Too many choices, help!!

[asteldian]

Hi all, I am trapped in the land of monitor indecision and really need help (I did a rushed post previously when my monitor died, but now that I am borrowing my brother's old one I have had time to give thought to my options and hopefully get help from those far wiser than I!)

First things first, my current specs are:
i5 CPU (whatever was latest in Jan 2015, a bit embarrassing I cannot remember which one considering I built the PC myself)
GTX 970 factory OC
8Gb RAM

In terms of use, it is gaming and internet browsing. Mainly MMOs rather than FPS which I only dabble in occasionally. For this reason I do not feel a 144hz is of great importance to me so I have not spent much time focusing on them.

I was using a 21.5 LG 1080p monitor which is like 8 years old, it has decided to retire itself.
It is worth noting, that previously I did buy a 32 inch Samsung monitor, but it was faulty and I returned it. My impression of it was that it was too big overall (I think primarily the vertical sizing) resulting in head movement to soak everything in.
Ideally my budget would be below £400 (especially if not going with 34 inch ultrawide)

So, I am looking for a new one, my initial thoughts was a 27 inch 1440p monitor, having investigated a few, it seemed the Asus PB278Q looked to be a contender as its response/lag combined seemed to have minimal side effects.
Asus is under £400
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus...l-led-multimedia-monitor-black-mo-077-as.html

I then started thinking 21:9 would be pretty nice, the most affordable being the Lg29 ultrawide.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/lg-2...e-widescreen-led-monitor-black-mo-143-lg.html
There seemed to be 2 versions:
Flat at around £250
Curved around £330

My concern with the 29 inch is:
Firstly, the screen is too small to bother with curve? I get the feeling I would be paying for the cool factor of the curve without any need for it and if paying that higher price it is too close to the 27inch 1440p.
The other concern is the fact it is only going to be the height of a 23 inch monitor (now, being used to 21.5 inch I guess this is not an issue, but given the choice between that and a 27 1440p I am not sure Ultrawide at such a size is worth it?)

The natural progression was to look at the 34 inch Ultrawide monitors, as I think the smaller vertical will remove the issue I had with the 32 inch Samsung. Of course, not surprisingly, the only ones with a sub £400 are 2560x1080 (so the same as the 29 inch but much bigger) my natural inclination is that they have too low a res.
The closest 'affordable' 1440p was about £550, obviously this was not curved which actually raises a concern opposite to the 29 inch screen - at 34 inch is it a bit too wide without a curve to bring it in a bit? (Having said that, a B Grade curved monitor in Clearance at this website for £599 is a cruel tempter)

A downside to the 34 inch of course would be the power output needed from my GPU. I am not overly precious about reducing quality in a game to keep things smooth (within reason-I don't want to run things below Medium). On the other hand, if a game is too much I could always use standard 1440p res and get the same as I would have on a 27 inch monitor, albeit with black lines on the side.

So, as you can see I have got myself tied up in 'ooh but what about that one!' hell and could really do with someone slapping some sense into me, so any help offered is appreciated!

 

[eddiew]

I have no input to offer on ultrawides (they honestly don't interest me) but if I was shopping for a 27" QHD, I'd probably go with:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/dell...reen-led-monitor-midnight-grey-mo-080-de.html
or
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/dell...440-ips-widescreen-led-monitor-mo-089-de.html

The latter is more expensive but has a wider colour gamut, which would give you some extra vibrance in those MMOs Both have acceptable response times for that sort of gaming, imho, and as yet I've never found fault with Dell.

 

[DragonQ]

I The latter is more expensive but has a wider colour gamut, which would give you some extra vibrance in those MMOs

Assuming they support those wider gamuts in the first place, and I'm betting none of them do.

OP, you just have to sort out your priorities. What are the one or two "must have" features you want? What are the "added value" features, and what would be "nice to have"? I appreciate you're not sure what you want but you must have some idea.

Personally I didn't find ultra-wides appealing and I am against the idea of curved monitors (since they by design are only optimal from one particular viewing distance), but I play FPS games so I knew high refresh rates was a must-have for me. I also knew I can't stand tearing or judder so FreeSync was another must-have. Beyond that I just figured that 1080p was a downgrade from 1200p so 1440p was the way to go, and I've never seen a TN panel that I've liked so went IPS (no VA option).

You play MMOs so aren't interested in 144 Hz, and you don't seem bothered by the curve, so that's a start. I think you need to decide if you want ultra-wide or not before anything else.

 

[eddiew]

Assuming they support those wider gamuts in the first place, and I'm betting none of them do.

