Question in regards to 21:9 and how demanding it is

aoaaron · 7 Jun 2016 at 22:32

I'm planning to get a GTX 1080.

My motherboard is a Z87k. It only allows one graphics card.

If I bought a 21:9 (say the acer x34), would I need to contemplate SLI at some point due to the added demands of 21:9? A monitor to me is a pretty longterm investment 3-5 years at a minimum, so if I do convert to 21:9, I'm basically saying I need to power this baby. How demanding is a 21:9 game @ 100hz at the moment? If a 21:9 monitor came out which did 144hz, would would u need to power it? (aka is it 4k level of demanding/more?)

i.e. Would I need to basically build a whole new rig?

wellibob · 7 Jun 2016 at 22:33

A GTX 1080 will run a 21.9 1440p just lovely. A 1070 will do so also BTW.

aoaaron · 8 Jun 2016 at 00:11

Thank you.

How relevant is hz? Could someone explain this? I've asked a friend and he said he'd recommend a 16:10 w/144hz over a 21:9 because of the native panel, the extra responsiveness etc.

However how relevant is 144hz when both monitors have gsync and when you're playing games on max settings which won't go above 80-90fps?

Legend · 8 Jun 2016 at 00:37

It's somewhat subjective. 144Hz is of course faster, therefore I suppose you could say 'better', but how you define 'better' exactly I don't know. Most (but not all) people don't see any real tangible difference between 100Hz and 144Hz, but I'm sure plenty will chime in now saying they do. In desktop, I can see it when I move the cursor, but not as big a difference as I see between 60Hz and 100hz. In games however, perhaps rather obviously, when you're only hitting up to and below 100FPS in games, you certainly won't notice.

MissChief · 8 Jun 2016 at 01:25

Although I run a 21:9 it's a 2560x1080 29". I couldn't notice any really significant drop in FPS going from my 24" 1080p to this monitor. The 780 6GB I had managed without issue with maybe 3-5 FPS difference if I disabled V-Sync but when that died and was replaced by a 980 I didn't really notice much difference either. I'd imagine a 1080 would manage easily.

Legend · 8 Jun 2016 at 02:17

MissChief said:
Although I run a 21:9 it's a 2560x1080 29". I couldn't notice any really significant drop in FPS going from my 24" 1080p to this monitor. The 780 6GB I had managed without issue with maybe 3-5 FPS difference if I disabled V-Sync but when that died and was replaced by a 980 I didn't really notice much difference either. I'd imagine a 1080 would manage easily.

On 2560x1080 a 1080 is overkill, a 1070 would handle that fine. Very easy to run really, only a smidge above 1080p which is a doddle with any decent GPU.