Ultrawide 4K

RobinGopher · 28 Jul 2016 at 08:54

Ultrawide OR 4K

I used to run two displays but since the cheapo 2nd screen went pop I'm reduced to one, I have been very tempted to replace my 24" 1920*1200 display with one of those 34" curved 1440 or 2160 monitors. Now there's no way I can afford/justify a card that can run games on these at native resolution (and frankly from the reviews I've read even a 1080 is only just able to do that now let alone in a year or 2) so I was wondering what these image quality was like if you game on them at more sensible resolutions up to say 2K. I'm not fussed about using the entire display width when gaming, that is more for "work" related endeavors where I find lots of extra screen space useful.

PCM2 · 28 Jul 2016 at 09:08

You seem to be conglomerating two separate things here. The '4K' UHD resolution is 3840 x 2160. 21:9 UltaWide monitors currently go up to a maximum of 3440 x 1440. This is equivalent to a 27" 2560 x 1440 (WQHD) model with extra bits at the side. A resolution you are incorrectly referring to as '2K'.

So the GPU horsepower saving of going from 3440 x 1440 to 2560 x 1440 is minimal and it would need to be displayed with black borders at the sides to avoid horrendous stretching. A more common choice is to drop down to 2560 x 1080, to maintain the 21:9 aspect ratio. And most 3440 x 1440 models will run and interpolate that resolution quite well.

RobinGopher · 28 Jul 2016 at 09:10

Somewhat intentionally, I was looking at 1440 versions to start, but I love extra vertical pixels which I don't recall seeing when I was looking last year but are now not so uncommon. Also I refuse to entertain 1080 vertical its a rubbish specification forced on us by mass marketed crap, I know it seems small but you can really notice even the extra 120 pixels between 1080 and 1200. I'm not unduly fussed about which aspect ratio I end up with as lng as I don;t geta sore neck trying to see it all at once

PCM2 · 28 Jul 2016 at 11:12

You should really change the post title to include the key word 'OR' and preferably make it clearer in your OP that you're open to EITHER UltraWide models OR '4K' (UHD) models. The handling of non-native resolutions on a UHD screen, as with any monitor, depends on the interpolation process used. That varies between different models. You're never going to get the native sharpness of a WQHD (2560 x 1440) display of similar size when running a UHD monitor at that resolution. But for some the resolution still looks decent enough to warrant the extra performance if that's required.

RobinGopher · 28 Jul 2016 at 11:51

Very true, I should. Any models/series particularly renowned for their scaling/interpolation? Reviews I last chased down didn't look at that too closely?.

PCM2 · 28 Jul 2016 at 11:55

RobinGopher said:
Very true, I should. Any models/series particularly renowned for their scaling/interpolation? Reviews I last chased down didn't look at that too closely?.

I would recommend taking a look at my own website, then, as I always look at this. Refer to my signature. I've also reviewed several UHD models, possibly more than any other single reviewer. It really depends on the size and budget you were after, but generally Dell models are good in this respect and so are the larger (31.5") BenQs.