As far as I can tell, it's entirely up to the monitor... I have an older screen with 97% Adobe RGB, and in that setting it is significantly more vibrant than any sRGB screen I've used. Seems to me that it just widens the gap between each colour by a few percent, giving a redder red and greener green. Doesn't necessarily make for a good production environment, since most people will have sRGB at best, but it's immersive and colourful

 

[asteldian]

Thanks for the replies!
I think if I were able to afford 34 inch Ultrawide the curve would interest me more as I think that it just may help ensure it doesn't feel too large (the curve would hopefully mean my peripheral vision can more easily see the sides). I do wonder if I am way off with that assumption though

The only real must haves are:
Bigger than 24 inch
PPI no worse than 1080p on a 24 inch
Response speeds sufficient for MMO/casual FPS play

I think my problem comes that with such little 'requirement' it leaves so many options open.
I have never tried 21:9 and after my experience with a 32 inch screen and identifying that while I liked the wider screen I was not a fan of the large height, it made me think that it may be worth going for

27 inch 1440p is my default 'next step up' from a 24 1080p and so without any real thought it was my original plan. Though they tend to be pretty pricey - for example the ones linked be eddiew are the same price range of flat 34 inch monitors (which I guess opens the question - those with a 34 flat uw, how do you find it? Easy to see everything without constantly moving your head)

The 29 inch Ultrawide was tempting because the flat version is considerably cheaper than a 1440p screen whilst giving me a chance to experience 21:9 at a decent price (so no major regret if I decide in the future I would rather go back to 16:9). The downside to the 29 inch is I cannot help but think a standard 27 inch monitor would be my 'sweet spot' when it comes to vertical height, so a 29 uw would be too short whilst providing me with a more satisfying width.

I realize my response has not really helped narrow anything down, I guess maybe I should let fate dictate and see if any good deals occur over any of the Bank Holidays - at this point I think what I get really comes down to price, so a good deal would probably be the deciding factor

 

[DragonQ]

You could always go to a shop and try some of the monitors out, although I'm not sure what kind of store even has all these higher end monitors available to play with to be honest.

 

[eddiew]

...for example the ones linked be eddiew are the same price range of flat 34 inch monitors ...

To be fair, Dell are always expensive - but they're also very good in general. You can certainly get cheaper models from other manufacturers, but I find Dell are least likely to give you cause to RMA...

 

[asteldian]

Very true, even so, the one I had been looking at was on the high end of £300s, at which point I think a 2nd hand 34inch is a very tempting alternative (I know you could argue that a 2nd hand 27 inch would be cheaper too, but I notice they seem to rarely have a significant discount)

 

[eddiew]

Very true, even so, the one I had been looking at was on the high end of £300s, at which point I think a 2nd hand 34inch is a very tempting alternative (I know you could argue that a 2nd hand 27 inch would be cheaper too, but I notice they seem to rarely have a significant discount)

Be wary with second hand in an era of poor monitor QC and manufacturers refusing to admit that faults are faults ¬_¬

 

[asteldian]

Be wary with second hand in an era of poor monitor QC and manufacturers refusing to admit that faults are faults ¬_¬

Oddly I feel kind of safer with second hand in that usually pixel/backlight bleed issues have been dealt with by the original owner. On the off chance it hasn't and it is a duff one, I like to buy from places which gives me the assurance I can return to the seller - I also like to be sure I ask the seller about these 2 common issues and get a response, that way I have evidence if it turns out to be unsatisfactory and I must dispute

 

[eddiew]

Oddly I feel kind of safer with second hand in that usually pixel/backlight bleed issues have been dealt with by the original owner. On the off chance it hasn't and it is a duff one, I like to buy from places which gives me the assurance I can return to the seller - I also like to be sure I ask the seller about these 2 common issues and get a response, that way I have evidence if it turns out to be unsatisfactory and I must dispute

I guess auction rules are pretty strict these days that products have to be as described... although there's no mechanical process for fixing dead pixels or BLB, so the original owner would have had to go through a return and replace. If someone's selling a 34" ultrawide, there must be a reason, and personally I'd be suspicious of hidden traps. Maybe I'm just old and cynical

 

[asteldian]

Yeah, between Paypal and Auction rules things are pretty heavily skewed in the buyers favour. More inconvenience than any true risk involved (inconvenience waiting to get your money back). But to be fair, it wasn't that much simpler when I bought a monitor through official channels (it was a 32 inch Samsun which suffered flicker) - I was outside the 14 day return schedule when I found the issue (thanks to delivery being delayed by a week and therefore item arriving just 2 days before I went on holiday for 3 weeks), when AMA'd (twice!) apparently the problem was not replicated, so I had to go through the whole Consumer Rights thing in order to finally get my money back.

After dealing with all that for a monitor bought via official channels, I feel buying 2nd hand via auction site isn't actually all that much more difficult to resolve issues

 

[asteldian]

Thanks for your help guys. After getting things clear in my mind about what does and does not matter to me, I ended up settling on a 34 inch ultrawide monitor.
In the end I got the Samsung SE790C, only had it a day but perfect for me so far - I love the extra width without the additional height a standard 32 inch offered. Obviously not many people's first pick due to VA, no Free/G-Sync, only 60hz. But for my gaming I don't need the fancy 100hz+ nor has the need for sync occurred to me and decent black is more important than the colour of IPS.

My demands are obviously fairly low compared to most and as it happens my untrained eye sees no issue with the colours after minor tweaks, nor viewing angles during my natural gaming session.
The fact I got it for under £400 also made it an easier sell for me, add in the fact there are no dead pixels and is actually still under warranty and its all happy days for me.