vega64 LC last year.
Simply that change has vastly improved matters, no flicker and better IQ (but not great due to the TN panel).

I'm hopefully snagging the recently released LG 34GK950F which according to the LG rep should launch at £950.
We have one reviewer of the screen reporting really bad IPS glow, but all other reports say it's fine or "normal" for the technology type.
You shouldn't need an uber expensive card - my Vega64 should be fine for a quite a few years at this res. But equally I would say that's the minimum to aim for at this resolution if you want any longetivity from the card.

As for being cost efficient, you should save at least £200 by going FreeSync if you buy an equivalently priced AMD card to the nearest nVidia card which provides similar FPS.
There was a recent youtuber who did a fps comparison of Vega64 vs RTX2070 where the Vega64 was slightly slower on all titles bar one at the same price bracket.
In this situation if each card has a monitor with the correct sync tech I doubt you could see any FPS difference to the naked eye. But of course some people just like higher numbers.

 

[strumpusplunket]

I'm coming from a GTX770 + ROG Swift 27" TN with GSync.
However, the constant flickering with GSync, generally poor image quality and overly inflated prices prompted me to jump ship to a Vega64 LC last year.
Simply that change has vastly improved matters, no flicker and better IQ (but not great due to the TN panel).

I'm hopefully snagging the recently released LG 34GK950F which according to the LG rep should launch at £950.
We have one reviewer of the screen reporting really bad IPS glow, but all other reports say it's fine or "normal" for the technology type.
You shouldn't need an uber expensive card - my Vega64 should be fine for a quite a few years at this res. But equally I would say that's the minimum to aim for at this resolution if you want any longetivity from the card.

As for being cost efficient, you should save at least £200 by going FreeSync if you buy an equivalently priced AMD card to the nearest nVidia card which provides similar FPS.
There was a recent youtuber who did a fps comparison of Vega64 vs RTX2070 where the Vega64 was slightly slower on all titles bar one at the same price bracket.
In this situation if each card has a monitor with the correct sync tech I doubt you could see any FPS difference to the naked eye. But of course some people just like higher numbers.

Oh - I have a G-sync monitor at the moment (24" 1080p) and I've never noticed any flickering with G-sync active. Is this a problem linked to particular panels?

You're saying you saw general IQ improvements with AMD compared to nVidia? I didn't expect that.

Things are looking promising for AMD's 7nm GPUs I guess, and they are generally more reasonably priced, so that's something to bear in mind.

BUT - doing more research (I've been poring over sooo many monitor reviews this past couple of weeks!), the displays I'm most liking the look of are the Acer Predator Z35P and the AOC AG352UCG6 Black Edition. Both a VA panels with G-sync and it sounds from reviews like they strike a good balance between contrast, colour, responsiveness and smoothness. And the AOC can be had for £725ish, which is a nice bit cheaper than a lot of the UW screens I've seen. I can't find equivalents of these in Freesync, though, apart from the BenQ EX3501R or ROG Strix XG35VQ, both of which are similar in price and limited to 100Hz.

There is also the Alienware AW3418DW, which seemed like the best IPS UW currently out, or I could wait for the LG34GK950G/F - but both of these are a lot more expensive and it seems like everyone has IPS glow and some BLB with these, which puts me off paying the premium.

Still feeling difficult to know what to do...

 

[Slam]

The monitor scene is a tough one to navigate
Any 144hz 1440p IPS Freesync 2 monitors coming soon?

 

[strumpusplunket]

Well, there's the LG 34GK950F of course. But with that model and the G-sync version being available so late and in such small numbers, it looks like my entry to the UW club will be through one of:

AOC AG352UCG6 Black Edition
or
Alienware AW3418DW

I've been leaning towards the AOC. From what I've been able to gather it has better contrast than the IPS displays (though not great for a VA), decent colours, no/little glow, and good pixel response. £725 is nicely within my budget. There does look to be some minor ghosting and slower pixel response in dark shades, though.

The Alienware has mostly good reviews, but I have noted it's poorer contrast, less dark blacks, and IPS glow. I've also seen reports of image retention problems and issues with the 120Hz overclock. For £1000 it seems like too many faults.

I've not seen an IPS UW screen that looks like it has tolerable levels of glow/BLB to me, really. I just hope the VA panel will be smooth enough in games as I've been used to a TN since I last had a CRT. TBH, watching videos of gaming on both IPS and VA panels, even good ones, looks a bit smeary to my eyes, but then a TN panel in 34" UW format would be horrible with the colour shift, so I guess you pays yer money, takes yer choice...