Ultrawide: the future of monitors, or the multi-gpu of the monitor world?

Devrij

Devrij

Devrij

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I'm looking at picking up a new monitor in January, and I'm debating going ultrawide. My concern is that

a) I'll find the lack of support in some titles unbearable (what happens if you have to run it at 16:9? can you have stuff open next to the game or does it just get hidden by letterboxes)
b) the extra pixels will shorten the gpu upgrade cycle even more (currently at 1440p, so looking at staying the same vertical res)

This reminds me of having xfire/sli, where when it worked it was amazing, but overall it was a frustrating experience. Those of you on ultrawide, how do you find it? Should I make the leap or should I stick with 16:9? Do you have an additional monitor as well or have you scrapped any secondaries you used to use?
 
Can't remember the last time I bought a game that didn't support 21.9, I've just switched back to 16.9 because I'm going to use the same screen for pc and ps5.
If the ps5 had 21.9 I would have stuck with the ultrawide
 
old gamer said:
Can't remember the last time I bought a game that didn't support 21.9, I've just switched back to 16.9 because I'm going to use the same screen for pc and ps5.
If the ps5 had 21.9 I would have stuck with the ultrawide
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That's positive, I haven't looked into this for ages and was worried about issues with compatibility. What was the performance tax like?
 
Devrij said:
I'm looking at picking up a new monitor in January, and I'm debating going ultrawide.
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Which games do you play? For games I have both a 4k monitor and a UW monitor and different games play better on different monitors. Driving games in particular are way better on the UW. (Not that I have any driving games at the moment...)
 
Quartz said:
Which games do you play? For games I have both a 4k monitor and a UW monitor and different games play better on different monitors. Driving games in particular are way better on the UW. (Not that I have any driving games at the moment...)
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I tend to play a fairly eclectic mix of shooters, flight sims, driving games and pretty much everything else inbetween. I think typically we're talking first person games though. I'm currently playing a lot of Cyberpunk, Elite dangerous, world of warships and MSFS 2020.

I have a 3080, so for now I reckon I'll be fine on performance, but I don't fancy getting the upgrade itch in 2 years because I need moar powa to drive an extra 1.5m pixels
 
Most games these days support UW. The only one that springs to mind that doesn't is Valorant which is by design as a competitive shooter the aspect ratio is locked so you cant gain a competitive advantage. From the games you say you play, I think you'd benefit and not be dissappointed. I too was concerned if i'd get on with it. I got the AW3821DW a week ago and it's awesome. I have a 3090 and can play Cyberpunk just fine still in UW (DLSS required otherwise I get around 25fps) I suspect the 3080 will be similar given the 3090 isn't that much better in performance.
 
Thanks gents, that's all really positive. I'm looking at this Gigabyte monitor as a budget option, as I couldn't really see anything better for under the £750 mark. The alternative of course is that I spank my budget on a high end 27" 16:9. I already have a nice 16:19 1440p 144hz asus rog display, but a little fly got in and died right in the middle of the screen and it's doing my nut in. Also, my secondary is a 24in 1080p ancient display so it'd be nice to have a twin rather than a little brother.

Do you guys keep a secondary display for your UW monitors or did you scrap it? I was thinking about a monitor arm to mount a secondary above the UW display.
 
Tagging on (my apologies) because I'm literally in this exact predicament right now and not sure where to go.

Considering any and all, if I can get hold of them;
HP Omen 27
Dell S2721DGF
LG 27GL850-b
Iiyama GB3461WQSU-B1
Dell S3220DGF
Odyysey G5

I have a 1080p 144hz monitor I'll be keeping as a secondary regardless, for things like COD and to pair with my consoles. I also play an eclectic mix of games but thought a bigger/uw would be good for single player and driving games. I keep hearing mixed opinions on 1440p above 27" though if I go for the latter Dell in the list.
 
Faustinooo said:
Tagging on (my apologies) because I'm literally in this exact predicament right now and not sure where to go.

Considering any and all, if I can get hold of them;
HP Omen 27
Dell S2721DGF
LG 27GL850-b
Iiyama GB3461WQSU-B1
Dell S3220DGF
Odyysey G5

I have a 1080p 144hz monitor I'll be keeping as a secondary regardless, for things like COD and to pair with my consoles. I also play an eclectic mix of games but thought a bigger/uw would be good for single player and driving games. I keep hearing mixed opinions on 1440p above 27" though if I go for the latter Dell in the list.
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The Dell S3220DGF is an amazing monitor. The Iiyama GB3461WQSU-B1 will give you more real estate but 21:9 won't play nice with newest consoles.
 
Most of the people who slam UW have never actually tried one. They are also often quoting comparisons that are completely out of date. The only game in recent years I know that didn't support UW was quickly shamed in to supporting it. Even if the game doesn't support it well you just play it at 2560x1440 so you lost nothing. It is actually fine playing a game like that if you are forced to do so.
Sure there is a performance hit but it's not going to make much of a difference to a 3080. Maybe 20%. But a 3080 can hit some serious fps, even without DLSS.
 
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Quartz said:
Take a look at the Iiyama.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £351.65 (includes shipping: £11.70)
​
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I saw that, but a lot of people in this thread were talking about flickering issues etc that scared me off a bit.

Also, @Faustinooo in my experience, your 1080p monitor will never get used for gaming after you go 1440p.

Sounds like I need an ultrawide then. Just need to figure out which one. I don't mind spending a bit on a monitor because I spend all day looking at it, so I'd rather get a bit spendy on something worthwhile than cheap out and lose colour accuracy or viewing angles etc
 
Devrij said:
I saw that, but a lot of people in this thread were talking about flickering issues etc that scared me off a bit.

Also, @Faustinooo in my experience, your 1080p monitor will never get used for gaming after you go 1440p.

Sounds like I need an ultrawide then. Just need to figure out which one. I don't mind spending a bit on a monitor because I spend all day looking at it, so I'd rather get a bit spendy on something worthwhile than cheap out and lose colour accuracy or viewing angles etc
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I can see that happening, if it does I'll keep it as a secondary monitor for other apps. I'm not keen on playing FPS games on a large screen though and I don't think 1440p is common, or available at all?, below 27".

Reading that thread is also what's put me on the fence with the iiyama and towards other UW monitors or the 32' dell.
 
Faustinooo said:
I can see that happening, if it does I'll keep it as a secondary monitor for other apps. I'm not keen on playing FPS games on a large screen though and I don't think 1440p is common, or available at all?, below 27".

Reading that thread is also what's put me on the fence with the iiyama and towards other UW monitors or the 32' dell.
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I like 27in for shooters, and I think 1440p on anything smaller would make text pretty hard to read. Obviously it's a preference thing, but I reckon you'd soon find your current monitor feeling a bit cramped in comparison.
 
ceeK said:
I have an LG 38WN95C. The only thing that would make me go back to a 16:9 monitor is one that was either an OLED without burn in or a micro-LED.
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I had a lg 38 and only sold it as I got a lg 48cx for pc and ps5, plus if I fancy a bit of uw gaming the 48cx is big enough to setup a custom resolution but the 38 was nice
 
old gamer said:
I had a lg 38 and only sold it as I got a lg 48cx for pc and ps5, plus if I fancy a bit of uw gaming the 48cx is big enough to setup a custom resolution but the 38 was nice
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Yeh I can't say I wasn't tempted by the 48CX. I also use it when working from home though and was a bit concerned of burn in for those tasks. I have an OLED in the lounge and that thing gets image retention even if I just leave the Apple TV menu on a bit too long.
 
Ive had the 1st Dell 34" ultrawide since they were first released for the last few years and been using it every day as my only monitor.

It didn't take too long to get used to it, and I even tried a Samsung 49" a few months ago, but that was way too wide and I couldn't get used to it even in multi screen mode (two inputs side by side), that wide made it impossible to use as a desktop monitor.

Back on the 34 uw and I really wouldn't be without it - I don't game as much as I used to so its mainly just for work and films / streaming and its a really good fit for what I need
 
Absolutely LOVE my UW and I think the only thing that would tempt me back to 16:9 would be a well priced, HDR, 27-30" OLED. Which likely won't be happening for years and years. CP2077 has it's moments in UW, dialog boxes cut off, suddenly showing a 16:9 screen but even pressing escape and going back fixes it. Every other game I've played supports it natively.

In the most recent hardware Survey UW monitor owners (that is 2560x1080 & 3440x1440) comprised 2.16% of those who completed the Survey. That's more owners than every other resolution except 1366x768, 1440x900, 1600x900 (laptop owners!) and for desktops 1920x1080 is still massively outnumbering everything else, even all added together, but only 1440p 16:9 is above it. Even 4k owners are only just above 21:9 owners. It's not quite as 'niche' as some would have you think.
 
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